{"id":49168,"date":"2025-04-25T14:58:34","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T14:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/?p=49168"},"modified":"2025-07-12T05:56:26","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T05:56:26","slug":"openshift-difference-between-deploymentconfig-and-deployment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/openshift-difference-between-deploymentconfig-and-deployment\/","title":{"rendered":"Openshift: Difference Between DeploymentConfig and Deployment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feature<\/th>DeploymentConfig (DC)<\/th>Deployment (K8s Deployment)<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Belongs to<\/td>OpenShift-only (legacy)<\/td>Kubernetes-native (standard)<\/td><\/tr>
API Group<\/td>apps.openshift.io\/v1<\/code><\/td>apps\/v1<\/code><\/td><\/tr>
First Introduced<\/td>OpenShift 3.x<\/td>Kubernetes 1.x<\/td><\/tr>
Purpose<\/td>Deploy\/manage pods with extra OpenShift features<\/strong> like automatic image rebuilds.<\/td>Deploy\/manage pods in a standard Kubernetes way<\/strong>.<\/td><\/tr>
Triggers (auto-update)<\/td>Supports ImageChangeTrigger<\/strong>, ConfigChangeTrigger<\/strong> easily.<\/td>No built-in ImageTrigger (needs webhooks, GitOps, Tekton).<\/td><\/tr>
Build Integration<\/td>Tight integration with OpenShift BuildConfig<\/strong> (S2I) + ImageStreams<\/strong>.<\/td>No native build integration \u2014 CI\/CD pipelines needed separately.<\/td><\/tr>
Rollback & Rollout<\/td>Managed by OpenShift internally (easy CLI commands).<\/td>Kubernetes-native rollback\/rollout (kubectl rollout<\/code>).<\/td><\/tr>
Strategy Options<\/td>Rolling, Recreate, Custom, and Hooks (pre\/post hooks).<\/td>RollingUpdate, Recreate (no custom hooks by default).<\/td><\/tr>
UI Support<\/td>Fully available in OpenShift 3.x\/4.x console until 4.13.<\/td>Now the recommended<\/strong> method in OpenShift 4.14+.<\/td><\/tr>
Lifecycle<\/td>\ud83d\udd25 Deprecated for feature development (4.14 onward).<\/td>\ud83d\ude80 Active, recommended standard.<\/td><\/tr>
Portability<\/td>\u274c Works only on OpenShift.<\/td>\u2705 Works on any Kubernetes (EKS, AKS, GKE, OpenShift, etc.).<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udee0 Example Differences<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

\u2705 1. DeploymentConfig Example (Old way)<\/h2>\n\n\n
apiVersion: apps.openshift.io\/v1\nkind: DeploymentConfig\nmetadata:\n  name: myapp\nspec:\n  replicas: 2\n  selector:\n    app: myapp\n  triggers:\n    - type: ConfigChange\n    - type: ImageChange\n  template:\n    metadata:\n      labels:\n        app: myapp\n    spec:\n      containers:\n      - name: myapp\n        image: myapp:latest\n<\/code><\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n
    \n
  • ImageChangeTrigger automatically pulls new images!<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Used with BuildConfigs and ImageStreams.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n
    \u2705 2. Deployment Example (Modern way)<\/h2>\n\n\n
    apiVersion: apps\/v1\nkind: Deployment\nmetadata:\n  name: myapp\nspec:\n  replicas: 2\n  selector:\n    matchLabels:\n      app: myapp\n  strategy:\n    type: RollingUpdate\n  template:\n    metadata:\n      labels:\n        app: myapp\n    spec:\n      containers:\n      - name: myapp\n        image: myapp:latest\n<\/code><\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n
      \n
    • Pure Kubernetes Deployment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • No automatic ImageStream trigger \u2014 you must manually update, use GitOps, webhook, or Tekton.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      \n\n\n\n
      \ud83d\udd25 Key Functional Differences<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
      Aspect<\/th>DeploymentConfig<\/th>Deployment<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
      Auto image update from ImageStream<\/td>\u2705 Built-in (ImageChangeTrigger<\/code>)<\/td>\u274c Must build manually (e.g., webhook triggers)<\/td><\/tr>
      Build integration (BuildConfig)<\/td>\u2705 Tight coupling<\/td>\u274c No coupling; CI\/CD external<\/td><\/tr>
      OpenShift-only<\/td>\u2705<\/td>\u274c<\/td><\/tr>
      Kubernetes standard<\/td>\u274c<\/td>\u2705<\/td><\/tr>
      Future use (post-OpenShift 4.14)<\/td>\u274c Legacy<\/td>\u2705 Standard<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
      \n\n\n\n
      \ud83c\udfaf In Short<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
      If you are using…<\/th>Then…<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
      OpenShift 3.x or old 4.x apps<\/td>You might still find\/use DeploymentConfigs.<\/td><\/tr>
      OpenShift 4.14+ and new apps<\/td>\u2705 Use Kubernetes-native Deployments only.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
      \n\n\n\n
      \ud83d\udccb Quick Real World Examples:<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
      Use case<\/th>Best choice now<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
      Building a new microservice app<\/td>Deployment<\/td><\/tr>
      Moving an app across clusters (OpenShift \u2192 EKS \u2192 AKS)<\/td>Deployment<\/td><\/tr>
      Legacy OpenShift S2I project with ImageStream auto-rebuilds<\/td>DeploymentConfig (until migrated)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
      \n\n\n\n
      \ud83d\udce2 Final Message:<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • DeploymentConfig<\/strong> = OpenShift-specific, powerful in OpenShift pipelines, but deprecated<\/strong> for new feature development in 4.14+.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Deployment<\/strong> = Kubernetes standard object, recommended for all new apps<\/strong> moving forward.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        \n\n\n\n
        \ud83c\udf1f Bonus Tip:<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
        \u2705 You can still use ImageStreams + Deployment<\/strong> together \u2014
        but instead of using “ImageChangeTriggers,”
        you need to use external CI\/CD pipelines (like Jenkins, Tekton, GitHub Actions) to update the Deployment<\/strong> automatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
        \n\n\n\n
        \ud83c\udfaf Quick One-Liner:<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
        \n
        DeploymentConfig = OpenShift magic for older CI\/CD,
        Deployment = Kubernetes standard for modern apps.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
        \n\n\n\n
        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
        Feature DeploymentConfig (DC) Deployment (K8s Deployment) Belongs to OpenShift-only (legacy) Kubernetes-native (standard) API Group apps.openshift.io\/v1 apps\/v1 First Introduced OpenShift 3.x Kubernetes 1.x Purpose Deploy\/manage pods with extra OpenShift features like… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5153],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-openshift"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49169,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49168\/revisions\/49169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}