Home > Storage > PowerFlex > White Papers > Implementing Dell PowerFlex with VMware Tanzu > Executive summary
Containers are a way of packaging software so that it can be run reliably and efficiently on any computing environment. A container image is a lightweight, stand-alone, executable package of software that includes everything that is required to run an application: code, runtime, system tools, system libraries, and settings.
Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration system that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containers and containerized applications. Kubernetes has a toolset and an API to aid in this management across all the hosts in the environment. Kubernetes handles the scaling, resiliency, scheduling, and load balancing of the containers. Kubernetes groups containers into pods.
vSphere with Tanzu (Tanzu) provides an integrated solution for running Kubernetes workloads natively on the ESXi hypervisor layer. Through the vCenter, VMware simplifies the creation of Kubernetes clusters and gives both administrators and developers an interface to work with containers. Dell PowerFlex offers both block and file storage, the types consumed by vSphere with Tanzu. The Administrators can control the number of resources available to developers, including storage, while developers can manage the entire life cycle of their Tanzu Kubernetes clusters.
PowerFlex is a software-defined storage platform that is designed to reduce operational and infrastructure complexity. It empowers organizations to move faster by delivering flexibility, elasticity, and simplicity with predictable performance and resiliency at scale. PowerFlex 4 supports both block and file, the types of storage consumed by vSphere with Tanzu. In addition, Tanzu can consume block storage through both SCSI (SDC) and NVMe/TCP.