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vSphere with Tanzu, or Tanzu, enables the running of Kubernetes workloads natively on the hypervisor layer. VMware makes this functionality possible through a feature that is called Workload Management which is part of vCenter. The essential component of Workload Management is the Supervisor Cluster, which is a Kubernetes implementation. Users can add this cluster to an existing, supported vSphere cluster. Users can then create dedicated resource pools (namespaces) for Tanzu Kubernetes clusters which are run directly on the ESXi hosts on virtual machines. Users can then deploy applications on those clusters.
In order to use vSphere with Tanzu, one of two networking options is required:
When using vSphere Networking, a load balancer is necessary. There are two load balancers to choose from:
As NSX-T is a complete networking solution, it enables the use of two features that vSphere Networking does not: vSphere Pods and a Harbor Registry. The environment that is detailed in this guide uses vSphere Networking as it is a simpler and less costly implementation.
Note: PowerFlex does not support VMware Virtual Volumes with PowerFlex 4.0.x, so it is not an available option for Tanzu storage.
Note: PowerFlex does not support vSphere 8 with PowerFlex 4.0.x, so vSphere 7.0.3 is used in this configuration.