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VMware Cloud Director Quick Tip - API Explorer (Swagger) not visible for Org Admins

In VMware Cloud Director 10, the API Explorer (Swagger) is not visible for Organization Administrators.

When they try to access /api-explorer/tenant/[ORG]/, an HTTP ERROR 403 - Forbidden is shown.

The right to use the API Explorer is not part of the default rules set. To allow tenants to use the API Explorer, edit the Rights Bundle and default Role:

Read More »VMware Cloud Director Quick Tip - API Explorer (Swagger) not visible for Org Admins

Troubleshooting CSE 3.1 TKGm Integration with VMware Cloud Director 10.3

This article recaps Issues that I had during the integration of VMware Container Service Extension 3.1 to allow the deployment of Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Clusters (TKGm) in VMware Cloud Director 10.3.

If you are interested in an Implementation Guide, refer to Deploy CSE 3.1 with TKGm Support in VCD 10.3 and First Steps with TKGm Guest Clusters in VCD 10.3.

  • CSE Log File Location
  • DNS Issues during Photon Image Creation
  • Disable rollbackOnFailure to troubleshoot TKGm deployment errors
  • Template cookbook version 1.0.0 is incompatible with CSE running in non-legacy mode
  • https://[IP-ADDRESS] should have a https scheme and match CSE server config file
  • 403 Client Error: Forbidden for url: https://[VCD]/oauth/tenant/demo/register
  • NodeCreationError: failure on creating nodes ['mstr-xxxx']
  • Force Delete TKGm Clusters / Can't delete TKGm Cluster / Delete Stuck in DELETE:IN_PROGRESS

Read More »Troubleshooting CSE 3.1 TKGm Integration with VMware Cloud Director 10.3

First Steps with TKGm Guest Clusters in VMware Cloud Director 10.3

In the previous article, I've explained how to deploy Container Service Extension 3.1 with TKGm Support in VMware Cloud Director 10.3. In this article, I'm taking a look at how the Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Cluster is integrated into the Organization VDC and how the Tenant can access and work with the Kubernetes Cluster.

 

Read More »First Steps with TKGm Guest Clusters in VMware Cloud Director 10.3

Deploy CSE 3.1 with TKGm Support in VMware Cloud Director 10.3

With the release of Cloud Director 10.3 and Container Service Extension 3.1 (CSE), you have an additional option to deploy Kubernetes Clusters: "Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Multi-Cloud" aka. TKGm. With TKGm you now have 4 options to offer Kubernetes as a Service for your customers.

  • TKGm (Multi-Cloud)
  • TKGs (vSphere with Tanzu)
  • Native
  • TKG-I (Enterprise PKS)

Yes, there is a reason why TKGm and TKGs are in bold letters. If you are starting today, forget about "Native" and "TKG-I". "TKGm" works similar to "Native" but is far superior. TKG-I (TKG Integrated Edition, formerly known as VMware Enterprise PKS) is deprecated as of CSE 3.1 and will be removed in future releases.

This article explains how to integrate CSE 3.1 in VMware Cloud Director 10.3.

Read More »Deploy CSE 3.1 with TKGm Support in VMware Cloud Director 10.3

Direct Org Network to TKC Network Communication in Cloud Director 10.2

Since VMware has introduced vSphere with Tanzu support in VMware Cloud Director 10.2, I'm struggling to find a proper way to implement a solution that allows customers bidirectional communication between Virtual Machines and Pods. In earlier Kubernetes implementations using Container Service Extension (CSE) "Native Cluster", workers and the control plane were directly placed in Organization networks. Communication between Pods and Virtual Machines was quite easy, even if they were placed in different subnets because they could be routed through the Tier1 Gateway.

With Tanzu meeting VMware Cloud Director, Kubernetes Clusters have their own Tier1 Gateway. While it would be technically possible to implement routing between Tanzu and VCD Tier1s through Tier0, the typical Cloud Director Org Network is hidden behind a NAT. There is just no way to prevent overlapping networks when advertising Tier1 Routers to the upstream Tier0. The following diagram shows the VCD networking with Tanzu enabled.

With Cloud Director 10.2.2, VMware further optimized the implementation by automatically setting up Firewall Rules on the TKC Tier1 to only allow the tenants Org Networks to access Kubernetes services. They also published a guide on how customers could NAT their public IP addresses to TKC Ingress addressed to make them accessible from the Internet. The method is described here (see Publish Kubernetes Services using VCD Org Networks). Unfortunately, the need to communicate from Pods to Virtual Machines in VCD seems still not to be in VMware's scope.

While developing a decent solution by using Kubernetes Endpoints, I came up with a questionable workaround. While I highly doubt that these methods are supported and useful in production, I still want to share them, to show what actually could be possible.

Read More »Direct Org Network to TKC Network Communication in Cloud Director 10.2

Access Org Network Services from TKC Guest Cluster in VMware Cloud Director with Tanzu

Many applications running in container platforms still require external resources like databases. In the last article, I've explained how to access TKC resources from VMware Cloud Director Tenant Org Networks. In This article, I'm going to explain how to access a database running on a Virtual Machine in VMware Cloud Director from a Tanzu Kubernetes Cluster that was deployed using the latest Cloud Service Extension (CSE) in VMware Cloud Director 10.2.

If you are not familiar with the vSphere with Tanzu integration in VMware Cloud Director, the following diagram shows the communication. I have a single Org VCD that has a MySQL Server running in an Org network. When leaving the Org Network, the private IP address is translated (SNAT) to an public IP from the VCD external network (203.0.113.0/24). The Customer also has a Tanzu Kubernetes Cluster (TKC) deployed using VMware Cloud Director. This creates another Tier1 Gateway, which is connected to the same upstream Tier0 Router. When the TKC communicates, it is also translated on the Tier 1 using an address from the Egress Pool (10.99.200.0/24).

So, both Networks can not communicate with each other directly. As of VMware Cloud Director 10.2.2, communication is only implemented to work in one direction - Org Network -> TKC. This is done using automatically configuring a SNAT on the Org T1 to its primary public address. With this address, the Org Network can reach all Kubernetes services that are exposed using an address from the Ingress Pool, which is the default when exposing services in TKC.

Read More »Access Org Network Services from TKC Guest Cluster in VMware Cloud Director with Tanzu

VMware Cloud Director 10.2.2 and vSphere with Tanzu Enhancements

VMware Cloud Director 10.2.2 brings a couple of enhancements to the vSphere with Tanzu integration. While we are still waiting for VRF support in vSphere with Tanzu to fully separate Supervisor Namespaces, the implementation introduced in VCD 10.2.2 should be valid for production workloads.

This article explains new features and issues I had during the implementation:

  • VCD with Supervisor Control Plane communication
  • Tanzu Certificate Issues
  • Tanzu Kubernetes Cluster Tenant Network Isolation
  • Publish Kubernetes Services using VCD Org Networks

Read More »VMware Cloud Director 10.2.2 and vSphere with Tanzu Enhancements

Client VPN with WireGuard in VMware Cloud Director backed by NSX-T

When you are running an NSX-T backed VMware Cloud Director, your customers might have the requirement to implement a remote access VPN solution. While Client VPN was possible with NSX-v, it is completely missing in NSX-T. This article explains how a customer can implement a Client VPN solution based on WireGuard. The implementation is fully in the hand of the customer and does not need any VCD modification or Service Provider interaction.

Wireguard is not part of VMware Cloud Director but can be installed easily on a Virtual Machine in the tenant's network. The following diagram shows the environment that is used throughout the article.

Read More »Client VPN with WireGuard in VMware Cloud Director backed by NSX-T

VMware Cloud Director 10 - Network cannot be deleted, because it is in use

A problem I ran into a couple of times in VMware Cloud Director 10 is that you can't delete an organization network, despite it is definitely no longer in use by anything. When you try to delete the network, the following error message is displayed:

Error: Network 172.16.1.0-24 cannot be deleted, because it is in use by the following vApp Networks: 172.16.1.0-24.

From my observation, this happens quite often when you work with Datacenter Groups, which has been implemented in VCD 10.2. But I've also seen it before. As stated in the error message, the network was added to a vApp, but actually, the vApp does no longer exist.

In this article, I'm explaining how to remove undeletable networks without messing with the VCD Database.
Read More »VMware Cloud Director 10 - Network cannot be deleted, because it is in use

Deploy Container Service Extension (CSE 3.0) in VMware Cloud Director 10.2

With the release of Cloud Director 10.2, the Container Service Extension 3.0 has been released. With CSE 3.0 you can extend your cloud offering by providing Kubernetes as a Service. Customers can create and manage their own K8s clusters directly in the VMware Cloud Director portal.

I've already described how to deploy vSphere with Tanzu based Kubernetes Clusters in VCD. CSE 3.0 with the "Native K8s Runtime" is is a neat alternative that allows you to deploy K8s directly into the customer's Organization networks, which is currently not possible with Tanzu.

This article explains how to integrate CSE 3.0 in VMware Cloud Director 10.2.

Read More »Deploy Container Service Extension (CSE 3.0) in VMware Cloud Director 10.2