Red Hat OpenShift 4.22 is generally available. The new version of the platform enhances zero-trust security, simplifies hybrid cloud virtualization, and introduces new tools to manage AI workloads. Automation is central to everything, from cluster scaling to compliance.
The common thread in OpenShift 4.22 is clear: less manual work, more platform-native automation. Red Hat wants teams to modernize their infrastructure without the operational friction that often comes with it. Business applications and AI initiatives must run on the same reliable foundation.
Red Hat reduces the attack surface by moving core components to a minimal Universal Base Image (UBI). This means fewer CVEs and less patching. Platform operators are also transitioning to dedicated, least-privilege identities.
Static credentials are being phased out in part thanks to SPIRE and the zero-trust workload identity manager, which enable dynamic, cryptographic identity verification. With Sandboxed Containers 1.12, confidential containers on bare metal are now generally available. Confidential AI is being released as a technology preview.
Virtualization and cluster operations
OpenShift Virtualization makes it easier to migrate and manage virtual machines. New features include EVPN integration with user-defined networks, while static IPs are automatically preserved during VM migrations. For edge environments, a two-node OpenShift with fencing is now available.
On the operational side, Red Hat Build or Karpenter is now generally available for OpenShift Service on AWS with hosted control planes. This autoscaler dynamically determines which instances are needed. AWS EC2 Spot Instances can now also be included in the scaling strategy.
The JobSet operator is now generally available and coordinates multiple Kubernetes jobs as a single unit, which is useful for distributed training and LLM fine-tuning. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) server is being released as a technology preview; it provides AI agents with controlled access to cluster operations via Role-Based Access Control. An accompanying MCP gateway federates multiple servers behind a single endpoint.
Tip: Red Hat OpenShift tackles a tough virtualization headache