A first look at Tanzu Basic (part 1): introduction

Previously I published several articles on “vSphere with Kubernetes”, VMware’s solution to run and manage containers/pods and Kubernetes clusters directly on vSphere. One requirement was that you need VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) to leverage vSphere with Kubernetes. With the release of the new Tanzu Editions things have changed.

In this article we will have a first look at Tanzu Basic, aka known as vSphere with Tanzu. In follow up articles we will further explore this new offering.

Note: To get started with vSphere with Tanzu/Tanzu Basic you will need vSphere 7 Update 1.

To get the full picture you have to know there are four different Tanzu editions that provide different capabilities. Tanzu Basic and Standard are focussed on simplifying Kubernetes adoption, while Tanzu Basic is linked to vSphere, Tanzu Standard is deployed in the context of VCF and/or public cloud. Tanzu Advanced is focussed on deploying custom applications on Kubernetes, Tanzu Enterprise is about transforming the software pad to production.

Both Tanzu Basic & Standard are available now, while the Advanced and Enterprise edition will be available later.

There’s no reason to get started with Kubernetes on vSphere today. Start with your trial and deploy Tanzu Basic to get started with Tanzu Kubernetes Clusters!

With Tanzu Basic you are able to deploy Tanzu Kubernetes clusters through the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service. After deploying/upgrading to vSphere 7U1 you have a 60 day trial available. Just choose the “Workload Management” option to get started.

On twitter Jorge de la Cruz reported you they don’t see the trial option. Delete the cookies or start you browser in incognito mode. It might also help to logon with administrator@vsphere.local.

It works! In incognito mode, some weird cache issue then, lately that is more common with the new client. THANKS!

— Jorge de la Cruz (@jorgedlcruz) October 13, 2020

After you’ve requested your trial you can go through the initial configuration of vSphere with Tanzu.

With Tanzu Basic you have the option to leverage NSX-T as the networking stack for vSphere with K8S, but you can can also use the vCenter Server Network:

• NSX-T: This means NSX-T is used for load balancing, netwerk segments and ingress/egress;
• vCenter Server Network: Regular distributed virtual port groups are used for networking in conjunction with a HA Proxy load balancer.

Only the NSX-T option allows you to deploy vSphere Pods, that are the Pods running directly on the ESXi hypervisor. VMware Harbor is also only available in a scenario with NSX-T because it’s leveraging vSphere Pods. In both scenarios you can deploy Tanzu Kubernetes clusters.

In part 2 of this series of articles we will dive a litter deeper into the configuration of vCenter Server Networking for Tanzu. If you want to learn about how to deploy Tanzu Basic with NSX-T, please refer to my previous article on this topic.

To write these articles I’ve used the following resources (which I highly recommend):

• vSphere with Tanzu Quick Start Guide, available here;
• I would also recommend to attend VMworld session KUB2469: vSphere with Tanzu Deep Dive by Bo Fu and Derek Beard (and yes, Derek has a beard). In this session the different networking options/architectures are explained, very valuable session that is worth the time!
• Cormac Hogan published a very helpful serie of post on the topic: here, here, here and here (more available at cormachogan.com);
• The vSphere with Tanzu Configuration and Management documentation is also very helpful.