What is ROSA?
Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS (ROSA) is a fully managed OpenShift service on AWS infrastructure. AWS and Red Hat share responsibility for operations, scaling, and security of the platform.
ROSA is available today in two architecture variants: the classic architecture with the control plane in your own AWS account, and ROSA with Hosted Control Planes (HCP), where the control plane runs in an account managed by Red Hat. HCP is the recommended option for new clusters, offering faster provisioning times and lower infrastructure costs.
ROSA provides the full OpenShift experience with an integrated Developer Console, Operator Hub, CI/CD pipelines, and Service Mesh. Billing is handled directly through your AWS bill.
Core Features
- Managed OpenShift: Complete OpenShift platform as a managed service
- ROSA with HCP: Decoupled control plane for faster cluster creation and lower costs
- Shared Responsibility: AWS and Red Hat share operational responsibility
- Operator Hub: Access to numerous certified operators
- Native AWS Integration: Direct connection to IAM, VPC, EBS, and other services
- Unified Billing: Billing through your AWS bill
Typical Use Cases
Enterprise Kubernetes: Organizations with existing OpenShift experience looking to migrate to the cloud. ROSA provides familiar tools and processes on AWS infrastructure.
Hybrid Cloud: Consistent container platform across on-premises OpenShift and ROSA in the cloud. Applications run without major changes in both environments.
Regulated Industries: Industries with strict compliance requirements benefit from the hardened OpenShift platform with integrated security features and audit logging.
Benefits
- Familiar OpenShift platform on AWS infrastructure
- ROSA with HCP reduces provisioning time and infrastructure costs
- Shared operational responsibility with AWS and Red Hat
- Unified billing through your AWS bill
Integration with innFactory
As an AWS Reseller, innFactory supports you with ROSA: choosing the right architecture (Classic or HCP), cluster setup, migration from on-premises OpenShift, operator configuration, and integration with AWS services.
Typical Use Cases
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between ROSA and EKS?
ROSA provides the full OpenShift platform with integrated CI/CD, a developer portal, an Operator framework, and advanced security features. EKS offers native Kubernetes with more flexibility in tool selection. ROSA is particularly suited for organizations with existing OpenShift experience.
What is ROSA with HCP?
ROSA with Hosted Control Planes (HCP) separates the control plane from the worker nodes: the control plane runs in an AWS account managed by Red Hat, which enables faster cluster provisioning and lower AWS infrastructure costs. HCP is the recommended architecture for new ROSA clusters; the classic architecture with the control plane in your own account remains available.
Who is responsible for operations?
AWS and Red Hat share responsibility. Red Hat manages the OpenShift platform and updates, AWS provides the underlying infrastructure. You manage your applications and configurations.
Can I migrate existing OpenShift workloads?
Yes. ROSA is fully compatible with Red Hat OpenShift. Existing applications, operators, and configurations can be migrated without major changes.
What does ROSA cost?
ROSA charges a service fee based on worker node capacity used; ROSA with HCP adds an hourly cluster fee. Separate AWS infrastructure costs for EC2, EBS, and data transfer apply on top. Multi-year contracts reduce the service fee compared to on-demand pricing.
Note: All product information on this page has been compiled with care, but is provided without guarantee and may be outdated or incomplete. Cloud services evolve rapidly — features, pricing, SLAs, and availability change frequently. Authoritative and up-to-date information can only be found on the official product page of AWS (official documentation). This page does not represent an offer by AWS.