Installing and Managing Packages with the Tanzu CLI
The topics in this section explain how to install and manage packages with the Tanzu CLI. The sections below list CLI-managed packages that you can deploy to Tanzu Kubernetes Grid (TKG) workload clusters and the package repositories where they are published. To learn more about packages, see Packages in About Tanzu Kubernetes Grid.
Overview
CLI-managed packages extend Kubernetes clusters created by TKG. After creating a cluster, you can install packages from the tanzu-standard package repository or from package repositories that you add to the cluster. TKG manages the lifecycle of the tanzu-standard package repository.
NoteVMware supports the packages listed below when deployed to TKG clusters. Custom package configurations, modifications, and updates for non-TKG clusters is not supported.
Packages and Package Repositories
A CLI-managed package is an optional component of a Kubernetes cluster that you can install and manage with the Tanzu Command Line Interface (CLI). These packages are installed after cluster creation.
CLI-managed packages are distributed via package repositories. To install and manage package repositories and the packages they contain, you use the tanzu package plugin of the Tanzu CLI. For information about how to use the tanzu package plugin, see Install and Manage Packages.
Tanzu Standard Repository Contents
In most cases, when you install a CLI-managed package from the tanzu-standard package repository, you install it in a workload or a shared services cluster. If the package depends on other packages in the package repository, you must install them first. After you prepare your Tanzu Kubernetes Grid environment as described in Preparing to Install CLI-Managed Packages below, follow the links in the Installation procedure column. These topics provide step-by-step instructions on how to configure and install each of the packages in the tanzu-standard package repository. For information about how to use the tanzu package plugin, see Packages in Installing and Managing Packages with the Tanzu CLI.
| Package | Function | Dependencies | Installation location | Installation procedure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
cert-manager |
Certificate management | n/a | Workload or shared services cluster | Install cert-manager |
contour |
Container networking | Requires cert-manager |
Workload or shared services cluster | Implement Ingress Control with Contour |
external-dns |
Container registry | Requires cert-managerRequires external-dns if you want to create DNS records for Contour HTTPProxy resources |
Workload or shared services cluster | Implement Service Discovery with External DNS |
fluent-bit |
Log forwarding | n/a | Workload cluster | Implement Log Forwarding with Fluent Bit |
flux-source-controller |
Continuous delivery (CD) | n/a | Workload cluster | flux-source-controller Readme |
grafana |
Monitoring | Requires cert-manager, contour, and prometheus |
Workload cluster | Implement Monitoring with Prometheus and Grafana |
harbor |
Image registry | Requires cert-managerRequires contour or NSX ALB for ingressRecommends external-dns on infrastructure platforms with load balancing such as AWS, Azure, and vSphere with NSX Advanced Load Balancer, especially in production or other environments in which Harbor availability is important |
Workload or shared services cluster | Install Harbor for Service Registry |
helm-controller |
Continuous delivery (CD) | Requires flux-source-controller |
Workload cluster | helm-controller Readme |
kustomize-controller |
Continuous delivery (CD) | Requires flux-source-controller |
Workload cluster | kustomize-controller Readme |
multus-cni |
Container networking | Requires cert-manager |
Workload cluster | Deploy Multus on Workload Clusters |
prometheus |
Monitoring | Requires cert-manager |
Workload cluster | Implement Monitoring with Prometheus and Grafana |
whereabouts |
Container networking | Requires multus-cni |
Workload cluster | Deploy Multus with Whereabouts on Workload Clusters |
NotevSphere with Tanzu does not support deploying packages to a shared services cluster. Workload clusters deployed by vSphere with Tanzu can only use packaged services deployed to the workload clusters themselves.
Tanzu Application Platform Repository
The Tanzu Application Platform (TAP) repository contains CLI-managed packages useful for developers, such as Tanzu Application Platform, Tanzu Build Service, Cloud Native Runtimes, Application Accelerator for VMware Tanzu, and Cartographer.
For a list of packages that the TAP repository contains and how to install them in workload clusters, see the topics that cover package installation under Install Tanzu Application Platform in the Tanzu Application Platform documentation.
Tanzu Community Edition Repository
NoteThe VMware Tanzu Community Edition project is no longer actively maintained.
The open-source Tanzu Community Edition (TCE) project contains additional packages, some of which are used by Tanzu Kubernetes Grid and Tanzu Application Platform.
However, some packages in the Tanzu Community Edition (TCE) package repository are unvalidated or incompatible with clusters created by Tanzu Kubernetes Grid, and are not supported for TKG.
For a list of TCE packages, see the addons/packages directory in the TCE repository.
Package Versions
You can run different versions of the CLI-managed packages in different workload clusters. In a workload cluster, you can run either the latest supported version of a CLI-managed package or the versions that are released with the last two TKG releases. For example, if the latest supported version of Contour is v1.20.2 and the last two TKG releases had the Contour versions v1.18.2 and v1.17.2, you can run version v1.20.2, v1.18.2, or v1.17.2 of Contour in a workload cluster.
