Adding Tanzu Supervisor Clusters with Aria Automation Cloud Assembler for Kubernetes Deployments

In my previous article on setting up a homelab Tanzu environment, I discussed how to create customized Kubernetes clusters associated with vSphere. These supervisor clusters expose Kubernetes APIs to end-users and use ESXI as a platform for worker nodes instead of Linux. In this blog post, we will explore how to add Tanzu supervisor clusters with Aria Automation Cloud Assembler for use in deployments and create namespaces in a supervisor cluster using a cloud template.

Creating Namespaces in a Supervisor Cluster

To create namespaces in a supervisor cluster using Cloud Assembler, follow these steps:

1. In Cloud Assembler, select Infrastructure > Configure > Kubernetes in Cloud Assembly.

2. Click Add Supervisor Cluster and provide the necessary information, such as the name of the cluster, the ESXI hostname, and the vCenter server URL.

3. In the Provisioning tab, select the supervisor cluster that will be associated with the namespaces.

4. Click Add Compute and select the available supervisor cluster, such as cluster1.

5. Click Save to provision the supervisor cluster.

Creating a Kubernetes Zone

To create a Kubernetes zone in Cloud Assembler, follow these steps:

1. In Cloud Assembler, navigate to Infrastructure > Configure > Kubernetes Zone.

2. Select New Kubernetes Zone and provide the necessary information, such as the name of the zone and the vCenter server URL.

3. Click Save to create the Kubernetes zone.

Associating a Project with a Kubernetes Zone

To associate a project with a Kubernetes zone in Cloud Assembler, follow these steps:

1. In Cloud Assembler, navigate to Infrastructure > Administration > Projects.

2. Select the project that you want to associate with your Kubernetes zone.

3. Click the Kubernetes Provisioning tab on the Project page.

4. Click Add Kubernetes Zone and add the zone that we’ve just created.

5. Click Save to associate the project with the Kubernetes zone.

Creating a Storage Profile for Kubernetes Provisioning

To create a storage profile for Kubernetes provisioning in Cloud Assembler, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Infrastructure > Configure > Storage Profiles.

2. Click New Storage Profile and provide the necessary information, such as the name of the profile and the disk customizations.

3. Create the storage profile as follows:

a. Select the appropriate storage policy from the list of available policies.

b. Specify the desired storage capacity and other customizations as needed.

c. Click Save to create the storage profile.

Creating a Cloud Template for Supervisor Namespaces

To create a cloud template for supervisor namespaces in Cloud Assembler, follow these steps:

1. In Cloud Assembler, select Design > Cloud Template and create a new one.

2. Select the Supervisor namespace item on the left menu and drag it to the canvas.

3. Customize the blueprint by letting the user specify the desired name of the namespace and specifying the appropriate storage policy as created previously.

4. Click Save to save the cloud template.

Deploying a Namespace

To deploy a namespace using the cloud template, follow these steps:

1. In Cloud Assembler, select Design > Cloud Template and open the cloud template that we’ve just created.

2. Click Deploy and specify a name for the deployment and the namespace.

3. Wait until the deployment has been finished, and then verify the existence of the namespace in vCenter.

Conclusion

In this blog post, we have covered how to add Tanzu supervisor clusters with Aria Automation Cloud Assembler for use in deployments and create namespaces in a supervisor cluster using a cloud template. By following these steps, you can easily manage and provision Kubernetes resources in your vSphere environment.