Author: Prasad K
Nov 23, 2020
Run VMware Tanzu On-Premises and on Public Cloud
When running containers at scale in production—tens of thousands of containers across your enterprise—things get complex. Tanzu automates the deployment and management of all those containers on virtual machines. VMware Tanzu is seen as the leader in the use of containers and Kubernetes, and Tanzu Kubernetes Grid is VMware’s enterprise-ready Kubernetes runtime, engineered to simplify installation and Day 2 operations of Kubernetes across the enterprise. Tanzu Kubernetes Grid simplifies management of Kubernetes for the enterprise on multiple clouds, on-prem, and the edge with a focus on simplified installation, automated multi-cluster operations, and integrated platform services.
There are two ways to consume Tanzu Kubernetes Grid today: Tanzu Kubernetes Grid, and vSphere with Tanzu. In this blog we will discuss on the high-level Tanzu run use cases.
| Use Case 1 | Running and managing pods natively on vSphere alongside virtual machines |
| For | Enterprises already invested in VMware technologies and have been enjoying the benefits of virtualization for years and now your company is also planning to containerize your applications, then VMware Tanzu is the perfect fit for your enterprise. |
| How | The easiest way to get started with Tanzu Kubernetes Grid is to take advantage of vSphere with Tanzu. With the introduction of vSphere with Tanzu, enterprises can now use the same vSphere platform to deploy and run containers alongside virtual machines, utilizing benefits of both virtualization and containerization on a single platform. Enterprises can have the same VI (Virtual Infrastructure) admins skillset to manage the entire virtual infrastructure, performing tasks on both virtual machines and container pods with full control of the resources and monitoring of Kubernetes objects from vCenter Server UI. |
Benefits. Run and manage vSphere native pods on Supervisor Cluster alongside virtual machines, developers also have options to run different versions of CNCF-certified Kubernetes on Supervisor cluster, depending on the needs of the applications with an in-built private image registry. IT operators can now use vCenter UI to control the resources using namespaces and have complete visibility on Virtual Infrastructure Enterprises can continue to take advantage of existing investments in people, technology, tools, and skill sets and have the option to integrate with other VMware products including vRealize Suite.
vSphere with Tanzu will also allow developers with on-demand access to conformant Kubernetes clusters running on vSphere and in your VMware private cloud.
| Use Case 2 | End-to-end automated deployment and lifecycle management of complex Kubernetes environments |
| For | Mainly enterprises who want to take advantage of end-to-end orchestrated deployment and lifecycle management for full-stack infrastructure. VMware has also certified the enablement of VMware vSphere with Tanzu on the VMware Cloud Foundation management domain, which reduces the minimum host requirements from seven to four. This design works well for POCs, test and dev environments, labs and also a good fit for small production deployments as well. So, enterprises have the option to start small with 4 node deployment and then expand it literally as per the needs. |
| How | Another offering from Tanzu Kubernetes Grid is automated deployment and lifecycle management of full stack infrastructure through VMware Cloud Foundation 4, that is fully aligned with VMware Validated design. VMware is addressing the Day 1 and Day 2 Kubernetes operations burden with Tanzu Kubernetes Grid—a complete, easy-to-upgrade Kubernetes runtime with pre-integrated and validated components. VMware Cloud Foundation 4.0, delivers Kubernetes as a service, tightly integrated software stack that bundles compute virtualization (VMware vSphere), storage virtualization (VMware vSAN), network virtualization (VMware NSX), and cloud management and monitoring (VMware vRealize Suite) into a single platform. Enabling Kubernetes solutions on VMware Cloud Foundation is just a few clicks away. |
| Benefits | Deploying and configuring an end-to-end SDDC environment programmatically to deploy Kubernetes clusters, VMs, or pods as workloads with governance and security baked in. Simplified and automated Day 2 operation in a manner consistent with VMware best practices. VMware Cloud Foundation version updates and the lifecycle management process will always ensure the environment is updated with the latest release. Also, with SDDC manager UI, supervisor clusters can be scaled on demand securely and simply. For continuous monitoring and logging VMware Cloud Foundation have endpoints with VMware vRealize Operations and vRealize Log Insight has integrated high-level health data for all VMware Cloud Foundation workload domains. VMware vRealize Operations provides the ability to monitor and proactively track the health of the supervisor clusters. With the VMware vRealize Operations Management Pack for container monitoring, virtual administrators can get end-to-end monitoring of Kubernetes namespaces, clusters, replica sets, nodes, pods, and containers. Whereas for logging, with just a few simple steps, container logs can be easily configured to flow into vRLI/Log Intelligence. |
| Use Case 3 | Simplified installation of Kubernetes open-source software with VMware Tanzu |
| For | Organizations wanting to run certified open source Kubernetes software both on-premises in vSphere and in the public cloud on Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure, then Tanzu Kubernetes Grid is the best fit for your deployment. |
| How | Tanzu Kubernetes Grid is packaged with the open source technologies and automation tooling that helps your enterprise to quickly deploy a self-contained Kubernetes environment. Tanzu Kubernetes Grid makes it easier to run Kubernetes across multiple clouds, with a focus on simplified installation using TKG graphical installer wizard and TKG CLI providing simple commands that allow you to deploy CNCF conformant Kubernetes clusters to vSphere, Amazon EC2, and Microsoft Azure. |
| Benefits | Simplified and guided installation process using Tanzu Kubernetes Grid GUI as well as option to use Tanzu Kubernetes Grid CLI commands to create Tanzu Kubernetes cluster and lifecycle management of the Kubernetes cluster Allows the enterprise to run multi-cloud Kubernetes footprint, both on-premises vSphere and in the public cloud Tanzu Kubernetes Grid also provides the services such as networking with Antrea and Calico, authentication with Dex, ingress control with Contour, and logging with Fluentbit that a production Kubernetes environment requires |
| UseCase-4 | Centrally managing Kubernetes environment on various clouds |
| For | Organizations already running different flavors of Kubernetes on different platforms globally and wanting to manage all the Kubernetes footprint through a single interface. |
| How | Enterprises can use Tanzu Mission Control globally to control the entire Kubernetes footprint centrally. The enterprise can easily expand their infrastructure to multiple clouds, on-prem and the edge, the platform operator can now manage and monitor these infrastructures by Tanzu Mission Control with a single UI. Tanzu Mission Control can be considered as a single platform that combines Run and Manage functionality to provide a consistent user experience. |
| Benefits | Attaching any CNCF compliant x86 Kubernetes cluster across the globe and manage access, security, configuration, and data protection at enterprise scale Expand the current environment by deploying Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Clusters on vSphere as well as on Amazon EC2 and Microsoft Azure Centrally observe and monitor health across all the Kubernetes cluster Cluster API driven lifecycle management of Tanzu Kubernetes Grid clusters |
As the enterprise expands their infrastructure to multiple clouds, on-prem and the edge, the platform operator can now manage and monitor these infrastructures by Tanzu Mission Control.
With Kubernetes clusters being managed in a consistent way across diverse infrastructures, the productivity will be increased not only in their application development teams but also in the management of their infrastructure.
The Tanzu Mission Control feature mentioned here is just the tip of the iceberg. We will cover more of the capabilities available in Tanzu Mission Control in our next blog.
For more and latest information on VMware Tanzu, please visit the VMware Tanzu website.
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