Enable Plans with Windows Worker Nodes

If you used Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition Management Console to deploy Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition on vSphere, and you created Plans that implement Windows worker nodes, you must use Operations Manager to provide BOSH with a vSphere stemcell for Windows Server. See the release notes for the correct version of vSphere stemcell for this release.

Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition Management Console does not provide a mechanism for the automatic upload and installation of the Windows stemcell. Because Operations Manager and BOSH Director for vSphere are deployed when you deploy Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition from Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition Management Console, you can only install the stemcell after you have deployed Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition.

After you deploy Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition from the management console, any plans that use Windows worker nodes are ignored until you install a Windows Stemcell and configure the management console to use it.

Prerequisites

• During Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition deployment, you configured a plan that implements Windows worker nodes. For information about creating a plan with Windows worker nodes, see Configure Plans in Deploy Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition by Using the Configuration Wizard.
• If you did not create a plan that uses Windows worker nodes when you deployed Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition, or if you have upgraded Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition Management Console from a version that did not support Windows worker nodes, you can use Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition Management Console to reconfigure the plans of your existing deployment. For information about reconfiguring Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition in the management console, see Reconfigure Your Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition Deployment.

Step 1: Create a Windows Server Stemcell

vSphere stemcells for Windows Server version 2019 are not available on the Broadcom Support. You must create Windows Server stemcells for vSphere by using Stembuild and your own Windows Server ISO.

Create a vSphere stemcell for Windows Server version 2019 by following the instructions in Creating a Windows Stemcell for vSphere Using Stembuild.

Step 2: Install the Windows Server Stemcell in Operations Manager

After you have created your stemcell, you must upload it to Operations Manager and install it in BOSH. You can use either the Operations Manager interface or the Operations Manager CLI. These instructions describe how to upload and install the stemcell by using the Operations Manager interface.

1. Log in to Operations Manager. For information about how to log in to Operations Manager and the credentials to use, see Log In to the Operations Manager UI.
2. Select Stemcell Library.
3. Click Import Stemcell and navigate to the location on your local machine where you saved the stemcell .tgz file in Step 1 above.
4. Click Save.

Step 3: Reconfigure Your Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition Deployment to Use the Stemcell

After you have created a Windows stemcell and used Operations Manager to install it in BOSH Director for vSphere, you must redeploy your Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition with the Windows stemcell installed.

1. In Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition Management Console, expand Configuration and select TKGI Configuration.
2. If you did not already create a plan that uses Windows worker nodes, or if you have upgraded this Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition instance from a version that did not support Windows worker nodes, expand the Plans section and create or reconfigure a plan that uses Windows worker nodes.
3. If necessary, reconfigure any other options that show a red status bar or that you want to change.
4. Click Generate Configuration to view the generated YAML file.
5. Click Apply Configuration to redeploy this Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition instance.
6. After the deployment finishes, verify that the Windows Stemcell Status is INSTALLED on the TKG Integrated Edition view.

You can now deploy Kubernetes clusters in plans that implement Windows worker nodes.