Automation Assembler offers several options for configuring, managing and deploying Kubernetes virtual workloads.

The following use cases cover working with Tanzu Kubernetes resources in Automation Assembler.
  • You can create a vSphere with Tanzu Kubernetes configuration, which requires only a suitable vCenter cloud account and a cluster plan to access the native vSphere Tanzu Kubernetes capabilities. This use case allows you to leverage a vCenter cloud account to access supervisor namespaces to deploy vSphere Kubernetes-based workloads. You can also integrate external Kubernetes resources in Automation Assembler
  • You can integrate VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition (TKGI), formerly PKS. This type of Kubernetes implementation requires a PKS integration in Automation Assembler. It does not require an Automation Assembler cluster plan.
  • You can create a Red Hat OpenShift integration with Automation Assembler to configure, manage and deploy Kubernetes resources.
Note: Many of the Kubernetes integration capabilities listed in this section including TKG integration and TMC integration will be deprecated and removed from Automation Assembler. All users should plan to stop using this functionality and start leveraging the Cloud Consumption Interface. This change will require the manual migration of existing cloud templates. See Automating Kubernetes-based workloads in Automation Assembler.

Working with vSphere with Tanzu Kubernetes Clusters

vSphere 7.x contains significant enhancements that enable you to work with Kubernetes natively to manage both virtual machines and containers from one interface. Automation Assembler enables users to leverage the vSphere with Tanzu Kubernetes capabilities embedded within vSphere. You can access vSphere with Tanzu Kubernetes functionality via a vCenter cloud account with a vSphere implementation that contains supervisor clusters. This implementation enables you to manage both conventional virtual machines and Kubernetes clusters from vCenter.

For Tanzu Kubernetes supervisor namespaces, users must have access to an applicable vSphere SSO so that they can log in to a provided link to the supervisor namespace details. Then, they can download a customized Kubectl with vSphere authentication so they can use their supervisor namespace.

To use this functionality, you must have a vCenter with vSphere cloud account that has supervisor namespaces configured. After a users has logged in they can begin working with applicable namespaces.

Working with VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition (TKGI) or Openshift Integrations

For TKGI, external clusters, or Openshift configurations, Automation Assembler provides access to a Kubeconfig that enables users to access applicable Kubernetes clusters.

After you create a TKGI or OpenShift integration, applicable Kubernetes clusters become available in Automation Assembler and you can add and create Kubernetes components to Automation Assembler to support management of cluster and container applications. These applications form the basis of self-service deployments that are available from the Service Broker catalog.