This post was co-written by Nick Kuhn, Karim Chelouati, Eric Malm.
A new beta release of the Application Service Adapter is now available for download. This release has many new exciting features that continue to expand the functionality of the Application Service Adapter in conjunction with the release of VMware Tanzu Application Platform version 1.1.
The mission of the Application Service Adapter is to provide a Cloud Foundry compatibility layer on top of Tanzu Application Platform for existing VMware Tanzu Application Service customers. This compatibility layer replicates the developer experience we all know and love with Tanzu Application Service on top of Tanzu Application Platform. Furthermore, the Adapter can help facilitate a transition to Kubernetes and our very own Tanzu Application Platform if customers desire that path.
The high-level architecture and user flows of Application Service Adapter
Let’s dig into the details of some of the new features built into Application Service Adapter.
Cloud Foundry user-provided service support
The core function of user-provided services within Tanzu Application Service has been tied into Tanzu Application Platform via the Kubernetes Service Binding Specification. This allows developers to make use of similar tools, like VCAP Services and their existing user-provided services, that their application is already using on Tanzu Application Service. Now, developers can push a new copy of their application on the Adapter and make use of existing services without having to modify the application.
See it in action in this video:
Cloud Foundry authentication model integration into Kubernetes RBAC
When using the Adapter, the Cloud Foundry API authentication is backed directly by Kubernetes RBAC. This allows operators and developers to make use of kubeconfig credentials and to consolidate the overall credentials needed for their platform usage.
Administrators of the platform can assign users familiar Cloud Foundry roles, such as Space Developer, either traditionally with the cf CLI or declaratively by applying Kubernetes RoleBindings with kubectl. Space Developers, likewise then, have access to both the CF resources in their spaces via the cf CLI and to the Kubernetes API representations of those resources via the kubectl CLI.
Open source work with Cloud Foundry community
The efforts behind the Application Service Adapter are backed in true fashion by the teams working on the open source Cloud Foundry projects, in particular, the soon-to-be-named project CF Korifi. Keep on the lookout for an official Cloud Foundry Foundation blog post on Project Korifi soon.
Stay tuned as we add more features to the Application Service Adapter and continue our open source work with Project Korifi. If you want more information, check out the announcement post.
