Attach an existing cluster to your organization using the Tanzu Mission Control console.

To attach a cluster you run a set of extensions on the cluster and associate it with a cluster group in Tanzu Mission Control.

Prerequisites

You use both the Tanzu Mission Control console and the Kubernetes CLI to attach a cluster.
  • Open a browser and log in to the Tanzu Mission Control console.
  • Open a command window and connect to your cluster with kubectl.
Make sure you have the appropriate permissions.
  • To attach a cluster, you must be associated with the clustergroup.edit role on the cluster group in which you want to attach the cluster.
  • On the cluster, you must have admin permissions to install and run the cluster agent extensions.

If you plan to use a local image registry, you need to create credentials and download the image registries. For more information, see Managing a Local Image Registry.

If you have a proxy server that manages outbound traffic for your clusters, you need to enable the cluster to communicate with Tanzu Mission Control through the proxy.
  • You can create a proxy configuration object in Tanzu Mission Control and use it when registering, provisioning, or attaching the cluster. For more information, see Connecting Through a Proxy.
  • You can enable all outbound traffic to Tanzu Mission Control for the proxy server by adding some URLs to the proxy server's allowlist, as described in What Happens When You Attach a Cluster in VMware Tanzu Mission Control Concepts.

Procedure

  1. In the left navigation pane of the Tanzu Mission Control console, click Clusters.
  2. On the Clusters page, click Add Cluster, and then choose Attach cluster from the dropdown.
  3. Select the cluster group in which you want to register the cluster, and enter a name for the cluster.
    This name appears in the list of clusters on the Cluster page.
  4. You can optionally provide a description and one or more labels.
  5. Click Next.
  6. You can toggle the Local Image Registry Setting to Yes to enable it for the cluster and then specify the local image registry in the Set a local image registry for this cluster field, or click Add New Local Image Registry to add a new registry.
  7. You can optionally select a proxy configuration for the cluster.
    1. Click to toggle the Set proxy option to Yes.
    2. Select the proxy configuration you defined for this cluster.
  8. Click Next.
    When you click Next, Tanzu Mission Control generates a YAML manifest specifically for your cluster, and displays the command to run the script.
  9. Copy the provided command, open a command window, and then run the command.
    Make sure your current context is set appropriately for the workload cluster you want to attach.
    • If you attach using a proxy configuration, make sure you have the latest version of the Tanzu Mission Control CLI (tmc) installed, and then run the tmc command, replacing <kubeconfig> with the appropriate kubeconfig for the cluster.
    • If you attach without a proxy configuration, connect to the cluster with kubectl, and then run the kubectl command.
    The YAML manifest runs a set of extensions in your cluster to connect it with the Tanzu Mission Control cluster agent service. Be aware of the following:
    • The generated YAML manifest is specifically tailored to your cluster and cannot be used for other clusters.
    • The manifest contains credentials that permit the cluster to attach to the cluster agent service. These credentials are valid for 48 hours. If you attempt to install the agent extensions after the credentials lapse, the attachment fails and your cluster remains indefinitely in Pending status in the Tanzu Mission Control console.
  10. After the extensions are up and running in your cluster, return to the Tanzu Mission Control console and click Verify Connection.
    After you click Verify Connection, you can see the cluster on the Clusters page. The cluster shows a Pending status until the verification is complete, and then changes to Ready.

Results

After the connection is verified, the cluster is attached and you can manage it using Tanzu Mission Control.