Category Archives: Kubernetes

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VMware Cloud on AWS – Managed Tanzu Kubernetes Grid with Tanzu Mission Control

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In my previous blog post, I detailed a full end to end guide in deploying and configurating the managed Tanzu Kubernetes Service offering as part of VMware Cloud on AWS (VMC), finishing with some example application deployments and configurations.

In this blog post, I am moving on to show you how to integrate this environment with Tanzu Mission Control, which will provide fleet management for your Kubernetes instances. I’ve wrote several blog posts on TMC previous which you can find below:

Tanzu Mission Control 
- Getting Started Tanzu Mission Control 
- Cluster Inspections 
- Workspaces and Policies  
- Data Protection 
- Deploying TKG clusters to AWS 
- Upgrading a provisioned cluster 
- Delete a provisioned cluster 
- TKG Management support and provisioning new clusters
- TMC REST API - Postman Collection
- Using custom policies to ensure Kasten protects a deployed application
Management with Tanzu Mission Control

The first step is to connect the Supervisor cluster running in VMC to our Tanzu Mission Control environment.

Connecting the Supervisor Cluster to TMC

Within the TMC console, go to:

  • Administration
  • Management Clusters
  • Register Management Cluster
    • Select “vSphere with Tanzu”

Managed Tanzu Kubernetes Service - VMC - TMC - Register Management Cluster

On the Register Management Cluster page:

  • Set the friendly name for the cluster in TMC
  • Select the default cluster group for managed workload clusters to be added into
  • Set any description and labels as necessary

Managed Tanzu Kubernetes Service - VMC - TMC - Register Management Cluster - Name and Assign

  • Proxy settings for a Supervisor Cluster running in VMC are not supported, so ignore Step 2.

Managed Tanzu Kubernetes Service - VMC - TMC - Register Management Cluster - Proxy Configuration

  • Copy the registration URL.

Managed Tanzu Kubernetes Service - VMC - TMC - Register Management Cluster - Register

  • Log into your vSphere with Tanzu Supervisor cluster.
  • Find the namespace that identifies your cluster and is used for TMC configurations, “kubectl get ns”
    • It will start “svc-tmc-xx”
    • Copy this namespace name

Managed Tanzu Kubernetes Service - VMC - TMC - Supervisor Cluster - Kubectl get namespace Continue reading VMware Cloud on AWS – Managed Tanzu Kubernetes Grid with Tanzu Mission Control →

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Tanzu Kubernetes Grid – Upgrading a Management and Workload Cluster deployed to vSphere

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In this blog post, I am going to walk through how to upgrade both your Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Management and Workload clusters. I’ll cover the Tanzu CLI options, as well as how you can leverage the features of Tanzu Mission Control for upgrades as well.

For my example use cases, I’ll be upgrading from TKG 1.4.2 to 1.5.4. Although the process should be similar for other upgrade paths, I do recommend you consult the official documentation before attempting any upgrade in case there are any changes.

Caution: VMware recommends not installing or upgrading to Tanzu Kubernetes Grid v1.5.0-v1.5.3, due to a bug in the versions of etcd in the versions of Kubernetes used by Tanzu Kubernetes Grid v1.5.0-v1.5.3. Tanzu Kubernetes Grid v1.5.4 resolves this problem by incorporating a fixed version of etcd. For more information, see Resolved Issues in the TKG v1.5 Release Notes.
Pre-requisites

To upgrade Tanzu Kubernetes Grid (TKG), you download and install the new version of the Tanzu CLI on the machine that you use as the bootstrap machine. You must also download and install base image templates and VMs, depending on whether you are upgrading clusters that you previously deployed to vSphere, Amazon EC2, or Azure.

Download the Tanzu CLI and Kubernetes OVAs

On the VMware Customer Portal download both the Tanzu CLI and OVA files as necessary.

I’ve highlighted in the below screenshot; your Management Cluster will always need to run the latest Kubernetes version.

Tanzu Kubernetes Grid - Upgrade - Download Product files - Tanzu CLI - Kubernetes OVAS

Upload Kubernetes OVAs to vCenter

Continue reading Tanzu Kubernetes Grid – Upgrading a Management and Workload Cluster deployed to vSphere →

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Tanzu Mission Control – Upgrading attached Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Clusters fails with error “updates to immutable fields are not allowed”

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The Issue

When trying to upgrade an attached Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Cluster via Tanzu Mission Control (TMC), that is either created by a Tanzu Management Cluster, or via the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service (vSphere with Tanzu), the console gives you an error message similar to:

API Error: Failed to upgrade cluster: (target=mc:01G4BGAVKHHB6C3JJ5R0WA44NM, intentId=01G4CMP025ZHEBQ000E4SM996H): admission webhook "default.validating.tanzukubernetescluster.run.tanzu.vmware.com" denied the request: updates to immutable fields are not allowed (invalid argument)
I’ve captured some screenshots below of the process.
Tanzu Mission Control - Upgrade vSphere with Tanzu Cluster - Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service  Tanzu Mission Control - Upgrade vSphere with Tanzu Cluster - Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service - Upgrade Cluster
Tanzu Mission Control - Upgrade Cluster - Error Message - admission webhook default.validating.tanzukubernetescluster.run.tanzu.vmware.com denied the request

The Cause

Tanzu Mission Control doesn’t keep information about the Tanzu Clusters CNI configuration. Today, TMC doesn’t support upgrading clusters that are provisioned using Callico. This is not documented in the TMC Documentation.

If you provision a cluster using TMC, it will use the Antrea CNI, and you cannot change this.

Below you can see that my cluster was provisioned using the Callico CNI.

Tanzu Mission Control - Upgrade Cluster Fails - kubectl get tanzukuberntescluster

The Fix

Upgrade the Tanzu Cluster outside of Tanzu Mission Control.

Regards

Dean Lewis

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Tanzu Kubernetes Grid – Manual Certificate Renewal

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The Issue
Note: VMware has released a full in-depth KB Article that I'd advise you review along with this blog post. If you have any queries or concerns with the processes detailed, always open a support ticket!
- How to rotate certificates in a Tanzu Kubernetes Grid cluster (86251)

One day my Kubernetes cluster just stopped responding. I could no longer connect to the Kubernetes API.

I rebooted all the nodes (as it was a demo environment) to no luck, and still nothing. So I had to go off digging.

The Cause

I SSH’d into one of my control-plane nodes, and started to tail the kubelet logs. Continue reading Tanzu Kubernetes Grid – Manual Certificate Renewal →

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VMware Cloud on AWS Deep Dive – Activating, Deploying and Using the managed Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service

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In this blog post I’m going to deep dive into the end-to-end activation, deployment, and consuming of the managed Tanzu Services (Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service > TKGS) within a VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC. I’ll deploy a Tanzu Cluster inside a vSphere Namespace, and then deploy my trusty Pac-Man application and make it Publicly Accessible.

Previously to this capability, you would need to deploy Tanzu Kubernetes Grid to VMC, which was fully supported, as a Management Cluster and then additional Tanzu Clusters for your workloads. (See Terminology explanations here). This was a fully support option, however it did not provide you all the integrated features you could have by using the TKGS as part of your On-Premises vSphere environment.

What is Tanzu Services on VMC?

Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service is a managed service built into the VMware Cloud on AWS vSphere environment.

This feature brings the availability of the integrated Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service inside of vSphere itself, by coupling the platform together, you can easily deploy new Tanzu clusters, use the administration and authentication of vCenter, as well as provide governance and policies from vCenter as well.

Note: VMware Cloud on AWS does not enable activation of Tanzu Kubernetes Grid by default. Contact your account team for more information. 

Note2: In VMware Cloud on AWS, the Tanzu workload control plane can be activated only through the VMC Console.
But wait, couldn’t I already install a Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Cluster onto VMC anyway?

Tanzu Kubernetes Grid is a multi-cloud solution that deploys and manages Kubernetes clusters on your selected cloud provider. Previously to the vSphere integrated Tanzu offering for VMC that we are discussing today, you would deploy the general TKG option to your SDDC vCenter.

What differences should I know about this Tanzu Services offering in VMC versus the other Tanzu Kubernetes offering?
  • When Activated, Tanzu Kubernetes Grid for VMware Cloud on AWS is pre-provisioned with a VMC-specific content library that you cannot modify.
  • Tanzu Kubernetes Grid for VMware Cloud on AWS does not support vSphere Pods.
  • Creation of Tanzu Supervisor Namespace templates is not supported by VMware Cloud on AWS.
  • vSphere namespaces for Kubernetes releases are configured automatically during Tanzu Kubernetes Grid activation.
Activating Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service in a VMC SDDC
Reminder: Tanzu Services Activation capabilities are not activated by default. Contact your account team for more information.

Within your VMC Console, you can either go via the Launchpad method or via the SDDC inventory item. I’ll cover both:

  • Click on Launchpad
  • Open the Kubernetes Tab
  • Click Learn More

VMC - Launchpad - Kubernetes

  • Select the Journey Tab
  • Under Stage 2 – Activate > Click Get Started

VMC - Launchpad - Kubernetes - Journey - Get started

Alternatively, from the SDDC object in the Inventory view

  • Click Actions
  • Click “Activate Tanzu Kubernetes Grid”

VMC - Inventory - SDDC - Activate Tanzu Kubernetes Grid

You will now be shown a status dialog, as VMC checks to ensure that Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service can be activated in your cluster.

This will check you have the correct configurations and compute resources available.

VMC - Inventory - SDDC - Activate Tanzu Kubernetes Grid - Checking cluster resources

If the check is successful, you will now be presented the configuration wizard. Essentially, all you must provide is your configuration for four networks. Continue reading VMware Cloud on AWS Deep Dive – Activating, Deploying and Using the managed Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service →