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Kitty_Danvers
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Contributor

Tanzu/TKG - Beginners Questions.

Hi,

I am trying to wrap my head round TKG/Tanzu on vSphere 7.

Q1 - What is the/is there a difference between TKG and Tanzu?

Q2 - What exactly determines the version of TKG/Tanzu I have? I see there are various Client/CLI tools versions 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, etc. Is it the supervisor cluster version - i.e. v1.21.0+vmware.wcp.2-vsc0.0.12-18735554?

Q3 - With reference to the CLI tools; I see mention of both tkg and tanzu commands in the documentation? Are they different tools or is one (tanzu) the evolution of/replacement to the other (tkg)?

If anyone could point me towards a book/publication/blog that offers and end-to-end guide to setting up a TKG/Tanzu clusters on vSphere 7 I would really appreciate it.

I find the examples on docs.vmware.com too disjointed - they don't follow the same networking (port groups/IPs/etc) across examples; and I get lost.

Thank you.

Kitty.

 

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DCasota
Expert
Expert

Hi there,

Where did you start your Tanzu learning path? Respectful, here a few entrypoints - for IT admins and for coders as well. Btw, I'm a Tanzu beginner, too (!).

To answer your question about book/publication/blog, self-paced learning is a good starting point. And there is a sweet spot - you get more progress in shorter time by attending a VMware mylearn course. In relation to your question, the course 'VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid: Install, Configure, Manage [V1.0]' might be a good choice. You may have a look to the course content.

Q1) First, you must have a fully functional vSphere Enterprise Plus environment. See the Tanzu related offerings in
https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/products/vsphere/vmware-vsphere-pr... and in https://tanzu.vmware.com/de/tanzu/compare.

A VMware vSphere ESXi cluster that is enabled for vSphere with Tanzu is called a Supervisor cluster. IT operations deliverables typically include update scenarios of components. That's the goal for VMware vSphere with Tanzu as well. To update the Supervisor cluster, the inner-check uses the vSphere Namespaces version, a string join of Kubernetes version and the vSphere with Tanzu version.

Q2) Doing the math, you can imagine a multiplication array, it results in unsupported and supported combinations Kubernetes+'vSphere with Tanzu'. This interoperability perspective is addressed in https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/82592. In addition, one goal is to provide fully-automated updates as well.

VMware vSphere with Tanzu distinguishes between Supervisor Cluster and Tanzu Kubernetes Grid (TKG) Service for vSphere. Thinking in multiplication with arrays again might be easier when it comes to a deterministic definition of the ever-changing interoperability window of (multi-cloud) portability requirements. Every update + downgrade + change in sub-components has a performance impact, but that does not mean that every interoperability is automatically guaranteed. The Tanzu CLI and the Tanzu Kubernetes Kubernetes Grid (TKG) CLI release notes do reflect this.

Hope this helps. Daniel

Kitty_Danvers
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you so much Daniel,

I am just starting my TKG journey, so I will check out all of those links and I will look into the TKG ICM course.

I have access to a lab environment, that is licensed using a VMUG Advanced subscription, so I should have the correct licenses.

You are a star!

Kitty

 

DCasota
Expert
Expert

Hi Kitty,

Many thanks!

Thank you for pointing out the VMUG Advantage. Didn't know that Tanzu Basic is already included in the subscription.

Daniel

ps. Now THAT episodes playlist https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/tgik/blob/master/playlist.md how could I forget!

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DineshIBM
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

@Kitty_DanversI  am doing day 2 day work on tanzu portfolio, happy to help you. feel free to reach out.

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simonemorellato
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

We just put together this guide that should help clarify things https://modernapps.ninja/tanzuglossary_tg7721/docs/

Feel free to contribute by opening pull requests.