Most Service Providers are looking to extend the existing VMware Cloud Director environment to offer Containers-as-a-Service by implementing VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid, which enables deploying and managing containers.
There are several options, the question is which of them is correct regarding your business needs. In this post, I will try to help Service Providers to get that these answers.
Basic or Standard
These are the two different options for cloud providers (for now, this will change in the future)
Tanzu Basic
Tanzu Basic along with VMware Cloud Director enables Managed Kubernetes Services that helps Cloud Providers expand their services business by targeting DevOps and Developers with current or new customers who are on vSphere – those who want to embrace infrastructure transformation on-premises, as the first step towards modern applications delivery. VMware Tanzu Basic simplifies the adoption of Kubernetes on-premises, putting cloud-native constructs at the VI Admin’s fingertips as part of vSphere.
Tanzu Standard
VMware Tanzu Standard provides an enterprise-grade Kubernetes runtime across both on-premises, public clouds, and at the edge, with a global control plane for consistent and secure management at scale.
It helps customers realize the benefits of multi-cloud, operate all clusters consistently across environments while enhancing security and governance over your entire K8s footprint.
Tanzu Kubernetes grid deployment
Which TKG flavor is the correct one?
As Service Providers are looking for multi-tenancy TKG-m is the right flavor. Please avoid using TKG-s.
Container Service Extension (CSE)
Container Service Extension (CSE) for VMware Cloud Director enables service providers to offer Kubernetes services with Open source and Upstream Kubernetes Templates. In addition, Container Service Extension 3.1.1 introduces a significant enhancement to support Tanzu Kubernetes Grid (Multi-cloud), also known as TKG-m. Starting with CSE 3.1.1, providers can use TKG-m(1.4) as runtime. The provider administrator can install CSE with a few updated configurations to facilitate TKGm runtime for the customers.
My Lab Products Versions
*CSE can be installed with any other supported OS.
As you can see, deployment of NSX-T, Advance Load Balancing and, CSE are mandatory for the TKG-m enablement.
There is no OVA version yet, so the deployment should be done manually.
Next time we can take a deeper look into Container Service Extension (CSE) deployment and troubleshooting.
Have a nice 2022!
