Installing and Configuring TAS for VMs [Windows]

This topic tells you how to install and configure the VMware Tanzu Application Service for VMs [Windows] tile.

The TAS for VMs [Windows] tile installs Windows Diego Cells in your Operations Manager deployment.

The TAS for VMs [Windows] tile inherits settings from the VMware Tanzu Application Service for VMs (TAS for VMs) tile and also includes additional configuration settings.

To install, configure, and deploy TAS for VMs [Windows]:

• In an environment with Internet access:

  1. Complete the prerequisites. See Prerequisites.
  2. Download and install the TAS for VMs [Windows] tile. See Install the Tile.
  3. Configure required settings for the tile. See Configure the Tile.
  4. Configure resources for the tile. See Configure Tile Resources.
  5. Upload the Windows stemcell to the tile. See Upload the Stemcell.
  6. Deploy the tile. See Deploy the Tile.

• In an air gap environment, complete the steps in Install and Configure TAS for VMs [Windows] in an Air-Gapped Environment below.

Prerequisites

Before you install and configure the TAS for VMs [Windows] tile, ensure that you meet the requirements to use the Windows FS Injector tool. For more information, see Windows FS injector prerequisites.

Windows FS Injector prerequisites

You use the Windows FS Injector tool to install the TAS for VMs [Windows] tile. The Windows FS Injector tool requires:

• The git and tar executables must be in your %PATH%. If git and tar are not in your %PATH%, either add your git and tar executable locations to your existing %PATH% configuration, or copy the git.exe and tar.exe executable files to a directory in your %PATH%.

• Your installation environment must allow the Windows FS Injector tool access to all of the following URLs:

  • https://network.pivotal.io, for downloading the tile and injector
  • https://s3.amazonaws.com/
  • https://registry.hub.docker.com/
  • https://production.cloudflare.docker.com
  • https://go.microsoft.com/
  • https://winlayers.cdn.mscr.io
  • https://mcr.microsoft.com
  • https://msecnd.net, or any domain within the Microsoft Windows Azure Content Delivery Network For more information about the Windows Azure Content Delivery Network, see Introducing the Windows Azure Content Delivery Network in the Microsoft Azure documentation.

  Note To ensure the authenticity of Microsoft container images, Microsoft does not permit the distribution of its base images. This includes Microsoft container images consumed through Docker Hub, which are actually delivered by an Microsoft CDN endpoint.

Installing the TAS for VMs [Windows] tile

To install the TAS for VMs [Windows] tile:

1. Go to the VMware Tanzu Application Service for VMs [Windows] page on Broadcom Support.

2. Download the VMware Tanzu Application Service for VMs [Windows] product file.

3. Download the Windows FS Injector tool for your workstation OS. The Injector tool, winfs-injector, is an executable binary file that adds the Windows Server container base image into the product file. This step requires Internet access and can take up to 20 minutes.

   Important You need the git and tar executable files in your %PATH% to run winfs-injector.exe. For example, copy git.exe and tar.exe to a directory in your %PATH%.

4. Add the Windows Server container base image to the product file:

   winfs-injector ^
     --input-tile PASW-DOWNLOAD-PATH ^
     --output-tile PASW-IMPORTABLE-PATH
   

   Where: * PASW-DOWNLOAD-PATH is the path and filename to the TAS for VMs [Windows] product file you downloaded. * PASW-IMPORTABLE-PATH is the output path for the importable product file.
   For example:

   C:\Users\admin\> winfs-injector ^
   --input-tile c:\temp\pas-windows-2.9.0-build.1.pivotal ^
   --output-tile c:\temp\pas-windows-2.9.0-build.1-INJECTED.pivotal
   

   This step takes up to 20 minutes to complete.

   Important If you have the `BOSH_ALL_PROXY` environment variable set, this can cause the winfs-injector to fail, with an error like the following:
   -- Failed downloading 'golang-1-windows/789a42163ee8b705cfcd8a62e590d5cbf01322c773497d6c53247cf6a4e39965' (sha1=sha256:55db4fe9804edfff5f01c5cee0d2541333a71f40c905135912c9c22783e038c1)
   If this happens, un-set the `BOSH_ALL_PROXY` environment variable, and then try again.

5. Go to the VMware Tanzu Operations Manager Installation Dashboard and click Import a Product.

6. To add the TAS for VMs [Windows] tile to the Import a Product product list, select the importable PASW-IMPORTABLE-PATH file on your workstation.

7. To add the TAS for VMs [Windows] tile to your staging area, click + under the VMware Tanzu Application Service for VMs [Windows] product listing.

Configuring the TAS for VMs [Windows] tile

The following sections describe how to configure the settings for the TAS for VMs [Windows] tile.

Assigning availability zones and networks

Assign jobs to your Availability Zones (AZs) and networks.

To configure AZs and networks:

1. Click the TAS for VMs [Windows] tile.

2. Select Assign AZs and Networks or Assign Networks. The name of the pane varies depending on your IaaS.

3. Select the first AZ under Place singleton jobs. Tanzu Operations Manager runs any job with a single instance in this AZ.

4. Select all AZs under Balance other jobs. Tanzu Operations Manager balances instances of jobs with more than one instance across the AZs that you specify.

5. From the Network drop down menu, choose the runtime network that you created when you configured the BOSH Director tile.

6. Click Save.

Configuring VMs

In VM Options, you configure settings for accessing your VMs.

To configure VM access:

1. Click VM Options.

2. Select one of the following for Administrator passwords:

3. To randomize the admin password, select Use randomized password. If you select this option, the admin password is not retrievable by an operator. This is the default selection.

4. To set the same admin password for every Windows Diego Cell, select Configure a password and enter a password in Password. If you select this option, it specifies a password for all VMs that can be used to access any Windows Diego Cell.

5. (Optional) To start the Microsoft beta port of the OpenSSH daemon on port 22 for all VMs, select the Access VMs with BOSH SSH (beta)) check box. If you select this option, it allows users to SSH into Windows VMs with the bosh ssh command and enter a CMD terminal as an admin user.

6. (Optional) To configure a Key Management Service (KMS) that your volume-licensed Windows Diego Cell can register with:

   1. Under KMS, select Use.
   2. For the Hostname field, enter the hostname for your KMS server.
   3. For the Port field, enter he port number of your KMS server. The default port number is 1688.

7. Click Save.

Configuring Smoke Tests

In Smoke Tests, you specify the org and space where smoke tests are run.

In the org and space that you specify, the Smoke Test errand pushes an app to the org. The app runs basic function tests against your TAS for VMs [Windows] deployment after an installation or update.

The Smoke Test errand is on by default. You can deactivate the Smoke Test errand in the Errands pane. For more information, see Configure Errands.

For help configuring these fields, see Configure Smoke Tests in Installing and Configuring TAS for VMs [Windows] in the VMware documentation.

To configure smoke tests:

1. Select Smoke Tests, followed by one of these options:

2. If you have a shared apps domain, select A temporary space within the system org, which creates a temporary space within the system org for running smoke tests and deletes the space afterwards. Otherwise, select Smoke test location a specified domain, org, and space. Complete the following fields to configure where TAS for VMs [Windows] pushes an app to run smoke tests:

   • For Smoke test location, enter the location where to deploy apps when running smoke tests.
   • For Org, enter the org TAS for VMs [Windows] you can use when pushing an app to run smoke tests.
   • For Space, enter the space TAS for VMs [Windows] you can use when pushing an app to run smoke tests.
   • For Apps Domain, enter the domain TAS for VMs [Windows] you can use when pushing an app to run smoke tests.

Configuring advanced features

Advanced Features includes new functions that might have certain constraints. Although these features are fully supported, VMware recommends caution when using them in production environments.

For help configuring these fields, see Configure Advanced Features in Installing and Configuring TAS for VMs [Windows] in the VMware documentation.

The following sections describe how to configure the advanced features.

Diego Cell memory and disk overcommit

If your apps do not use the full allocation of disk space and memory set in Resource Config, you use this feature. These settings control the amount to overcommit disk and memory resources to each host VM.

For example, you can to use the overcommit if your apps use a small amount of disk and memory capacity compared to the amounts set in the Resource Config settings for Windows Diego Cell.

Note Due to the risk of app failure and the deployment-specific nature of disk and memory use, VMware has no recommendation for how much, if any, memory or disk space to overcommit.

To enable overcommit:

1. Select Advanced Features.

2. In the Diego Cell memory capacity field, enter the value in MB for the total amount of memory to allocate to each Diego Cell. See the Diego Cell row in Resource Config for the current Diego Cell memory capacity settings that this field overrides.

3. In the Diego Cell disk capacity field, enter the value in MB, for the total amount of disk to allocate to each Diego Cell. See the Diego Cell row in Resource Config for the current Diego Cell disk capacity settings that this field overrides.

4. Click Save.

Important Entries made to each of these two settings set the total amount of resources allocated, not the overage.

Gorouter app identity verification (beta)

You can choose the method the Gorouter uses to verify app identity. Verifying app identity using TLS or mutual TLS (mTLS) enables encryption between the Gorouter and app containers and guards against misrouting during control plane failures. This feature is disabled by default.

For more information about Gorouter route consistency modes, see Preventing Misrouting in HTTP Routing.

To configure app identity verification:

1. Select Advanced Features.

2. Under Gorouter app identity verification (beta), select one of the following options:

   • The Gorouter uses TLS to verify app identity: Activates the Gorouter to verify app identity using TLS. This is the default option.
   • The Gorouter and apps use mutual TLS to verify each other’s identity.
   • Disallow app identity verification and mutual TLS: Deactivates app identity verification and mutual TLS. Activates the Gorouter and your apps to verify each other’s identity using TLS. Before you turn on this option, be aware of the following:
     • This option deactivates TCP routing because app containers accept incoming communication only from the Gorouter.
     • If you activate mTLS in the TAS for VMs [Windows] tile, you must also activate mTLS in the App Containers pane of the TAS for VMs tile.
     • You need v2.3 or later of both TAS for VMs and Isolation Segment. The Gorouter and Diego Cell components in Pivotal Cloud Foundry v2.2 and earlier do not support mTLS handshakes.

3. Click Save.

Custom Windows Diego Cell overlay subnet

The IP range for the overlay network of your Windows Diego Cell. The default range is 172.30.0.0/22.

IP address space for container networking. If this conflicts with any internal IP addresses that your organization uses, you can customize this subnet. Unlike in TAS for VMs [Windows] deployments using Linux Diego Cells, you configure this subnet per Diego Cell. When you configure a custom subnet for a Windows Diego Cell, ensure the following:

• The CIDR range of your custom subnet does not conflict with any resources that your apps might need to use.

• The subnet is large enough to accommodate the number of apps you expect to have running on each Diego Cell.

To configure a custom Windows Diego Cell overlay subnet:

1. In the TAS for VMs [Windows] tile, select Advanced Features.

2. For Diego Cell overlay subnet, enter the subnet you want to configure for your Diego Cell.

   WARNING: Setting the subnet too small limits the number of containers that can run on each Windows Diego Cell.

3. Click Save.

Configuring errands

Errands are scripts that Tanzu Operations Manager runs when it installs or uninstalls a product. For example, a new version of TAS for VMs [Windows]. There are two types of errands: post-deploy errands run after the product is installed, and pre-delete errands run before the product is uninstalled.

By default, Tanzu Operations Manager runs all errands.

In Errands, you can change these run rules. For each errand, click On to run it each time Tanzu Operations Manager installs or uninstalls a product, or Off to never run it.

For more information about how Tanzu Operations Manager manages errands, see Managing errands in Tanzu Operations Manager.

To configure errands:

1. Select Errands.

2. To ensure that you receive the most up-to-date HWC buildpack, set the Install HWC Buildpack Errand to On.

3. To ensure that a smoke test is run against your TAS for VMs [Windows] installation, set the Smoke Test Errand to On.

4. Click Save.

Important This beta feature checks only that the client certificate is signed by the CA using mTLS. It does not include SAN (Subject Alternative Name) checks of the presented client certificates.

Configuring Isolation Segments (Optional)

To deploy your TAS for VMs [Windows] app workloads to an isolation segment, select App Containers and follow the procedure in Assign a Tile to an Isolation Segment in Windows Diego Cells in Isolation Segments.

(Optional) Configure Windows Authentication

To configure Windows Diego Cells to allow app containers to perform Windows Authentication, select Windows Authentication and follow the procedure in Configuring the tile for Windows Authentication in Windows Authentication for .NET apps.

Important VMware strongly recommends using an isolation segment for Windows Authentication, as all apps in the TAS for VMs [Windows] installation have have access to the GMSA credentials.

Configuring System Logging (Optional)

To configure Windows Diego Cells to send VM logs to an external syslog server, select System Logging and follow the procedure in Forwarding Logs to a Syslog Server in Troubleshooting Windows Diego Cells.

Configuring DNS Search Domains (Optional)

To configure DNS search domains for your app containers:

1. Click the VMware Tanzu Application Service for VMs tile in the Installation Dashboard.
2. Select the Networking pane.
3. In the DNS search domains text box, enter DNS search domains as a comma-separated list.
4. Click Save.

Configuring tile resources

In Resource Config, you must associate load balancers with the VMs in your deployment to enable traffic.

To configure your tile resources:

1. Select Resource Config.

2. Use the drop-down menus to configure Windows Diego Cell. The following table shows the recommended Windows Diego Cell disk size for your IaaS:

   IaaS	Recommended Windows Diego Cell Disk Size
   AWS	100 GB
   Azure	150 GB
   GCP	150 GB
   vSphere	100 GB

   Note Windows stemcells in the v2019.x line support ephemeral disks.

3. Provision your Master Compilation Job with at least 100 GB of disk space.

4. Click Save.

Uploading the stemcell

After configuring resources for the TAS for VMs [Windows] tile, you must upload the Windows stemcell to the tile.

To upload the stemcell:

1. In the TAS for VMs [Windows] tile, select Stemcell Library.

2. Retrieve the stemcell that you downloaded or created in Downloading or Creating a Windows Stemcell.

3. Follow the procedure in Importing and Managing Stemcells to upload the Windows stemcell to TAS for VMs [Windows].

Note If you use vSphere, you must create your own stemcell. The default root disk size of Windows stemcells v2019.x line is 30 GB. VMware recommends setting the root disk size of your Windows stemcell for vSphere to 30 GB. For more information, see Creating a Windows Stemcell for vSphere Using stembuild.

Deploying the tile

After uploading the Windows stemcell to the TAS for VMs [Windows] tile, you are ready to deploy the tile.

To deploy the TAS for VMs [Windows] tile:

1. Go to the Tanzu Operations Manager Installation Dashboard.

2. Click Review Pending Changes.

3. Select the TAS for VMs [Windows] tile and review the changes. For more information, see Reviewing Pending Product Changes.

4. Click Apply Changes.

(Optional) Creating more tiles

To run Windows Diego Cells in multiple isolation segments, you must create and configure additional TAS for VMs [Windows] tiles. For more information, see Windows Diego Cells in Isolation Segments.

Installing and configuring TAS for VMs [Windows] in an air-gapped environment

To install, configure, and deploy TAS for VMs [Windows] in an air-gapped environment:

1. Follow the steps in Preparing a Windows Rootfs Image in a Private Registry.

2. Follow the steps in Install the Tile with the following exceptions:

   • To add the Windows Server container base image to the product file, replace the Internet-enabled winfs-injector command line with the winfs-injector procedure in Adding the Windows Server Container Base image to the product file.
3. Configure required settings for the tile. See Configuring the tile.
4. Configure resources for the tile. See Configuring tile resources.
5. Upload the Windows stemcell to the tile. See Uploading the stemcell.
6. Deploy the tile. See Deploying the tile.

Preparing a Windows rootfs image in a private registry

To create a TAS for VMs [Windows] tile, a windows file-system container image is typically fetched from a Docker registry. An administrator can fetch the windows file-system image from either DockerHub, the publicly hosted DockerHub repository, or a privately hosted container image registry.

To prepare a windows file-system container image in a private registry:

1. Create an accessible Windows Server 2019 machine in your environment.
2. Install Docker on this Windows Server 2019 machine.
3. Configure this Windows machine’s Docker daemon to allow non-redistributable artifacts to be pushed to your private registry. For information about configuring your Docker daemon, see the Docker documentation.
4. Open a shell on the Windows machine.

5. To download the windows file-system container image, run the following command:

   docker pull cloudfoundry/windows2016fs:2019
   

6. To tag the Windows container image, run the following command:

   docker tag cloudfoundry/windows2016fs:2019  REGISTRY-ROOT/cloudfoundry/windows2016fs:2019
   

   Where REGISTRY-ROOT is your private registry’s URI.

7. To upload the Windows Container image to your accessible private registry, run the following command:

   docker push IMAGE-URI
   

   Where IMAGE-URI is the URI to the Windows rootfs image in your private registry. Your image URI must follow the pattern: my.private.registry/cloudfoundry/windows2016fs:2019.

Adding the Windows Server container base image to the product file

To add the Windows Server container base image to the product file in an air-gapped environment, run the following:

winfs-injector ^
  --input-tile PASW-DOWNLOAD-PATH ^
  --output-tile PASW-IMPORTABLE-PATH ^
  --registry PASW-REGISTRY-URI

Where:

• PASW-DOWNLOAD-PATH is the path and filename to the PASW product file you downloaded.
• PASW-IMPORTABLE-PATH is the output path for the importable product file.
• PASW-REGISTRY-URI is the URI to the container registry hosting your cloudfoundry/windows2016fs image.

For example:

C:\Users\admin> winfs-injector ^
--input-tile c:\temp\pas-windows-2.6.0-build.1.pivotal ^
--output-tile c:\temp\pas-windows-2.6.0-build.1-INJECTED.pivotal ^
--registry https://my.registry.com

For information about troubleshooting winfs-injector, see Missing Local Certificates for Windows File System Injector in Troubleshooting Windows Diego Cells.