When you deploy apps larger than 750 MB to VMware Tanzu Application Service for VMs (TAS for VMs), you must observe additional constraints and recommended settings.

Deployment considerations and limitations

The deployment process involves uploading, staging, and starting the app. For more information about the default time limits for uploading, staging, and starting an app, see Deployment in App Container Lifecycle.

To deploy large apps to TAS for VMs, ensure that:

  • The total size of the files to upload for your app does not exceed the maximum app file size that an admin sets in the App Developer Controls pane of the TAS for VMs tile.

  • Your network connection speed is sufficient to upload your app within the 15-minute limit. The minimum recommended speed is 874 KB per second. TAS for VMs provides an authorization token that is valid for a minimum of 20 minutes.

  • You allocate enough memory for all instances of your app. Use either the -m flag with cf push or set an app memory value in your manifest.yml file.

  • You allocate enough disk space for all instances of your app. Use either the -k flag with cf push or set a disk space allocation value in your manifest.yml file.

  • You allocate enough log quota for all instances of your app. Use either the -l flag with cf push or set a log rate limit in your manifest.yml file.

  • If you use an app manifest file, manifest.yml, specify adequate values for your app for attributes such as app memory, app start timeout, and disk space allocation. For more information about using app manifests, see Deploying with App Manifests.

  • The total size of environment variables for your app does not exceed 130 KB. This includes TAS for VMs system environment variables such as VCAP_SERVICES and VCAP_APPLICATION. For more information, see TAS for VMs Environment Variables.

  • You push only the files that are necessary for your app. To meet this requirement, push only the directory for your app, and remove unneeded files or use the .cfignore file to specify excluded files. For more information about specifying excluded files, see Ignore Unnecessary Files When Pushing in Considerations for Designing and Running an App in the Cloud.

  • You configure Cloud Foundry Command Line Interface (cf CLI) staging, startup, and timeout settings to override settings in the manifest, as necessary.

    • CF_STAGING_TIMEOUT: Controls the maximum time that the cf CLI waits for an app to stage after Cloud Foundry successfully uploads and packages the app. Value set in minutes.
    • CF_STARTUP_TIMEOUT: Controls the maximum time that the cf CLI waits for an app to start. Value set in minutes.
    • cf push -t TIMEOUT: Controls the maximum time that Cloud Foundry allows to elapse between starting an app and the first healthy response from the app. When you use this flag, the cf CLI ignores any app start timeout value set in the manifest. Value set in seconds. In cf CLI v7, you can also use the long form: cf push --app-start-timeout TIMEOUT

For more information about using the cf CLI to deploy apps, see Push in Getting Started with the cf CLI.

Important Changing the timeout setting for the cf CLI does not change the timeout limit for TAS for VMs server-side jobs such as staging or starting apps. You must change server-side timeouts in the manifest. Because of the differences between the TAS for VMs and cf CLI timeout values, your app might start successfully even though the cf CLI reports App failed. To review the actual status of your app, run cf apps APP-NAME, where APP-NAME is the name of your app.

Default settings and limitations summary table

The following table provides a summary of the constraints and default settings to consider when you deploy a large app to TAS for VMs:

Setting Note
App package size Maximum: Set in the App Developer Controls pane of the TAS for VMs tile
Authorization token grace period Default: 20 minutes, minimum
CF_STAGING_TIMEOUT cf CLI environment variable
Default: 15 minutes
CF_STARTUP_TIMEOUT cf CLI environment variable
Default: 5 minutes
cf push -t TIMEOUT App start timeout maximum
Default: 60 seconds
Disk space allocation Default: 1024 MB
Internet connection speed Recommended minimum: 874 KB per second
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