Deploying vSphere with Tanzu using NSX Advanced Load Balancer (AVI)
In my previous post, we covered the deployment of NSX Advanced Load Balancer (AVI) for use with vSphere with Tanzu. In this post, we will go over the configuration steps to enable Workload Management in vSphere with Tanzu using the NSX Advanced Load Balancer.
Configuring Workload Management with NSX Advanced Load Balancer
To enable Workload Management in vSphere with Tanzu using the NSX Advanced Load Balancer, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Workload Management from the Menu and select Get Started.
2. Select vCenter Server Network and click Next.
3. Select the Cluster you wish to enable for Workload Management and click Next.
4. Select the Control Plane Size and Storage Policy for the Control Plane VMs.
5. Obtain the Server Certificate Authority from the Avi Controller.
6. Login to the Avi Management Interface and head to Templates -> Security –> SSL/TLS Certificates.
7. Find your Certificate and select the Download/Arrow icon. Copy the Certificate to the clipboard for the next step.
8. Fill in the details as seen in the screenshot below. Type should be Avi, and for the Avi Controller IP, use the FQDN/IP:443. Enter in the administrator username and password and paste in the Server Certificate Authority.
9. Enter in the network details for your management network and workload network. Make sure this network does not overlap with your management network or load balancer network.
10. Select the Content Library that holds your Tanzu Kubernetes Grid images.
11. Review the configuration details and click Finish to start enabling Workload Management.
Once Workload Management is complete, you should see Configuration Status as Running and Kubernetes Status as Ready. The Avi Controller will automatically deploy the Service Engines for the LB Services, and you can log on to the AVI Controller and look at the status under the Applications tab. From here, you can see the health of the Virtual Service, Pool, and Backend Servers.
Diving into the Virtual Service allows you to see even more statistics, such as the number of active connections, total connections, and connection errors. You can also view the backend server metrics, such as the number of alive and dead servers, and the latency of each server.
Conclusion
In this post, we have covered the configuration steps to enable Workload Management in vSphere with Tanzu using the NSX Advanced Load Balancer (AVI). With these steps, you can easily deploy and manage your Kubernetes workloads on vSphere with Tanzu, and take advantage of the advanced load balancing features provided by the AVI.
NSX ALB provides lots of great insight into what’s happening on virtual services, and I’m glad to see this addition to the portfolio. If you have any additional questions or comments, please leave them below!
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