This topic describes how to install and operate VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition (TKGI) on the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) platform.
VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) is a unified SDDC platform that brings together vSphere, vSAN, NSX, and vRealize components into an integrated stack to deliver enterprise-ready infrastructure for private and public clouds. For more information, see the VCF Documentation.
You can install Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition (TKGI) v1.9 on VCF v4. You can use either the TKGI Management Console or Ops Manager to install TKGI on VCF. The installation procedure is generally the same that you would follow if you were not using the VCF platform, with the requirements and considerations documented here.
To install TKGI on VCF, you must adhere to the following requirements:
Deploy only the supported versions of TKGI and VCF. See the Release Notes for precise version compatibility.
Deploy vSphere 7.x with NSX-T 3.x using a converged VDS for vSphere and NSX-T traffic. You cannot use an N-VDS for NSX-T transport node traffic. Because of this requirement, a fresh installation is required. There is no way to migrate from N-VDS to VDS.
Deploy TKGI in the Workload domain only. VCF creates domains, including a Management and Workload domain. TKGI components, including Ops Manager, BOSH Director, TKGI API and DB, and Harbor, must be installed into the Workload domain.
Deploy TKGI using a single vSphere cluster, if you are using the TKGI Management Console. The reason is that currently the TKGI Management Console does not support using multiple converged VDSes. If you are using Ops Manager, you can use multiple vSphere clusters (with separate VDSes) as long as you are using a shared datastore (vSAN) to support PersistentVolumes.
When deploying TKGI on VCF, do not generate a new certificate for NSX-T Manager. If you do it will break the VCF to NSX-T Manager communication. You must use the existing NSX-T Manager certificate when configuring TKGI.
You must deploy the NSX-T Management plane in the VCF Management Domain using a VIP and an external load balancer in front of the NSX Manager nodes. See Configuring an NSX-T Management Plane Load Balancer for more information.
You can use the Management Console or Ops Manager to deploy TKGI on VCF, but there is a dependency on the type of topology you want to deploy.
TKGI supports two topologies for VCF: a Workload Domain with a single vSphere Cluster and a Workload Domain with multiple vSphere clusters.
This topology provides a single vSphere cluster in the Workload Domain managed by the vCenter Server instance on the Management Domain. This is topology is supported by the TKGI Management Console and using Ops Manager to install TKGI.
This topology provides two or more vSphere clusters in the Workload Domain managed by the vCenter instance on the Management Domain. You must use Ops Manager to install TKGI for this topology. You cannot implement this topology using the TKGI Management Console.
This section provides instructions for deploying TKGI once the Management and Workload Domains are created using VCF.
The instructions provided are high-level and assume hands-on experience deploying VCF, NSX-T, and TKGI. For assistance with installing VCF, see VMWare Cloud Foundation Deployment Guide. For assistance with installing NSX-T 3.0, see Installing and Configuring NSX-T Data Center v3.0 for Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition. For assistance with installing TKGI, see Installing Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition on vSphere.