pks-rancher-reg: Automated PKS Cluster Registration For Rancher
My previous blog showed a method that can be used to stand up Rancher Server in HA on VMware PKS, and I’m going to build on it in this one. Having a Rancher Server environment is great for managing all sorts of Kubernetes clusters from the edge to those hosted in cloud providers, but we can also use it to manage VMware PKS clusters as well. That’s really no secret. However, since PKS focuses on a high degree of difficult automation to produce ready-to-run Kubernetes clusters at the end of the day, wouldn’t it be nice to extend that to making them ready-to-manage as well?
Rancher HA on Enterprise PKS
Rancher is a container orchestration and management tool that has been around for several years at this point and performs a variety of different functions. In more recent days, it has been refactored to completely adopt Kubernetes. In this blog, I am going to focus on how to build an enterprise-grade, highly-available, and secure installation of Rancher Server on top of VMware Enterprise PKS. I’ll respond to the burning question of ‘why Rancher on PKS in the first place?
HTTPS Ingress with Enterprise PKS
Kubernetes is an awesome technology, in my humble opinion, and one of the best ways to adopt it and begin to use it in a production-worthy manner is with VMware’s Enterprise PKS. By using Enterprise PKS, you get some truly great additional value by leveraging NSX-T for the networking and security components. One of those things that comes in so handy is the ingress controller capabilities of NSX-T in which you don’t need to go roll your own.
pks-dns: Automated DNS registration for PKS Clusters
VMware’s Enterprise PKS is a great solution for quickly and easily stamping out Kubernetes clusters. It really makes the process simple and repeatable while bringing additional benefits like scaling, upgrades, and auto-healing thanks to the likes of BOSH–PKS’ right-hand man. It also leverages (or can) NSX-T which provides tons of additional value. All of these pieces come together to form what is often touted as a “turnkey solution”. However, ever since I first started working with the product, something has always bugged me and remained in the back of my mind like a chime ringing in the distance.
Optimize-VMwarePKS: A PowerShell script for all your VMware PKS deployment needs
Ever since VMware PKS (now called Enterprise PKS) came onto the market over a year ago, it’s been a big hit. With it, you get upstream Kubernetes, NSX-T, an enterprise-class container registry, automation of the entire K8s cluster creation process, and lots more all on top of the de facto private cloud platform of vSphere. It’s truly becoming the way organizations are standardizing on K8s cluster instantiation, upgrade, and management on-premises.