Overview of workloads

This topic provides you with an overview of workload types in Tanzu Application Platform (commonly known as TAP).

Workload features

Tanzu Application Platform allows you to quickly build and test applications regardless of your familiarity with Kubernetes.

You can turn source code into a workload that runs in a container with a URL. You can also use supply chains to build applications that process work from a message queue, or provide arbitrary network services.

A workload allows you to choose application specifications, such as repository location, environment variables, service binding, and so on. For more information about workload creation and management, see Commands Details.

The Out of the Box supply chains support a range of workload types, including

  • Scalable web applications (web)
  • Traditional application servers (server)
  • Background applications (worker)
  • Serverless functions

You can use a collection of workloads of different types to deploy microservices that function as a logical application. Alternatively, you can deploy your entire application as a single monolith.

If you build your own supply chains, you can define additional deployment methods beyond those in the Out of the Box supply-chain templates.

Available workload types

When using the Out of the Box supply chain, the apps.tanzu.vmware.com/workload-type annotation selects which style of deployment is suitable for your application. The valid values are:

Type Description Indicators
web Scalable web applications
  • Scales based on request load
  • Automatically exposed by HTTP Ingress
  • Does not perform background work
  • Works with Service Bindings
  • Stateless
  • Quick startup time
server Traditional applications
  • Provides HTTP or TCP services on the network
  • Exposed by external Ingress or LoadBalancer settings
  • Might perform background work from a queue
  • Works with Service Bindings
  • Fixed scaling, no disk persistence
  • Startup time not an issue
worker Background applications
  • Does not provide network services
  • Not exposed externally as a network service
  • Performs background work from a queue
  • Works with Service Bindings
  • Fixed scaling, no disk persistence
  • Startup time not an issue
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