VMware Cloud Director App Launchpad 2.1 Release Notes

VMware Cloud Director App Launchpad 2.1 \| 28 OCT 2021 \| Build 18834930 Check for additions and updates to these release notes.

VMware Cloud Director App Launchpad 2.1 | 28 OCT 2021 | Build 18834930

Check for additions and updates to these release notes.

What's New

VMware Cloud Director App Launchpad 2.1 introduces the following new capabilities:

Automated Kubernetes cluster deployment on routed networks

Tenant users can deploy container workloads to Kubernetes clusters managed by VMware Cloud Director Container Service Extension within a routed NSX-V/T network.
Secure Cloud Director catalog download

Service providers can securely pull applications from VMware Marketplace to their VMware Cloud Director catalogs without the need for an internet-facing IP address.
Enhanced support for custom applications
- Service providers can define custom fields and custom sizing templates on specific applications. Optionally, they can set a default sizing template for an application.
- Service providers can customize the visibility of global and application custom fields to be displayed either on the application detail page or the application launch page.
Brand your App Launchpad User Dashboard

Tenant administrators can customize the image and welcome message on their Applications Marketplace tab of the user interface dashboard.
Application management enhancements
- Tenant administrators can view historical data of their consumption over time.
- Tenant users can filter applications by catalog name on their Applications Marketplace and choose upto five catalogs.
- Tenant users can launch new applications from their My Applications tab.
- Tenant users can filter their workloads by name, type and status.

Upgrade

You can upgrade to App Launchpad 2.1 from version 2.0. See Upgrade App Launchpad.

Supported Browsers

App Launchpad is compatible with the current major and previous major release of the following browsers:

Google Chrome
Mozilla Firefox
Microsoft Edge

Note: You access App Launchpad by using the VMware Cloud Director service provider admin and tenant portals. The Web browsers that App Launchpad supports depend on the VMware Cloud Director version that you run.

Product Documentation

In addition to the current release notes, you can use the App Launchpad documentation set at https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Cloud-Director-App-Launchpad/index.html.

Known Issues

New - Importing all Bitnami Helm Chart applications from VMware Marketplace fails with an error

When the service provider tries to import all Bitnami Helm Chart applications from VMware Marketplace, at the same time, the process fails with an error.

Workaround: Import the applications page by page.
You cannot launch a newly imported container application

After you import a container application, you are unable to launch it and it has the following status:

Chart download link is not readily configured for the container application

Workaround: Restart the App Launchpad service by running the command systemctl restart alp.
CSE clusters appear as unavailable in App Launchpad locations

CSE clusters with Edge NAT setting for NSX-V-backed VMware Cloud Director might appear as unavailable in App Launchpad locations. If you set the CSE cluster's control plan node with an Edge NAT rule on NSX-V manager and its port mapping is set to Any, the cluster might appear as unavailable and you cannot use it for container deployment.

Workaround: Set the NAT rule port to a dedicated port number, for example 6443.
Importing OVF applications to a catalog fails with an error

When you try to import an OVF application to a catalog, the process fails with the following error: InvalidAlgorithmParameterException: the trustAnchors parameter must be non-empty
Workaround:
1. Login to the App Launchpad server as root or sudo user.
2. Navigate to the local host file and add a new host mapping for ${public-cloud-director-FQDN} to ${internal-cloud-director-IP}.
3. To specify the public VMware Cloud Director FQDN in the parameter --url, run the command alp connect again.
4. Restart the App Launchpad service by running the command systemctl restart alp.
App Launchpad cannot connect to VMware Cloud Director version 10.3 or later via the AMQP SSL port

When VMware Cloud Director 10.3 or later configures the extensibility with the RabbitMQ SSL port, the connection between App Launchpad and VMware Cloud Director via the AMQP SSL port fails.
Workaround:
1. Navigate to the App Launchpad server machine and open the file /etc/ALPEnvironments.
2. Change the value of the following keys to true and save.
```
alp.vcd-endpoint.amqp-accept-all-ssl=true
alp.vcd-endpoint.amqp-use-ssl=true
```
3. Restart App Launchpad by using the systemctl restart alp command.
As an alternative, you can configure VMware Cloud Director extensibility with non-SSL port.
Bitnami VM applications are in UNKNOWN state after an import from VMware marketplace.

When the service provider tries to import new apps from a catalog, the apps are consistently in UKNOWN state.
1. Open the VMware Cloud Director provider portal.
2. Click on Resources and open the tenant portal for the organization AppLaunchpad.
3. Click Libraries.
4. Click Catalog and select the catalog from which you are trying to import a vApp.
5. Click All Actions, then click Subscribe Settings, and enable theAutomatically download the content from an external catalog option.
6. Click Save, select the catalog and then click SYNC.
  
  The app status synchronizes between VMware Cloud Director and Marketplace after a short period of time.
Bitnami VM applications reappear in the portal after they are deleted

When the service provider tries to delete a VM application, the application initially disappears, but it reappears in the application datagrid after a short period of time.
1. Open the VMware Cloud Director provider portal.
2. Click on Resources and open the tenant portal for the organization AppLaunchpad.
3. Click Libraries.
4. Click Catalog and select the catalog from which you imported the vApp and click SYNC.
  
  The app status synchronizes between VMware Cloud Director and Marketplace after a short period of time.
Bitnami VM applications are not imported successfully from VMware Marketplace

If you import Bitnami VM applications to multiple VMware Cloud Director sites from VMware Marketplace, and in the catalog selection, you choose or create catalogs with the same name, the import fails.

Workaround: On different VMware Cloud Director sites, use different catalog names during app import.