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Kubernetes

Overview

Kubernetes as a Service (KaaS) is built on the Container Service Extender (CSE) component, which is deployed as a VMware extension of vCloud Director. CSE helps organization administrators create and manage Kubernetes clusters by providing pre-configured VM templates, and also enabling the deployment of fully functional Kubernetes clusters as standalone vApps.

KaaS is only available at Cloud Avenue.

Kubernetes as a Service

Principles of operation

CSE consists of:

  • A server extension of VCD
  • A catalog of templates

An offshoot of the VCD API Rest engine, it provides a specific API access point, accessible via vcd-cli.

Schéma : principe de fonctionnement de Kubernetes as a service

Cluster management

Clusters can be managed in several ways:

1.) Via the VCD interface, from the Container menu (see KaaS datasheet)

2.) In command-line mode, using the vcd-cli interface (see vmware online documentation)

3.) Kubernetes cluster management actions can be performed by the organization’s administrator

CSE limitations

CSE does not allow you to deploy more than one master node. However, it is possible to manually deploy a second master node and run it in High Availability (HA) mode. This configuration is performed directly via kubectl commands in CLI mode.

Billing principle

There is no additional charge for this service, apart from the resources consumed by VMs deployed as Kubernetes cluster nodes.

Container management

The cluster and its containers are managed using kubectl commands in CLI mode.

The Kubewise product, an experiment by a number of vmware developers, provides a graphical interface quite similar to the VCD portal.

The KubeApps product also provides web-based administration of the Kubernetes cluster.