Deploy VMware Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations on vSphere

This document provides step-by-step instructions for deploying and configuring VMware Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations (informally known as TKO) on a vSphere environment backed by a Virtual Distributed Switch (VDS).

The scope of the document is limited to providing the deployment steps based on the reference design in VMware Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations on vSphere Reference Design. This document does not cover any deployment procedures for the underlying SDDC components.

Deploying with VMware Service Installer for Tanzu

You can use VMware Service Installer for VMware Tanzu to automate this deployment.

VMware Service Installer for Tanzu automates the deployment of the reference designs for Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations. It uses best practices for deploying and configuring the required Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations components.

To use Service Installer to automate this deployment, see Deploying VMware Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations on vSphere with vSphere Distributed Switch Using Service Installer for VMware Tanzu.

Alternatively, if you decide to manually deploy each component, follow the steps provided in this document.

Supported Component Matrix

The following table provides the validated component versions for this deployment.

Software Components	Version
Tanzu Kubernetes Grid	2.3.0
VMware vSphere ESXi	8.0U1 or later
VMware vCenter (VCSA)	8.0U1 or later
VMware vSAN	8.0U1 or later
NSX Advanced LB	22.1.3

For the latest information, see VMware Product Interoperability Matrix.

Prepare your Environment for Deploying Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations

Before deploying Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations on vSphere, ensure that your environment is set up as described in the following requirements:

General Requirements
Network Requirements
Firewall Requirements

General Requirements

The general requirements for deploying Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations on vSphere in your environment are as follows:

vSphere 8.0 U1 or later with an Enterprise Plus license.
Your SDDC environment has the following objects:
- A vSphere cluster with at least 3 hosts, on which vSphere DRS is enabled
- A dedicated resource pool to deploy the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster, shared services cluster, and workload clusters. The number of resource pools depends on the number of workload clusters to be deployed.
VM folders to collect the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid VMs.
A datastore with sufficient capacity for the control plane and worker node VM files.
Network Time Protocol (NTP) service running on all hosts and vCenter.
A host, server, or VM based on Linux, MacOS, or Windows that acts as your bootstrap machine, and that has docker installed. For this deployment, a virtual machine based on Photon OS is used.
Depending on the OS flavor of the bootstrap VM, download and configure the kubectl cluster CLI 1.26.5 from VMware Customer Connect. As part of this documentation, refer to the section to configure required packages on the Photon OS machine.
Download Tanzu CLI v0.90.1 from VMware Customer Connect. Starting with TKG 2.3.0, Tanzu Core CLI is now distributed separately from Tanzu Kubernetes Grid. For instructions on how to install the Tanzu CLI for use with Tanzu Kubernetes Grid, refer Install the Tanzu CLI.
A vSphere account with the permissions described in Required Permissions for the vSphere Account.
Download and import NSX Advanced Load Balancer 22.1.3 OVA to Content Library.
Download the following OVA from VMware Customer Connect and import to vCenter. Convert the imported VMs to templates.
- Photon v3 Kubernetes v1.26.5 OVA
- Ubuntu 2004 Kubernetes v1.26.5 OVA

Note
You can also download supported older versions of Kubernetes from VMware Customer Connect, and import them to deploy workload clusters on the intended Kubernetes versions.

In Tanzu Kubernetes Grid nodes, it is recommended to not use hostnames with “.local” domain suffix. For more information, see KB article.

Resource Pools and VM Folders

The sample entries of the resource pools and folders that need to be created are as follows.

Resource Type	Sample Resource Pool Name	Sample Folder Name
NSX ALB Components	`tkg-alb-components`	`tkg-alb-components`
TKG Management components	`tkg-management-components`	`tkg-management-components`
TKG Shared Service Components	`tkg-sharedsvc-components`	`tkg-sharedsvc-components`
TKG Workload components	`tkg-workload01-components`	`tkg-workload01-components`

Network Requirements

Create port groups on vSphere DVSwitch for deploying Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations components as per Network Requirements defined in the reference architecture.

Firewall Requirements

Ensure that the firewall is set up as described in Firewall Requirements.

Subnet and CIDR Examples

For this demonstration, this document uses the following CIDR for Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations deployment.

Network Type	Port Group Name	Gateway CIDR	DHCP Pool	NSX ALB IP Pool
NSX ALB Management Network	sfo01-w01-vds01-albmanagement	172.16.10.1/24	N/A	172.16.10.100- 172.16.10.200
TKG Management Network	sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgmanagement	172.16.40.1/24	172.16.40.100- 172.16.40.200	N/A
TKG Management VIP Network	sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgmanagementvip	172.16.50.1/24	N/A	172.16.50.100- 172.16.50.200
TKG Cluster VIP Network	sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgclustervip	172.16.80.1/24	N/A	172.16.80.100- 172.16.80.200
TKG Workload VIP Network	sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgworkloadvip	172.16.70.1/24	N/A	172.16.70.100 - 172.16.70.200
TKG Workload Segment	sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgworkload	172.16.60.1/24	172.16.60.100- 172.16.60.200	N/A

Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations Deployment Overview

The high-level steps for deploying Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations on vSphere backed by VDS are as follows:

Deploy and Configure NSX Advanced Load Balancer
Deploy and Configure Bootstrap Machine
Deploy Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Management Cluster
Register Management Cluster with Tanzu Mission Control
Deploy Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Shared Services Cluster
Deploy Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Workload Clusters
Configure Tanzu SaaS Components and Deploy User-Managed Packages

Deploy and Configure NSX Advanced Load Balancer

NSX Advanced Load Balancer (ALB) is an enterprise-grade integrated load balancer that provides L4 - L7 load balancer support. It is recommended for vSphere deployments without NSX, or when there are unique scaling requirements.

NSX Advanced Load Balancer is deployed in Write Access Mode in the vSphere Environment. This mode grants NSX Advanced Load Balancer controllers full write access to vCenter that helps in automatically creating, modifying, and removing service engines (SEs) and other resources as needed to adapt to changing traffic needs.

For a production-grade deployment, it is recommended to deploy three instances of the NSX Advanced Load Balancer controller for high availability and resiliency.

The following table provides a sample IP address and FQDN set for the NSX Advanced Load Balancer controllers:

Controller Node	IP Address	FQDN
Node 1 Primary	172.16.10.11	`sfo01albctlr01a.sfo01.rainpole.vmw`
Node 2 Secondary	172.16.10.12	`sfo01albctlr01b.sfo01.rainpole.vmw`
Node 3 Secondary	172.16.10.13	`sfo01albctlr01c.sfo01.rainpole.vmw`
HA Address	172.16.10.10	`sfo01albctlr01.sfo01.rainpole.vmw`

Perform the following steps to deploy and configure NSX Advanced Load Balancer:

Deploy NSX Advanced Load Balancer
NSX Advanced Load Balancer: Initial setup
NSX Advanced Load Balancer: Licensing
NSX Advanced Load Balancer: Controller High Availability
NSX Advanced Load Balancer: Certificate Management
NSX Advanced Load Balancer: Create vCenter Cloud and SE Groups
NSX Advanced Load Balancer: Configure Network and IPAM & DNS Profiles

Deploy NSX Advanced Load Balancer

As a prerequisite, you must have the NSX Advanced Load Balancer 22.1.3 OVA downloaded and imported to the content library. Deploy the NSX Advanced Load Balancer under the resource pool “tkg-alb-components” and place it under the folder “tkg-alb-components”.

To deploy NSX Advanced Load Balancer, complete the following steps.

Log in to vCenter and go to Home > Content Libraries.
Select the content library under which the NSX Advanced Load Balancer OVA is placed.
Click on OVA & OVF Templates.
Right-click the NSX Advanced Load Balancer image and select New VM from this Template.
On the Select name and folder page, enter a name and select a folder for the NSX Advanced Load Balancer VM as tkg-alb-components.
On the Select a compute resource page, select the resource pool tkg-alb-components.
On the Review details page, verify the template details and click Next.
On the Select storage page, select a storage policy from the VM Storage Policy drop-down menu and choose the datastore location where you want to store the virtual machine files.
On the Select networks page, select the network sfo01-w01-vds01-albmanagement and click Next.
On the Customize template page, provide the NSX Advanced Load Balancer management network details such as IP address, subnet mask, and gateway, and click Next.
On the Ready to complete page, review the page and click Finish.

A new task for creating the virtual machine appears in the Recent Tasks pane. After the task is complete, the NSX Advanced Load Balancer virtual machine is created on the selected resource. Power on the virtual machine and give it a few minutes for the system to boot. Upon successful boot up, go to NSX Advanced Load Balancer on your browser.

Note
While the system is booting up, a blank web page or a 503 status code might appear.

NSX Advanced Load Balancer: Initial Setup

After NSX Advanced Load Balancer is successfully deployed and running, go to NSX Advanced Load Balancer on your browser using the URL https://<IP/FQDN> and configure the basic system settings:

Set admin password and click on Create Account.
On the Welcome page, under System Settings, set backup passphrase and provide DNS information, and click Next.
Under Email/SMTP, provide email and SMTP information, and click Next.
Under Multi-Tenant, configure settings as follows and click Save.
- IP Route Domain: Share IP route domain across tenants
- Service Engines are managed within the: Provider (Shared across tenants)
- Tenant Access to Service Engine: Read Access

If you did not select the Setup Cloud After option before saving, the initial configuration wizard exits. The Cloud configuration window does not automatically launch and you are directed to a dashboard view on the controller.

NSX Advanced Load Balancer: NTP Configuration

To configure NTP, go to Administration > System Settings > Edit, and under DNS/NTP tab, add your NTP server details and click Save.

Note
You may also delete the default NTP servers.

NTP server configuration

NSX Advanced Load Balancer: Licensing

You can configure the license tier as NSX ALB Enterprise or NSX ALB Essentials for VMware Tanzu as per the feature requirement. This section focuses on enabling NSX Advanced Load Balancer using Enterprise Tier (VMware NSX ALB Enterprise) license model.

To configure licensing, go to Administration > System Settings > Licensing and click on the gear icon to change the license type to Enterprise.
Select Enterprise Tier as the license type and click Save.
Once the license tier is changed, apply the NSX Advanced Load Balancer Enterprise license key. If you have a license file instead of a license key, apply the license by clicking on the Upload a License File(.lic) option.

NSX Advanced Load Balancer: Controller High Availability

In a production environment, we recommend to deploy additional controller nodes and configure the controller cluster for high availability and disaster recovery. Adding 2 additional nodes to create a 3-node cluster provides node-level redundancy for the controller and also maximizes performance for CPU-intensive analytics functions.

To run a 3-node controller cluster, you deploy the first node and perform the initial configuration, and set the cluster IP address. After that, you deploy and power on two more controller VMs, but you must not run the initial configuration wizard or change the admin password for these controllers VMs. The configuration of the first controller VM is assigned to the two new controller VMs.

The first controller of the cluster receives the Leader role. The second and third controllers work as the Follower.

Perform the following steps to configure NSX Advanced Load Balancer cluster.

Log in to the primary NSX Advanced Load Balancer controller and go to Administrator > Controller > Nodes, and click Edit.
Specify Name and Controller Cluster IP, and click Save. This IP address must be from the NSX Advanced Load Balancer management network.
Deploy the 2nd and 3rd NSX Advanced Load Balancer controller nodes by using steps in Deploy NSX Advanced Load Balancer.
Log into the primary NSX Advanced Load Balancer controller using the Controller Cluster IP/FQDN and go to Administrator > Controller > Nodes, and click Edit. The Edit Controller Configuration popup appears.
In the Cluster Nodes field, enter the IP address for the 2nd and 3rd controller, and click Save.

After you complete these steps, the primary NSX Advanced Load Balancer controller becomes the leader for the cluster and invites the other controllers to the cluster as members.

NSX Advanced Load Balancer then performs a warm reboot of the cluster. This process can take approximately 10-15 minutes. You are automatically logged out of the controller node where you are currently logged in. To see details about the cluster formation task, enter the cluster IP address in the browser.

The configuration of the primary (leader) controller is synchronized to the new member nodes when the cluster comes online following the reboot. After the cluster is successfully formed, you can see the following status:

Controller status

Note
In the following tasks, all NSX Advanced Load Balancer configurations are done by connecting to the NSX ALB Controller Cluster IP/FQDN.

NSX Advanced Load Balancer: Certificate Management

The default system-generated controller certificate generated for SSL/TSL connections will not have the required subject alternate name (SAN) entries. Perform the following steps to create a controller certificate:

Log in to the NSX Advanced Load Balancer controller and go to Templates > Security > SSL/TLS Certificates.
Click Create and select Controller Certificate. You can either generate a self-signed certificate, generate CSR, or import a certificate. For the purpose of this document, a self-signed certificate is generated.
Provide all required details as per your infrastructure requirements and in the Subject Alternate Name (SAN) field, provide IP address and FQDN of all NSX Advanced Load Balancer controllers including NSX Advanced Load Balancer cluster IP and FQDN, and click Save.
After the certificate is created, capture the certificate contents as this is required while deploying the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster. To capture the certificate content, click the Download icon next to the certificate, and click Copy to clipboard under Certificate.
To replace the certificate, go to Administration > System Settings, and edit it under Access. You can replace the SSL/TSL certificate to previously created certificate and click Save.
Log out and log in to NSX Advanced Load Balancer.

NSX Advanced Load Balancer: Create vCenter Cloud and SE Groups

NSX Advanced Load Balancer can be deployed in multiple environments for the same system. Each environment is called a cloud. The following procedure provides steps on how to create a VMware vCenter cloud, and as shown in the architecture two service engine (SE) groups are created.

Service Engine Group 1: Service engines part of this service engine group hosts:

Virtual services that load balances control plane nodes of Management Cluster and Shared services cluster.
Virtual services for all load balancer functionalities requested by Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster and Shared services cluster.

Service Engine Group 2: Service engines part of this service engine group hosts virtual services that load balances control plane nodes and virtual services for all load balancer functionalities requested by the workload clusters mapped to this SE group.

Note
- Based on your requirements, you can create additional SE groups for the workload clusters. - Multiple workload clusters can be mapped to a single SE group. - A Tanzu Kubernetes Grid cluster can be mapped to only one SE group for application load balancer services. - Control plane VIP for the workload clusters will be placed on the respective Service Engine group assigned through AKO Deployment Config (ADC) during cluster creation.

For information about mapping a specific service engine group to Tanzu Kubernetes Grid workload cluster, see Configure NSX Advanced Load Balancer in Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Workload Cluster.

Log in to NSX Advanced Load Balancer and go to Infrastructure > Clouds > Create > VMware vCenter/vSphere ESX.
Under General pane, in the Name field, enter a Cloud name.
Under the vCenter/vSphere pane, specify the vCenter address*, Username, and Password, and click CONNECT.
Under the Data Center pane, choose the data center from the Data Center drop-down menu. Select Content Library for SE template and click SAVE & LAUNCH.
To choose the NSX Advanced Load Balancer management network for service engines, select the Management Network from the Management Network drop-down menu. Enter a static IP address pool for SEs and VIP, and click Complete.
Wait for the cloud to get configured and the status to turn green.

To create a service engine group for Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management clusters, under the Infrastructure tab, go to Cloud Resources > Service Engine Group. From the Select Cloud drop-down menu, select the cloud created in the previous step and click Create.

The following components are created in NSX Advanced Load Balancer.

Object	Sample Name
vCenter Cloud	sfo01w01vc01
Service Engine Group 1	sfo01m01segroup01
Service Engine Group 2	sfo01w01segroup01

Enter a name for the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management service engine group and set the following parameters:

Parameter	Value
High availability mode	Active/Active - NSX ALB Enterprise edition Active/Standby - NSX ALB Essentials for Tanzu edition.
Enable Service Engine Self Election	Supported with NSX ALB Enterprise edition.
Memory for caching	Supported with NSX ALB Enterprise edition. You must set value to `0` for essentials.
Memory per Service Engine	4
vCPU per Service Engine	2

Use the default values for the rest of the parameters.

Create service engine group - basic settings

For advanced configuration, under Scope tab click on the Add vCenter and select configured vCenter cloud, select cluster and datastore for service engine placement, and click Save.

Create service engine group - advanced settings

Repeat steps 7 and 8 to create another service engine group for Tanzu Kubernetes Grid workload clusters. After completing this step, you will have two service engine groups created.

NSX Advanced Load Balancer: Configure Network and IPAM Profile

Configure Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Networks in NSX Advanced Load Balancer

As part of the cloud creation in NSX Advanced Load Balancer, only management network has been configured in NSX Advanced Load Balancer. Perform the following steps to configure these networks:

TKG Management Network
TKG Workload Network
TKG Cluster VIP/Data Network
TKG Management VIP/Data Network
TKG Workload VIP/Data Network
Log in to NSX Advanced Load Balancer and go to Infrastructure > Cloud Resources > Networks.
Select the desired cloud. All the networks available in vCenter are listed.

Click on the edit icon next for the network and configure as follows. Change the provided details as per your SDDC configuration.

Note
Not all networks are auto-discovered. For those networks, manually add the subnet.

Network Name	DHCP	Subnet	Static IP Pool
sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgmanagement	Yes	172.16.40.0/24	NA
sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgworkload	Yes	172.16.60.0/24	NA
sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgclustervip	No	172.16.80.0/24	172.16.80.100 - 172.16.80.200
sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgmanagementvip	No	172.16.50.0/24	172.16.50.100 - 172.16.50.200
sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgworkloadvip	No	172.16.70.0/24	172.16.70.100 - 172.16.70.200

The following image shows a sample network configuration for network sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgclustervip. You should apply the same configuration in sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgmanagementvip and sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgworkloadvip.

Change network settings

The sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgmanagement and sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgworkload network should be enabled with DHCP.

After the networks are configured, the configuration must look like the following image. Network list after configuration

Create IPAM and DNS Profile in NSX Advanced Load Balancer and Attach it to Cloud

At this point, all the required networks related to Tanzu functionality are configured in NSX Advanced Load Balancer, except for Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management and workload network which uses DHCP. NSX Advanced Load Balancer provides IPAM service for Tanzu Kubernetes Grid cluster VIP network, management VIP network, and workload VIP network.

Perform the following steps to create an IPAM profile and attach it to the vCenter cloud created earlier.

Log in to NSX Advanced Load Balancer and go to Templates > Profiles > IPAM/DNS Profiles > Create > IPAM Profile, provide the following details, and click Save.

Parameter	Value
Name	sfo01-w01-vcenter-ipam-01
Type	AVI Vintage IPAM
Cloud for Usable Networks	Tanzu-vcenter-01 (created earlier in this deployment)
Usable Networks	sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgclustervip sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgmanagementvip sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgworkloadvip

Create IPAM profile

Click Create > DNS Profile and provide the domain name.
Attach the IPAM and DNS profiles to the sfo01w01vc01 cloud.
1. Navigate to Infrastructure > Clouds.
2. Edit the sfo01w01vc01 cloud.
3. Under IPAM/DNS section, choose the IPAM and DNS profiles created earlier and save the updated configuration.

The above steps complete the NSX Advanced Load Balancer configuration. The next step is to deploy and configure a bootstrap machine. The bootstrap machine is used to deploy and manage Tanzu Kubernetes clusters.

Deploy and Configure Bootstrap Machine

The deployment of the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management and workload clusters is facilitated by setting up a bootstrap machine where you install the Tanzu CLI and Kubectl utilities which are used to create and manage the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid instance. This machine also keeps the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid and Kubernetes configuration files for your deployments. The bootstrap machine can be a laptop, host, or server running on Linux, macOS, or Windows that you deploy management and workload clusters from.

The bootstrap machine runs a local kind cluster when Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster deployment is started. Once the kind cluster is fully initialized, the configuration is used to deploy the actual management cluster on the backend infrastructure. After the management cluster is fully configured, the local kind cluster is deleted and future configurations are performed with the Tanzu CLI.

For this deployment, a Photon-based virtual machine is used as the bootstrap machine. For information on how to configure for a macOS or Windows machine, see Install the Tanzu CLI and Other Tools.

The bootstrap machine must meet the following prerequisites:

A minimum of 6 GB of RAM and a 2-core CPU.
System time is synchronized with a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server.
Docker and containerd binaries are installed. For instructions on how to install Docker, see Docker documentation.
Ensure that the bootstrap VM is connected to Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management network, sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgmanagement.

To install Tanzu CLI, Tanzu Plugins, and Kubectl utility on the bootstrap machine, follow the instructions below:

Download and unpack the following Linux CLI packages from VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Download Product page.
- VMware Tanzu CLI v0.90.1 for Linux
- kubectl cluster cli v1.26.5 for Linux

Execute the following commands to install Tanzu Kubernetes Grid CLI, kubectl CLIs, and Carvel tools.

## Install required packages
tdnf install tar zip unzip wget -y

## Install Tanzu Kubernetes Grid CLI
tar -xvf tanzu-cli-linux-amd64.tar
cd ./v0.90.1/
install tanzu-cli-linux_amd64 /usr/local/bin/tanzu
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/tanzu

## Verify Tanzu CLI version

[root@tkg160-bootstrap ~] # tanzu version

version: v0.90.1
buildDate: 2023-06-29
sha: 8945351c

## Install Tanzu Kubernetes Grid CLI Plugins

[root@tkg160-bootstrap ~] # tanzu plugin group search
GROUP               DESCRIPTION      LATEST
vmware-tkg/default  Plugins for TKG  v2.3.0

[root@tkg160-bootstrap ~] # tanzu plugin install --group vmware-tkg/default
[i] Installing plugin 'isolated-cluster:v0.30.1' with target 'global'
[i] Installing plugin 'management-cluster:v0.30.1' with target 'kubernetes'
[i] Installing plugin 'package:v0.30.1' with target 'kubernetes'
[i] Installing plugin 'pinniped-auth:v0.30.1' with target 'global'
[i] Installing plugin 'secret:v0.30.1' with target 'kubernetes'
[i] Installing plugin 'telemetry:v0.30.1' with target 'kubernetes'
[ok] successfully installed all plugins from group 'vmware-tkg/default:v2.3.0'

## List installed plugins
[root@tkg160-bootstrap ~] # tanzu plugin list
Standalone Plugins
NAME                DESCRIPTION                                                        TARGET      VERSION  STATUS
isolated-cluster    Prepopulating images/bundle for internet-restricted environments   global      v0.30.1  installed
pinniped-auth       Pinniped authentication operations (usually not directly invoked)  global      v0.30.1  installed
management-cluster  Kubernetes management cluster operations                           kubernetes  v0.30.1  installed
package             Tanzu package management                                           kubernetes  v0.30.1  installed
secret              Tanzu secret management                                            kubernetes  v0.30.1  installed
telemetry           configure cluster-wide settings for vmware tanzu telemetry         kubernetes  v0.30.1  installed

## Install Kubectl CLI
gunzip kubectl-linux-v1.26.5+vmware.2.gz
mv kubectl-linux-v1.26.5+vmware.2 /usr/local/bin/kubectl && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/kubectl

# Install Carvel tools

##Install ytt
gunzip ytt-linux-amd64-v0.45.0+vmware.2.gz
chmod ugo+x ytt-linux-amd64-v0.45.0+vmware.2 &&  mv ./ytt-linux-amd64-v0.45.0+vmware.2 /usr/local/bin/ytt

##Install kapp

gunzip kapp-linux-amd64-v0.55.0+vmware.2.gz
chmod ugo+x kapp-linux-amd64-v0.55.0+vmware.2 && mv ./kapp-linux-amd64-v0.55.0+vmware.2 /usr/local/bin/kapp

##Install kbld

gunzip kbld-linux-amd64-v0.37.0+vmware.2.gz
chmod ugo+x kbld-linux-amd64-v0.37.0+vmware.2 && mv ./kbld-linux-amd64-v0.37.0+vmware.2 /usr/local/bin/kbld

##Install impkg

gunzip imgpkg-linux-amd64-v0.36.0+vmware.2.gz
chmod ugo+x imgpkg-linux-amd64-v0.36.0+vmware.2 && mv ./imgpkg-linux-amd64-v0.36.0+vmware.2 /usr/local/bin/imgpkg

Validate Carvel tools installation using the following commands.
```
ytt version
kapp version
kbld version
imgpkg version
```

Install yq. yq is a lightweight and portable command-line YAML processor. yq uses jq-like syntax but works with YAML and JSON files.

wget https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/releases/download/v4.24.5/yq_linux_amd64.tar.gz

tar -xvf yq_linux_amd64.tar.gz && mv yq_linux_amd64 /usr/local/bin/yq

Install kind.

curl -Lo ./kind https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/dl/v0.11.1/kind-linux-amd64
chmod +x ./kind
mv ./kind /usr/local/bin/kind

Execute the following commands to start the Docker service and enable it to start at boot. Photon OS has Docker installed by default.

## Check Docker service status
systemctl status docker

## Start Docker Service
systemctl start docker

## To start Docker Service at boot
systemctl enable docker

Execute the following commands to ensure that the bootstrap machine uses cgroup v1.

docker info | grep -i cgroup

## You should see the following
Cgroup Driver: cgroupfs

Create an SSH key pair.

An SSH key pair is required for Tanzu CLI to connect to vSphere from the bootstrap machine.

The public key part of the generated key is passed during the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster deployment.

## Generate SSH key pair
## When prompted enter file in which to save the key (/root/.ssh/id_rsa): press Enter to accept the default and provide password
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[email protected]"

## Add the private key to the SSH agent running on your machine and enter the password you created in the previous step
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa
## If the above command fails, execute "eval $(ssh-agent)" and then rerun the command

If your bootstrap machine runs Linux or Windows Subsystem for Linux, and it has a Linux kernel built after the May 2021 Linux security patch, for example Linux 5.11 and 5.12 with Fedora, run the following command.
```
sudo sysctl net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_max=131072
```

All required packages are now installed and the required configurations are in place in the bootstrap virtual machine. The next step is to deploy the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster.

Import Base Image template for Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Cluster Deployment

Before you proceed with the management cluster creation, ensure that the base image template is imported into vSphere and is available as a template. To import a base image template into vSphere:

Go to the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid downloads page and download a Tanzu Kubernetes Grid OVA for the cluster nodes.
For the management cluster, this must be either Photon or Ubuntu based Kubernetes v1.26.5 OVA.

Note
Custom OVA with a custom Tanzu Kubernetes release (TKr) is also supported, as described in Build Machine Images.
For workload clusters, OVA can have any supported combination of OS and Kubernetes version, as packaged in a Tanzu Kubernetes release.

Note
Make sure you download the most recent OVA base image templates in the event of security patch releases. You can find updated base image templates that include security patches on the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid product download page.
In the vSphere client, right-click an object in the vCenter Server inventory and select Deploy OVF template.
Select Local file, click the button to upload files, and go to the downloaded OVA file on your local machine.
Follow the installer prompts to deploy a VM from the OVA.
Click Finish to deploy the VM. When the OVA deployment finishes, right-click the VM and select Template > Convert to Template.

Note
Do not power on the VM before you convert it to a template.
If using non administrator SSO account: In the VMs and Templates view, right-click the new template, select Add Permission, and assign the tkg-user to the template with the TKG role.

For information about how to create the user and role for Tanzu Kubernetes Grid, see Required Permissions for the vSphere Account.

Deploy Tanzu Kubernetes Grid (TKG) Management Cluster

The management cluster is a Kubernetes cluster that runs Cluster API operations on a specific cloud provider to create and manage workload clusters on that provider.

The management cluster is also where you configure the shared and in-cluster services that the workload clusters use.

You can deploy management clusters in two ways:

Run the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid installer, a wizard interface that guides you through the process of deploying a management cluster. This is the recommended method.
Create and edit YAML configuration files, and use them to deploy a management cluster with the CLI commands.

The following procedure provides the required steps to deploy Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster using the installer interface.

To launch the UI installer wizard, run the following command on the bootstrap machine:

tanzu management-cluster create --ui --bind <bootstrapper-ip>:<port> --browser none

For example:

tanzu management-cluster create --ui --bind 172.16.40.6:8000 --browser none

Access Tanzu UI wizard by opening a browser and entering: http://<bootstrapper-ip:port/
Click the Deploy on the VMware vSphere tile.
In the IaaS Provider section, enter the IP/FQDN and credentials of the vCenter server where the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster is deployed.

Note
Do not provide a vSphere administrator account to Tanzu Kubernetes Grid. Instead, create a custom role and user account with the required permissions specified in Required Permissions for the vSphere Account.
Click Connect and accept the vCenter Server SSL thumbprint.
Select DEPLOY TKG MANAGEMENT CLUSTER.
Select the data center and provide the SSH public Key generated while configuring the bootstrap VM.
If you have saved the SSH key in the default location, run the following command in you bootstrap machine to get the SSH public key.
```
 cat /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
```
Click Next.
On the Management Cluster Settings section, provide the following details and click Next.
- Based on the environment requirements, select appropriate deployment type for the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Management cluster:
  - Development: Recommended for Dev or POC environments
  - Production: Recommended for Production environments
  It is recommended to set the instance type to Large or above. For the purpose of this document, we will proceed with deployment type Production and instance type Medium.
- Management Cluster Name: Name for your management cluster.
- Control Plane Endpoint Provider: Select NSX Advanced Load Balancer for Control Plane HA.
- Control Plane Endpoint: This is an optional field. If left blank, NSX Advanced Load Balancer will assign an IP address from the pool “sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgclustervip” created earlier.
  If you need to provide an IP address, pick an IP address from “sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgclustervip” static IP pools configured in NSX_ALB and ensure that the IP address is unused.
- Machine Health Checks: Enable. You can activate or deactivate MachineHealthCheck on clusters after deployment by using the CLI. For instructions, see Configure Machine Health Checks for Workload Clusters.
- Enable Audit Logging: Enable for audit logging for Kubernetes API server and node VMs. Choose as per your environment needs. For more information, see Audit Logging.
On the NSX Advanced Load Balancer section, provide the following information and click Next.
- Controller Host: NSX Advanced Load Balancer Controller IP/FQDN (IP/FQDN of the Advanced Load Balancer controller cluster configured)
- Controller credentials: Username and Password of NSX Advanced Load Balancer
- Controller certificate: Paste the contents of the Certificate Authority that is used to generate your controller certificate into the Controller Certificate Authority text box.
After these details are provided, click Verify Credentials and choose the following parameters.

Note
Since Tanzu Kubernetes Grid v2.1.0, you can configure the network to separate the endpoint VIP network of the cluster from the external IP network of the load balancer service and the ingress service in the cluster. This feature lets you ensure the security of the clusters by providing you an option to expose the endpoint of your management or the workload cluster and the load balancer service and ingress service in the cluster, in different networks.

As per the Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations 2.1 Reference Architecture, all the control plane endpoints connected to Tanzu Kubernetes Grid cluster VIP network and data plane networks are connected to respective management data VIP network or workload data VIP network.
- Cloud Name: Name of the cloud created while configuring NSX Advanced Load Balancer sfo01w01vc01.
- Workload Cluster service Engine Group Name: Name of the service engine group created for Tanzu Kubernetes Grid workload clusters created while configuring NSX Advanced Load Balancer sfo01w01segroup01.
- Workload Cluster Data Plane VIP Network Name & CIDR: Select Tanzu Kubernetes Grid workload data network sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgworkloadvip and the subnet 172.16.70.0/24 associated with it.
- Workload Cluster Control Plane VIP Network Name & CIDR: Select Tanzu Kubernetes Grid cluster VIP network sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgclustervip and the subnet 172.16.80.0/24 associated with it.
- Management Cluster service Engine Group Name: Name of the service engine group created for Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster created while configuring NSX Advanced Load Balancer sfo01m01segroup01.
- Management Cluster Data Plane VIP Network Name & CIDR: Select Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management data network sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgmanagementvip and the subnet 172.16.50.0/24 associated with it.
- Management Cluster Control Plane VIP Network Name & CIDR: Select Tanzu Kubernetes Grid cluster VIP network sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgclustervip and the subnet 172.16.80.0/24 associated with it.
- Cluster Labels: Optional. Leave the cluster labels section empty to apply the above workload cluster network settings by default. If you specify any label here, you must specify the same values in the configuration YAML file of the workload cluster. Else, the system places the endpoint VIP of your workload cluster in Management Cluster Data Plane VIP Network by default.
Note
With the above configuration, all the Tanzu workload clusters use sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgclustervip for control plane VIP network and sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgworkloadvip for data plane network by default. If you would like to configure separate VIP networks for workload control plane/data networks, create a custom AKO Deployment Config (ADC) and provide the respective AVI_LABELS in the workload cluster config file. For more information on network separation and custom ADC creation, see Configure Separate VIP Networks and Service Engine Groups in Different Workload Clusters.
(Optional) On the Metadata page, you can specify location and labels and click Next.
On the Resources section, specify the resources to be consumed by Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster and click Next.
On the Kubernetes Network section, select the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management network (sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgmanagement) where the control plane and worker nodes are placed during management cluster deployment. Ensure that the network has DHCP service enabled. Optionally, change the pod and service CIDR.

If the Tanzu environment is placed behind a proxy, enable proxy and provide proxy details:
- If you set http-proxy, you must also set https-proxy and vice-versa. You can choose to use one proxy for HTTP traffic and another proxy for HTTPS traffic or to use the same proxy for both HTTP and HTTPS traffic.
- Under the no-proxy section, enter a comma-separated list of network CIDRs or host names that must bypass the HTTP(S) proxy.
  
  Your No Proxy list must include the following: * The IP address or hostname for vCenter. Traffic to vCenter cannot be proxied.
  - The CIDR of the vSphere network that you selected under Network Name. The vSphere network CIDR includes the IP address of your control plane endpoint. If you entered an FQDN under control plane endpoint, add both the FQDN and the vSphere network CIDR to the no-proxy section.
  - Internally, Tanzu Kubernetes Grid appends localhost, 127.0.0.1, the values of Cluster Pod CIDR and Cluster Service CIDR, .svc, and .svc.cluster.local to the list that you enter in this field.
  Note
  If the Kubernetes cluster needs to communicate with external services and infrastructure endpoints in your Tanzu Kubernetes Grid environment, ensure that those endpoints are reachable by your proxies or add them to the no-proxy section. Depending on your environment configuration, this may include, but is not limited to, your OIDC or LDAP server, Harbor, NSX, NSX Advanced Load Balancer.
(Optional) Specify identity management with OIDC or LDAP. For this deployment, identity management is not enabled.

If you would like to enable identity management, see Enable and Configure Identity Management During Management Cluster Deployment.
Select the OS image to use for deploying the management cluster

Note
This list appears empty if you don’t have a compatible template present in your environment. See the steps provided in Import Base Image Template into vSphere.
Check the “Participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Program”, if you so desire, and click Review Configuration.

Note
Tanzu Kubernetes Grid v2.1.0 has a known issue that installer UI populates an empty NSXALB_LABEL in the cluster configuration and leads to management cluster creation failure. It is recommended to export the cluster configuration to a file, delete the empty label, and run the cluster creation command from CLI instead of deploying the cluster from UI.
When you click on Review Configuration, the installer populates the cluster configuration file, which is located in the ~/.config/tanzu/tkg/clusterconfigs subdirectory, with the settings that you specified in the interface. You can optionally export a copy of this configuration file by clicking Export Configuration.
Click Deploy the Management cluster

While the cluster is being deployed, you will find that a virtual service is created in NSX Advanced Load Balancer and new service engines are deployed in vCenter by NSX Advanced Load Balancer and the service engines are mapped to the SE Group sfo01m01segroup01.

When Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster is being deployed, behind the scenes:

NSX Advanced Load Balancer service engines get deployed in vCenter and this task is orchestrated by the NSX Advanced Load Balancer controller.
Service engine status in NSX Advanced Load Balancer: The following snippet shows the service engines status. They are in the initializing state for sometime and then the status changes to Up.
Service engine group status in NSX Advanced Load Balancer: As per the configuration, the virtual service required for Tanzu Kubernetes Grid clusters control plane HA are hosted on service engine group sfo01m01segroup01.
Virtual service status in NSX Advanced Load Balancer: The cluster is configured with Production type that deployed 3 control plane nodes, which are placed behind the cluster VIP.
The installer automatically sets the context to the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster on the bootstrap machine. Now you can access the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster from the bootstrap machine and perform additional tasks such as verifying the management cluster health and deploying the workload clusters, etc.

To get the status of Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster, run the following command:
```
tanzu management-cluster get
```
Use kubectl to get the status of the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster nodes.

Register Management Cluster with Tanzu Mission Control

If you want to register your management cluster with Tanzu Mission Control, see Register Your Management Cluster with Tanzu Mission Control.

Configure AKO Deployment Config (ADC) for Workload Clusters

Tanzu Kubernetes Grid v2.1.0 management clusters with NSX Advanced Load Balancer are deployed with 2 AKODeploymentConfigs.

install-ako-for-management-cluster: default configuration for management cluster
install-ako-for-all: default configuration for all workload clusters. By default, all the workload clusters reference this file for their virtual IP networks and service engine (SE) groups. This ADC configuration does not enable NSX L7 Ingress by default.

As per this Tanzu deployment, create 2 more ADCs:

tanzu-ako-for-shared: Used by shared services cluster to deploy the virtual services in TKG Mgmt SE Group and the loadbalancer applications in TKG Management VIP Network.
tanzu-ako-for-workload-L7-ingress: Use this ADC only if you would like to enable NSX Advanced Load Balancer L7 ingress on workload cluster. Otherwise, leave the cluster labels empty to apply the network configuration from default ADC install-ako-for-all.

Configure AKODeploymentConfig (ADC) for Shared Services Cluster

As per the defined architecture, shared services cluster uses the same control plane and data plane network as the management cluster. Shared services cluster control plane endpoint uses TKG Cluster VIP Network, application loadbalancing uses TKG Management Data VIP network and the virtual services are deployed in sfo01m01segroup01 SE group. This configuration is enforced by creating a custom AKO Deployment Config (ADC) and applying the respective NSXALB_LABELS while deploying the shared services cluster.

The format of the AKODeploymentConfig YAML file is as follows.

apiVersion: networking.tkg.tanzu.vmware.com/v1alpha1
kind: AKODeploymentConfig
metadata:
  finalizers:
     - ako-operator.networking.tkg.tanzu.vmware.com
  generation: 2
  name: <Unique name of AKODeploymentConfig>
spec:
  adminCredentialRef:
    name: nsx-alb-controller-credentials
    namespace: tkg-system-networking
  certificateAuthorityRef:
    name: nsx-alb-controller-ca
    namespace: tkg-system-networking
  cloudName: <NAME OF THE CLOUD in ALB>
  clusterSelector:
    matchLabels:
      <KEY>: <VALUE>
  controlPlaneNetwork:
    cidr: <TKG-Cluster-VIP-CIDR>
    Name: <TKG-Cluster-VIP-Network>
  controller: <NSX ALB CONTROLLER IP/FQDN>
  dataNetwork:
    cidr: <TKG-Mgmt-Data-VIP-CIDR>
    name: <TKG-Mgmt-Data-VIP-Name>
  extraConfigs:
   cniPlugin: antrea
   disableStaticRouteSync: true
   ingress:
      defaultIngressController: false
      disableIngressClass: true
      nodeNetworkList:
      - networkName: <TKG-Mgmt-Network>     
  serviceEngineGroup: <Mgmt-Cluster-SEG>

The sample AKODeploymentConfig with sample values in place is as follows. You should add the respective NSX_ALB label type=shared-services while deploying shared services cluster to enforce this network configuration.

cloud: sfo01w01vc01
service engine group: sfo01m01segroup01
Control Plane network: sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgclustervip
VIP/data network: sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgmanagementvip
Node Network: sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgmanagement

apiVersion: networking.tkg.tanzu.vmware.com/v1alpha1
kind: AKODeploymentConfig
metadata:
  finalizers:
  - ako-operator.networking.tkg.tanzu.vmware.com
  generation: 2
  labels:
  name: tanzu-ako-for-shared
spec:
  adminCredentialRef:
    name: NSX_ALB-controller-credentials
    namespace: tkg-system-networking
  certificateAuthorityRef:
    name: NSX_ALB-controller-ca
    namespace: tkg-system-networking
  cloudName: sfo01w01vc01
  clusterSelector:
    matchLabels:
      type: shared-services
  controlPlaneNetwork:
    cidr: 172.16.80.0/24
    name: sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgclustervip
  controller: 172.16.10.10
  dataNetwork:
    cidr: 172.16.50.0/24
    name: sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgmanagementvip
  extraConfigs:
    cniPlugin: antrea
    disableStaticRouteSync: true
    ingress:
      defaultIngressController: false
      disableIngressClass: true
      nodeNetworkList:
      - networkName: sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgmanagement
  serviceEngineGroup: sfo01m01segroup01

After you have the AKO configuration file ready, use the kubectl command to set the context to Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster and create the ADC:

# kubectl config use-context sfo01w01tkgmgmt01-admin@sfo01w01tkgmgmt01
Switched to context "sfo01w01tkgmgmt01-admin@sfo01w01tkgmgmt01".


# kubectl apply -f ako-shared-services.yaml
akodeploymentconfig.networking.tkg.tanzu.vmware.com/tanzu-ako-for-shared created

Use the following command to list all AKODeploymentConfig created under the management cluster:

# kubectl get adc
NAME                                 AGE
install-ako-for-all                  21h
install-ako-for-management-cluster   21h
tanzu-ako-for-shared                 113s

Configure AKO Deployment Config (ADC) for Workload Cluster to Enable NSX ALB L7 Ingress with NodePortLocal Mode

VMware recommends using NSX Advanced Load Balancer L7 ingress with NodePortLocal mode for the L7 application load balancing. This is enabled by creating a custom ADC with ingress settings enabled, and then applying the NSX_ALB LABEL while deploying the workload cluster.

As per the defined architecture, workload cluster cluster control plane endpoint uses TKG Cluster VIP Network, application loadbalancing uses TKG Workload Data VIP network and the virtual services are deployed in sfo01w01segroup01 SE group.

Below are the changes in ADC Ingress section when compare to the default ADC.

disableIngressClass: set to false to enable NSX ALB L7 Ingress.
nodeNetworkList: Provide the values for TKG workload network name and CIDR.
serviceType: L7 Ingress type, recommended to use NodePortLocal
shardVSSize: Virtual service size

Note
The NSX ALB L7 Ingress feature requires Enterprise edition license. If you do not wish to enable L7 feature/applied with ALB essentials for Tanzu license, disable the L7 feature by setting the value disableIngressClass to true.

The format of the AKODeploymentConfig YAML file for enabling NSX ALB L7 Ingress is as follows.

apiVersion: networking.tkg.tanzu.vmware.com/v1alpha1
kind: AKODeploymentConfig
metadata:
  name: <unique-name-for-adc>
spec:
  adminCredentialRef:
    name: NSX_ALB-controller-credentials
    namespace: tkg-system-networking
  certificateAuthorityRef:
    name: NSX_ALB-controller-ca
    namespace: tkg-system-networking
  cloudName: <cloud name configured in nsx alb>
  clusterSelector:
    matchLabels:
      <KEY>: <value>
  controller: <ALB-Controller-IP/FQDN>
  controlPlaneNetwork:
    cidr: <TKG-Cluster-VIP-Network-CIDR>
    name: <TKG-Cluster-VIP-Network-CIDR>
  dataNetwork:
    cidr: <TKG-Workload-VIP-network-CIDR>
    name: <TKG-Workload-VIP-network-CIDR>
  serviceEngineGroup: <Workload-Cluster-SEG>
  extraConfigs:
    cniPlugin: antrea
    disableStaticRouteSync: false                               # required
    ingress:
      disableIngressClass: false                                # required
      nodeNetworkList:                                          # required
        - networkName: <TKG-Workload-Network>
          cidrs:
            - <TKG-Workload-Network-CIDR>
      serviceType: NodePortLocal                                # required
      shardVSSize: MEDIUM                                       # required

The AKODeploymentConfig with sample values in place is as follows. You should add the respective NSX ALB label workload-l7-enabled=true while deploying workload cluster to enforce this network configuration.

cloud: sfo01w01vc01
service engine group: sfo01w01segroup01
Control Plane network: sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgclustervip
VIP/data network: sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgworkloadvip
Node Network: sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgworkload

apiVersion: networking.tkg.tanzu.vmware.com/v1alpha1
kind: AKODeploymentConfig
metadata:
  name: tanzu-ako-for-workload-l7-ingress
spec:
  adminCredentialRef:
    name: NSX_ALB-controller-credentials
    namespace: tkg-system-networking
  certificateAuthorityRef:
    name: NSX_ALB-controller-ca
    namespace: tkg-system-networking
  cloudName: sfo01w01vc01
  clusterSelector:
    matchLabels:
      workload-l7-enabled: "true"
  controller: 172.16.10.10
  controlPlaneNetwork:
    cidr: 172.16.80.0/24
    name: sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgclustervip
  dataNetwork:
    cidr: 172.16.70.0/24
    name: sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgworkloadvip
  serviceEngineGroup: sfo01w01segroup01
  extraConfigs:
    cniPlugin: antrea
    disableStaticRouteSync: false                               # required
    ingress:
      disableIngressClass: false                                # required
      nodeNetworkList:                                          # required
        - networkName: sfo01-w01-vds01-tkgworkload
          cidrs:
            - 172.16.60.0/24
      serviceType: NodePortLocal                                # required
      shardVSSize: MEDIUM                                       # required

Use the kubectl command to set the context to Tanzu Kubernetes Grid management cluster and create the ADC:

# kubectl config use-context sfo01w01tkgmgmt01-admin@sfo01w01tkgmgmt01
Switched to context "sfo01w01tkgmgmt01-admin@sfo01w01tkgmgmt01".

# kubectl apply -f workload-adc-l7.yaml
akodeploymentconfig.networking.tkg.tanzu.vmware.com/tanzu-ako-for-workload-l7-ingress created

Use the following command to list all AKODeploymentConfig created under the management cluster:

# kubectl get adc
NAME                                 AGE
install-ako-for-all                  22h
install-ako-for-management-cluster   22h
tanzu-ako-for-shared                 82m
tanzu-ako-for-workload-l7-ingress    25s

Now that you have successfully created the AKO deployment config, you need to apply the cluster labels while deploying the workload clusters to enable NSX Advanced Load Balancer L7 Ingress with NodePortLocal mode.

Deploy Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Shared Services Cluster

Each Tanzu Kubernetes Grid instance can have only one shared services cluster. Create a shared services cluster if you intend to deploy Harbor.

The procedures for deploying a shared services cluster and workload cluster are almost the same. A key difference is that for the shared service cluster you add the tanzu-services label to the shared services cluster, as its cluster role. This label identifies the shared services cluster to the management cluster and workload clusters.

Shared services cluster uses the custom ADC tanzu-ako-for-shared created earlier to apply the network settings similar to the management cluster. This is enforced by applying the NSXALB_LABEL type:shared-services while deploying the shared services cluster.

After the management cluster is registered with Tanzu Mission Control, the deployment of the Tanzu Kubernetes clusters can be done in just a few clicks. The procedure for creating Tanzu Kubernetes clusters is as follows.

Note
The scope of this document doesn’t cover the use of a proxy for Tanzu Kubernetes Grid deployment. If your environment uses a proxy server to connect to the internet, ensure that the proxy configuration object includes the CIDRs for the pod, ingress, and egress from the workload network of the Management Cluster in the No proxy list, as described in Create a Proxy Configuration Object for a Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service Cluster Running in vSphere with Tanzu.

Navigate to the Clusters tab and click Create Cluster and select Create Tanzu Kubernetes Grid cluster.
Under the Create cluster page, select the management cluster which you registered in the previous step and click Continue to create cluster.
Select the provisioner for creating the shared services cluster. Provisioner reflects the vSphere namespaces that you have created and associated with the management cluster.
On the Cluster Details page, do the following:
Enter a name for the cluster (Cluster names must be unique within an organization).
Select the cluster group to which you want to attach your cluster.
Select Cluster Class from the drop down.
Use the NSXALB_Labels created for shared cluster on AKO Deployment.
On the Configure page, specify the following:
- In the vCenter and tlsThumbprint fields, enter the details for authentication.
- From the datacenter, resourcePool, folder, network, and datastore drop-down menu, select the required information.
- From the template drop down, select the Kubernetes version.The latest supported version is preselected for you.
- In the sshAuthorizedKeys field, enter the SSH key that was created earlier.
- Enable aviAPIServerHAProvider.
Update POD CIDR and Service CIDR if necessary.
Select the high availability mode for the control plane nodes of the shared services cluster. For a production deployment, it is recommended to deploy a highly available shared services cluster.
Customize the default node pool for your workload cluster.
- Specify the number of worker nodes to provision.
- Select OS Version.
Click Create Cluster to start provisioning your workload cluster.
Cluster creation takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. After the cluster deployment completes, ensure that agent and extensions health shows green.

Now that the shared services cluster is successfully created, you may proceed with deploying the Harbor package. For more information, see Install Harbor in Deploy User-Managed Packages in Workload Clusters.

Connect to the Tanzu Management Cluster context and verify the cluster labels for the workload cluster.

## verify the workload  service cluster creation

tanzu cluster list
NAME                   NAMESPACE  STATUS    CONTROLPLANE  WORKERS  KUBERNETES        ROLES   PLAN  TKR
sfo01w01tkgshared01    default    running   3/3           3/3      v1.26.5+vmware.2  <none>  prod  v1.26.5---vmware.2-tkg.1


## Connect to tkg management cluster

kubectl config use-context sfo01w01tkgmgmt01-admin@sfo01w01tkgmgmt01

## Add the tanzu-services label to the shared services cluster as its cluster role. In the following command "sfo01w01tkgshared01" is the name of the shared service cluster

kubectl label cluster.cluster.x-k8s.io/sfo01w0tkgshared01 cluster-role.tkg.tanzu.vmware.com/tanzu-services="" --overwrite=true
cluster.cluster.x-k8s.io/sfo01w0tkgshared01 labeled

## Validate that TMC has applied the AVI_LABEL while deploying the cluster

kubectl get cluster sfo01w0tkgshared01 --show-labels
NAME                   PHASE         AGE    VERSION             LABELS
sfo01w0tkgshared01     Provisioned   105m   v1.26.5+vmware.2    cluster-role.tkg.tanzu.vmware.com/tanzu-services=,networking.tkg.tanzu.vmware.com/avi=tanzu-ako-for-shared,tanzuKubernetesRelease=v1.26.5---vmware.2-tkg.1,tkg.tanzu.vmware.com/cluster-name=sfo01w0tkgshared01,type=shared-services

Connect to admin context of the workload cluster using the following commands and validate the ako pod status.

## Use the following command to get the admin context of workload Cluster.

tanzu cluster kubeconfig get sfo01w0tkgshared01 --admin

Credentials of cluster 'sfo01w0tkgshared01' have been saved
You can now access the cluster by running 'kubectl config use-context sfo01w0tkgshared01-admin@sfo01w0tkgshared01'


## Use the following command to use the context of workload Cluster

kubectl config use-context sfo01w0tkgshared01-admin@sfo01w0tkgshared01

Switched to context "sfo01w0tkgshared01-admin@sfo01w0tkgshared01".

# Verify that ako pod gets deployed in avi-system namespace

kubectl get pods -n avi-system
NAME    READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
ako-0   1/1     Running   0          73m

# verify the nodes and pods status by running the command:
kubectl get nodes -o wide

kubectl get pods -A

Now that the shared services cluster is successfully created, you may proceed with deploying the Harbor package. For more information, see Install Harbor for Service Registry.

Deploy Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Workload Clusters

As per the architecture, workload clusters make use of a custom ADC to enable NSX Advanced Load Balancer L7 ingress with NodePortLocal mode. This is enforced by providing the NSXALB_LABEL while deploying the workload cluster.

The steps for deploying a workload cluster are the same as for a shared services cluster. except use the NSX ALB Labels created for the Workload cluster on AKO Deployment in step number 4.

After the Workload cluster creation verify the cluster labels and ako pod status 1. Connect to the Tanzu Management Cluster context and verify the cluster labels for the workload cluster. ```bash ## verify the workload service cluster creation

tanzu cluster list
NAME                   NAMESPACE  STATUS   CONTROLPLANE  WORKERS  KUBERNETES        ROLES   PLAN  TKR

sfo01w01shared01       default    running  3/3           3/3      v1.26.5+vmware.2  <none>  prod  v1.26.5---vmware.2-tkg.1
sfo01w01workload01     default    running  3/3           3/3      v1.26.5+vmware.2  <none>  prod  v1.26.5---vmware.2-tkg.1

## Connect to tkg management cluster

kubectl config use-context sfo01w01tkgmgmt01-admin@sfo01w01tkgmgmt01

## Validate that TMC has applied the AVI_LABEL while deploying the cluster

kubectl get cluster sfo01w01workload01 --show-labels
NAME                   PHASE         AGE    VERSION   LABELS

sfo01w01workload01   Provisioned   105m             networking.tkg.tanzu.vmware.com/avi=tanzu-ako-for-workload-l7-ingress,tanzuKubernetesRelease=v1.249---vmware.1-tkg.1,tkg.tanzu.vmware.com/cluster-name=sfo01w01workload01,workload-l7-enabled=true


  ```
<!-- /* cSpell:enable */ -->

Connect to admin context of the workload cluster using the following commands and validate the ako pod status.

## Use the following command to get the admin context of workload Cluster.

tanzu cluster kubeconfig get sfo01w01workload01 --admin

Credentials of cluster 'sfo01w01workload01' have been saved
You can now access the cluster by running 'kubectl config use-context sfo01w01workload01-admin@sfo01w01workload01'


## Use the following command to use the context of workload Cluster

kubectl config use-context sfo01w01workload01-admin@sfo01w01workload01

Switched to context "sfo01w01workload01-admin@sfo01w01workload01".

# Verify that ako pod gets deployed in avi-system namespace

kubectl get pods -n avi-system
NAME    READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
ako-0   1/1     Running   0          73m

# verify the nodes and pods status by running the command:
kubectl get nodes -o wide

kubectl get pods -A

You can now configure SaaS components and deploy user-managed packages on the cluster.

Configure Tanzu SaaS Components and Deploy User-Managed Packages

For information on how to configure the SaaS components, see Configure Tanzu SaaS Components for Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations.

For more information about deploying user-managed packages, see Deploy User-Managed Packages in Workload Clusters.