# Red Hat OpenShift architecture on AWS
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At a high level, the Red Hat OpenShift infrastructure runs on AWS, and the cluster is registered on the Red Hat Portal. When you create a cluster, you provide your Red Hat account details. This generates a token that helps identify your Red Hat account. The following diagram illustrates the high-level process, regardless of the implementation method you choose:

1. Create a Red Hat account.

1. Generate a token from the account.

1. Use the token to provision a cluster on AWS.

1. Administer the cluster by using the Red Hat console. 

The entire infrastructure, including the control plane, user nodes, and Network Load Balancer, runs on AWS.

![Red Hat OpenShift architecture and high-level implementation process](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/red-hat-openshift-on-aws-implementation/images/rosa-architecture.png)


## Infrastructure requirements
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Because Red Hat OpenShift uses Kubernetes for container orchestration, it requires infrastructure components such as a virtual private cloud (VPC), subnets, and Amazon Route 53 on AWS. These requirements can change depending on the topology, but the following core components are always required:
+ Kubernetes and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform control plane services that run on master nodes
+ The default router
+ The container image registry
+ The cluster metrics collection or monitoring service
+ Cluster-aggregated logging
+ Service brokers