VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Documentation

For information about what Tanzu Kubernetes Grid is and its capabilities, see About Tanzu Kubernetes Grid.

Find the Right TKG Docs for Your Deployment

Tanzu Kubernetes Grid uses a management cluster to create and manage workload clusters, and has different deployment options based on where that management cluster runs.

Select the tabs below to access the documentation that is relevant for each type of management cluster. For descriptions of the differences between the types of management cluster, and when to use one or the other, see Management Clusters: Supervisors and Standalone in About Tanzu Kubernetes Grid.

Standalone Management Cluster Docs

A standalone management cluster can deploy Kubernetes clusters on vSphere 7 and vSphere 8 when using the Supervisor is not an option.

A standalone management cluster is a special-purpose Kubernetes cluster that you deploy on an infrastructure and use to create workload clusters on that same infrastructure.

The documentation for Tanzu Kubernetes Grid 2.5 in the table below provides the latest information about how to install, configure, and use Tanzu Kubernetes Grid with standalone management clusters.

Important: Tanzu Kubernetes Grid v2.5 does not support the creation of standalone TKG management clusters on AWS and Azure. For more information, see End of Support for TKG Management and Workload Clusters on AWS and Azure in the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid v2.5 Release Notes.

Publication	Contents
About Tanzu Kubernetes Grid	Learn about the capabilities of the latest version of Tanzu Kubernetes Grid A glossary of TKG terminology Descriptions of the differences between Supervisors and standalone management clusters, and when to use one or the other Information about the workload clusters that you can create and the different ways in which you can create them Descriptions of Tanzu Kubernetes releases and custom node images Explanations about how identity and access management works in TKG Descriptions of how you can extend the capabilities of your clusters by installing different packages on them Information about Security and Compliance
Deploying and Managing Tanzu Kubernetes Grid 2.5 Standalone Management Clusters on vSphere	Install the Tanzu CLI and use it to deploy standalone management clusters on vSphere 7 and 8 without Supervisor. Install the Tanzu CLI and Other Tools for Use with Standalone Management Clusters and how to set up your environment for deployment of management clusters to vSphere, as well as how to deploy Tanzu Kubernetes Grid in environments that are not connected to the Internet Deploy management clusters by using both the installer interface and from a configuration file Register your management cluster with Tanzu Mission Control, so that you can manage it and use it to deploy workload clusters directly in the Tanzu Mission Control interface Build your own custom machine images to run in cluster nodes Configure identity and access management with LDAP or OIDC, and set up networking, including how to install NSX Advanced Load Balancer Upgrade Tanzu Kubernetes Grid, access logs and troubleshoot your deployment
Creating and Managing TKG 2.5 Workload Clusters on vSphere with the Tanzu CLI	Use the Tanzu CLI to provision TKG 2 workload clusters with Supervisor on vSphere 8 or with standalone TKG 2.5 management clusters Install the Tanzu CLI and Other Tools for Use with a vSphere with Tanzu Supervisor Create workload clusters on vSphere by using the Tanzu CLI Manage your clusters after deployment, including how to connect to, manage, scale, restart, and delete your clusters, as well as how to manage cluster secrets, configure machine health checks, and back up and restore clusters.
Installing and Using Tanzu Packages	Tanzu packages add extra functionality to clusters. The extra functionality that you can add to clusters includes: Certificate management Monitoring Ingress control Log forwarding DNS service discovery Support for multiple network interfaces with standalone management clusters Harbor container registry
Tanzu CLI Documentation	Learn about the architecture, commands, and options of the Tanzu CLI

For information about new features, compatibility, component versions, and resolved and known issues, see the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid v2.5.x Release Notes.

vSphere with Tanzu Supervisor Docs

Running Tanzu Kubernetes Grid with a Supervisor lets you create and operate workload clusters natively in vSphere with Tanzu and leverage many vSphere features, including vCenter SSO, vSphere networking, vSphere storage, vSphere security, and the Content Library. You can connect to a Supervisor using the Kubernetes CLI, the Tanzu CLI, and other interfaces. The embedded vSphere with Tanzu Supervisor is the recommended option for most use-cases on vSphere.

The full VMware vSphere with Tanzu Documentation provides information about how install and configure a Kubernetes control plane on vSphere 8 clusters to turn them into Supervisors. The individual publications listed in the table below describe how you can use a Supervisor to create and use Tanzu Kubernetes Grid clusters.

The version of TKG that is embedded in the Supervisor in the latest release of vSphere with Tanzu is TKG v2.2.

Publication	Contents
About Tanzu Kubernetes Grid	Learn about the capabilities of the latest version of Tanzu Kubernetes Grid A glossary of TKG terminology Descriptions of the differences between Supervisors and standalone management clusters, and when to use one or the other Information about the workload clusters that you can create and the different ways in which you can create them Descriptions of Tanzu Kubernetes releases and custom node images Explanations about how identity and access management works in TKG Descriptions of how you can extend the capabilities of your clusters by installing different packages on them Information about Security and Compliance
Using Tanzu Kubernetes Grid 2.2 with vSphere with Tanzu	Use Tanzu Kubernetes Grid 2.2 embedded in a Supervisor in vSphere with Tanzu on vSphere 8 Supervisor identity and access management for clusters Manage Tanzu Kubernetes releases Configure namespaces Provision, operate, and maintain clusters with `kubectl` and the vSphere plugin rather than with the Tanzu CLI Install packages and deploy workloads on clusters Use container registries Back up and restore workloads Deploy AI/ML workloads
Creating and Managing TKG 2.2 Workload Clusters with the Tanzu CLI	Use the Tanzu CLI to provision TKG 2.2 workload clusters with Supervisor on vSphere 8 Install the Tanzu CLI and Other Tools for Use with a vSphere with Tanzu Supervisor Create workload clusters on vSphere (including vSphere 8 with Supervisor), AWS, and Azure by using the Tanzu CLI Manage your clusters after deployment, including how to connect to, manage, scale, restart, and delete your clusters, as well as how to manage cluster secrets, configure machine health checks, and back up and restore clusters.
Installing and Using Tanzu Packages	Tanzu packages add extra functionality to clusters. The extra functionality that you can add to clusters includes: Certificate management Monitoring Ingress control Log forwarding DNS service discovery Support for multiple network interfaces with standalone management clusters Harbor container registry
Tanzu CLI Documentation	Learn about the architecture, commands, and options of the Tanzu CLI

If you are using Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service in vSphere with Tanzu in vSphere 7, see vSphere with Tanzu Configuration and Management.

TKG Solutions Workbooks and Reference Architectures

TKG is part of the Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations (TKO) solution, which provides a set of products and services that allow cloud infrastructure administrators and operators to create, manage, and monitor Kubernetes environments.

The Tanzu Reference Architecture Documentation contains validated reference architecture and designs for deploying Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations with different TKG versions and in varied deployment scenarios. The Reference Architecture docs also include Tanzu Solutions Workbooks that describe how to implement specific use cases with Tanzu and TKG.

Tanzu Solutions Workbooks	Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations Reference Architecture 2.3	Tanzu Kubernetes Grid 2.3 Air-Gapped Reference Design and Deployment
How to fulfil specific use cases when using TKG with Tanzu Application Catalog, NSX Advanced Load Balancer, databases, and so on. Workbooks for new use cases are added regularly.	Describes how to deploy Tanzu Kubernetes Grid and other components in validated configurations on different platforms, both on premises and in the cloud.	Describes how to create management and workload clusters in a specific and validated configuration in air-gapped environments, for both vSphere and AWS deployments.

Note: The TKG v2.3 Reference Architecture and Reference Design docs also apply to TKG v2.4. New Reference Architectures will be published soon.

TKG Compliance and Hardening

TKG releases are continuously validated against the Defense the Information Systems Agency Security Technical Implementation Guides (DISA STIG), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) framework, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines. Information about STIG and NSA/CISA compliance is available for all supported TKG versions:

TKG Docs Versions, Formats, and Support

TKG Docs Versions

The Tanzu Kubernetes Grid documentation in HTML reflects the latest minor release of each Tanzu Kubernetes Grid version. For example, version 2.5 contains updates for all 2.5.x patch releases.

TKG Docs Formats

If you are logged in to docs.vmware.com with your VMware Customer Connect account, you can use MyLibrary to create custom documentation collections, that contain only the content that meets your specific information needs.

In addition to HTML, all our documentation also comes in PDF format, which you can access by selecting the Download PDF icon on any HTML page in a publication.

TKG Docs Support

Tanzu Kubernetes Grid operates the N-2 Lifecycle Policy, wherein the latest minor release and the two minor releases that immediately precede it are supported, with a minimum support duration of 12 months. To allow you time to upgrade, documentation for the most recent unsupported version of TKG remains online until support for the next oldest version ends. PDF documentation for older unsupported releases of Tanzu Kubernetes Grid is available for download in a ZIP archive format from the table of contents on the left of this page. For information about the dates on which support ends for given TKG versions, see the VMware Product Lifecycle Matrix.

Additional Information

In addition to this documentation, VMware provides other resources to help you to learn more about Tanzu Kubernetes Grid.

TKG Tech Zone: Visit the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Tech Zone to find TKG technical articles, videos, demos, and other resources.
TKG Product Information: Find TKG whitepapers, solution briefs, FAQs, videos, customer testimonials, and other resources on the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid product page.
TKG Blog: VMware posts about Tanzu Kubernetes Grid news, product releases, and events on the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Blog.
Other Tanzu Documentation: Visit the Tanzu Documentation and Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations home pages to learn more about the other products and solutions in the Tanzu Portfolio.
Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition: Another product in the Tanzu Portfolio, Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition (TKGI) allows you to deploy and operate Kubernetes clusters from Tanzu Operations Manager and Tanzu Application Service. TKGI uses different APIs to Tanzu Kubernetes Grid and is not part of the TKG publications. For information, see the TKGI documentation.