App Modernization with Tanzu @ VMworld 2021

Are you ready for VMworld 2021? “Imagine that” is this year’s theme, VMware welcomes you on-line October 5-7 to experience this premier multi-cloud event. Again registration is 100% free, so there are no blockers to register today and pick your favourite sessions in the 2021 content catalog. There’s also a paid option available, that will provide you some extra benefits. More information about this Tech+ Pass is available on the VMworld website.

In this blogpost I would like to share my favourite Modern Apps sessions, I hope you find this useful. I will look into the Solution Keynotes, Breakout Sessions, Meet the Experts sessions, Hand-on Labs, Tech+ Tutorials and VMware {code} sessions. Learn more about the different sessions types at VMworld here.

First of all, if you’re looking for Modern Apps sessions, just selected the App Modernization track in the content catalog. There about 175 sessions available, so something for everyone. Another option is to select the products that are in the App Modernization space, including:

• VMware Container Networking with Antrea
• VMware Tanzu
• VMware Tanzu Labs
• VMware Tanzu Mission Control
• VMware Tanzu Observability by WaveFront
• VMware Tanzu Service Mesh
• VMware vSphere with Tanzu

For the different session types I will share my App Modernization top picks.

Solution Keynotes

Hear directly from VMware leadership team about the critical technology challenges that IT professionals face today. For App Modernization there’s one Solution Keynote: “DevSecOps Your Way to Any Cloud (And Delight Your Customers) [VI3190] – Ajay Patel et al.“. This is a Business session at level 100 and is perfect to learn what’s going on in the industry.

Breakout Sessions

Breakout sessions are 20-60 minutes sessions with a specific focus area. Breakout sessions are perfect to learn about a specific topics in a limited amount of time. Breakout sessions at VMworld are my personal favourite. These are more top picks when it comes to App Modernization:

• Cloud Infrastructure Transformation with VMware Tanzu Basic and Tanzu Standard [APP2454] – If you’re new to Modern Apps with Kubernetes and more focussed on the Ops side of Modern Apps, this session is for you. Ning Ge and Donna Lee will explain how you can get started with Kubernetes with Tanzu Basic in your vSphere environment, and how take it further on multiple clouds with Tanzu Standard.
• Intro to VMware Tanzu Advanced: Speed the Delivery of Modern Apps at Scale [APP1804] – The next edition after Tanzu Basic and Standard is Tanzu Advanced. In this session Eryn Muetzel en Megan Bruce will focous on three topics: Simplifying the operation of containers and clusters across clouds, integrating security throughout the container lifecycle and enabling developers to focus on coding, not containerization. This session will focus on the Dev side of things.
• Manage Kubernetes Across Multiple Clouds [APP1187] with Keith Lee and Eryn Muetzel will focus on Tanzu Mission Control, a centralized Kubernetes management platform.
• Deep Dive on vSphere with Tanzu Update [APP2063] by Karthik Balachandran will solely focus on the integrated version of Tanzu Kubernetes Grid (aka TKGs or TKG Service) and will explore the update process for the Supervisor Cluster, namespaces and TKG clusters.
• Explore New VMware Tanzu Frontiers [APP1482], in this session Joshua Rosse and Steven Wong will talk about upcoming capabilities that are coming to VMware Tanzu! That sounds cool. Would you like to help shape the future of VMware Tanzu? Join this session!
• Bridge the Lab-to-Prod Gap for Kubernetes with Modern App Connectivity [APP2285] with Susan Wu and Lei Yang talk about the integration of Tanzu Service Mesh and the Advanced Load Balancer (fka AVI) and how to secure apps across heterogeneous environments.
• Implement Observability for Kubernetes Clusters and Workload in Minutes [APP2648]. If you would like to learn about Observality, this session by Harmen van der Linde and Scott Kelly is for you! Harmen and Brian will also talk about the Application Catalog and Tanzu Mission Control in this session.

Meet the Experts

In the Meet the Experts session you have the option to ask any question you would like to ask. The session will start with a 15 minutes lightning talk followed by Q&A. Note that a Tech+ pass is required to attend these sessions.

• Meet the expert: Everything you need to know about Buildpacks [APP2565] with Emily Casey and Matthew McNew is the session to ask any question you have around Builspacks and the Tanzu Build Service. By the way Meet the Experts session APP2650 is also about Tanzu Build Service.
• Meet the expert: Cloud Native Runtimes for VMware Tanzu [APP2438] by Myles Gray and Parul Kothari is about the Cloud Native Runtimes to get started with the serverless capabilities. Read more about the Cloud Native runtimes here.

Hands-On Labs

VMworld Hands-On Labs provide simulations and guided workshops during VMworld – a great way to get hands-on experience. Note that a Tech+ pass is required to attend these Guided Workshops, the simulations are available for General Pass attendees.

Two great hands-on labs got my attention, both around Tanzu Advanced. One lab is focussed on the operations, while the other is targeted on developers. Get started with these labs and get your hands dirty, there’s a simulation available as well as a guided workshop (content of the simulation/guided workshop may differ):

• Simulation: Introduction to Tanzu Advanced for Developers [ISM-HOL2235-95-ISM] – Mohammed Salem, Ryan Conley, Harrison Graydon
• Guided Workshop: VMware Tanzu (Advanced) for Developers [GWS-HOL-2235-01-MAP] – Mohammed Salem, Ryan Conley, Harrison Graydon
• Simulation: Introduction to Tanzu Advanced for Operators [ISM-HOL2235-95-ISM] – Peg Eaton, Selvakumar Jaganathan, Jason Harrison, Malini Kamalambal
• Guided Workshop: VMware Tanzu for Platform Operators [GWS-HOL-2234-02-MAP] – Peg Eaton, Selvakumar Jaganathan, Jason Harrison, Malini Kamalambal

More hands-on labs are available in the Content Catalog.

Tech+ Tutorial

Tech+ Tutorials are 60 minutes level 300 deep dive sessions! Sounds good, if you’re looking for great deep-dive content Tech+ Tutorials are for you. Note that a Tech+ pass is required to attend these sessions.

• Deep Dive Tutorial on how to do DevSecOps with VMware Tanzu Advanced [APP1670] by Keith Lee and Chris DeLashmutt is an interesting session on how to secure your container lifecycle and speed up the delivery of modern apps at scale.
• Running Frictionless Kubernetes Deployments with Tanzu Kubernetes Grid [APP3069], [APP3070], [APP2726], [APP2671]  with various presenters is a great session that dives into the details of Tanzu Kubernetes Grid, VMware’s standard/common implementation of Kubernetes. In the session the presenter will explain how TKG aids the enterprise in having a complete K8S package that is supported and robust.

More Tech+ Turorial sessions are available in the content catalog.

VMware {code}

VMware {code} sessions are available for all attendees.

• From vSphere Admin to Site Reliability Engineer – Where do I start? [CODE2795] by Ryan Conley and Michael Fleisher is great session if you want to learn how to level up your skillset from vSphere Admin to Site Reliability Engineer.
• The state of the TKG Art [CODE2780] presented by my community friend Robert Kloosterhuis. A must-see if if you would like to understand the different flavors of Tanzu Kubernetes Grid.

That’s it! I hope this post is useful and that it helps to create a great VMworld schedule. Also check Cormac’s article on his favourite Kubernetes session at VMworld 2021.