Today, we are pleased to announce the general availability of VMware Cloud Director App Launchpad (ALP) 2.1 with feature rich Application Management capabilities.
ALP 2.1 delivers enhancements broadly around two main segments:
- Security
- Support & Branding
Secure Catalog Management:
ALP 2.1 is designed with new secure network flows where, ALP 2.1 creates catalogs on behalf of the service provider – A major enhancement from the previous version. This feature automates the catalog creation for the provider and eliminates both connectivity and security issues, as both ALP and the Cloud Director cell reside behind the same firewall and a single network. That means service providers can securely pull applications from VMware Marketplace to their VMware Cloud Director catalogs without the need to expose VCD inbound access from VMware Marketplace egress IPs.
VCD exposed to external network as VMware Marketplace created/updated catalogs
ALP creates/uploads catalogs not exposing VCD
Another big update is the automated deployment of container workloads on native VMware Cloud Director Container Service Extension (CSE) Kubernetes (K8s) clusters. Previously users had to manually set addresses for CSE clusters for workload deployment. ALP 2.1 will now automatically discover CSE clusters by determining the external address according to the edge NAT rules & addresses of CSE native clusters running on NSX-T or NSX-V routed networks and lists out the clusters for the users.
Support Enhancements:
Service Providers can now prompt or detail the users of any information that needs to be known before the user deploys the application. They can simply add/define in the ‘custom fields’ any instructions/notes to the users about the application that will be visible to the users on the application launch page. In addition, providers can set custom sizing templates or default sizing templates specifically for user uploaded VM applications. They also now have the ability to customize the visibility of global application ‘custom fields’ to be displayed either on the application detail page or the application launch page.
Tenant Admins can now brand / customize their User Dashboard adding the organization’s logos / pictures and welcome note to provide univocal and a modern app consumption experience to their users. Tenant admins can also now view and analyse the historical consumption data across customizable periods of time.
As for the Tenant users, ALP 2.1 introduces some usability enhancements making the search experience better. Users can now:
- Filter and find applications by Catalog names – from up to five catalogs- on their ‘Applications Marketplace’ tab
- Filter workloads by name, type, and status.
- Launch new applications directly from their ‘My Applications’ tab.
For more information, please visit the VMware Cloud Director App Launchpad 2.1 documentation page.
Also, do connect with us via our dedicated Slack channel and we’d be happy to respond to your queries and feedback. Please email us for access to the VMware Cloud Provider slack channel if you are not a member yet.
