Tag: Tanzu

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Update Tanzu Workload Management

This is a brief guide on how to upgrade Tanzu Workload Management within the vSphere cluster.

Kubernetes Release and Patch Cycles

Kubernetes versions are specified as x.y.z following Semantic Versioning terminology, where x is the major version, y is the minor version, and z is the patch version. For example, v1.22.6 denotes a minor version 22 with patch level 6. Minor versions are released approximately every 3-4 months. In the meantime, there are several patches within the minor version.

The Kubernetes project maintains release branches for the last three minor versions (1.24, 1.23, 1.22). Since Kubernetes 1.19, newer versions receive patch support for about a year. So keeping the Kubernetes versions in Tanzu up to date is highly recommended.

Step 1 – Update vCenter

This step is not mandatory, but recommended. Updates on vCenter are often accompanied by a new Kubernetes versions. You can see notifications about updates in the vSphere Client.

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VMware Bitfusion and Tanzu – Part 2 : Bitfusion server setup

This will be a multi-part post focused on the VMware Bitfusion product. I will give an introduction to the technology, how to set up a Bitfusion server and how to use its services from Kubernetes pods.

Bitfusion Server setup preparation

A Bitfusion Server Cluster must meet the following requirements:

  • vSphere 7 or later
  • 10 GBit LAN at least for the Bitfusion data traffic for smaller or PoC deployments. High bandwidth and low latency are essential. 40 Gbit or even 100 Gbit are recommended.
  • Nvidia GPU with CUDA functionality and DirectPath I/O support:
    • Pascal P40
    • Tesla V100
    • T4 Tensor
    • A100 Tensor
  • At least 3 Bitfusion server per cluster for high availability

This setup guide assumes that the graphics cards have been deployed to the ESXi 7+ servers and the hosts have joined a cluster in vCenter.

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VMware Bitfusion and Tanzu – Part 1: A primer to Bitfusion

This will be a multi-part post focused on the VMware Bitfusion product. I will give an introduction to the technology, how to set up a Bitfusion server and how to use its services from Kubernetes pods.

What is Bitfusion?

In August 2019, VMware acquired BitFusion, a leader in GPU virtualization. Bitfusion provides a software platform that decouples specific physical resources from compute servers. It is not designed for graphics rendering, but rather for machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). Bitfusion systems (client and server) only run on selected Linux platforms as of today and support ML applications such as TensorFlow.

Why are GPUs so important for ML/AI applications?

Processors (Central Processing Unit / CPU) in current systems are optimized to process serial tasks in the shortest possible time and to switch quickly between tasks. GPUs (Graphics Processor Units), on the other hand, can process a large number of computing operations in parallel. The original intended application is in the name of the GPU. The CPU was to be offloaded by GPU in graphics rendering by outsourcing all rendering and polygon calculations to the GPU. In the mid-90s, some 3D games could still choose to render with CPU or GPU. Even then, it was a difference like night and day. GPU could calculate the necessary polygon calculations much faster and smoother.

A fine comparison of GPU and CPU architecture is described by Niels Hagoort in his blog post “Exploring the GPU Architecture“.

However, due to their architecture, GPUs are not only ideal for graphics applications, but for all applications where a very large number of arithmetic operations have to be executed in parallel. This includes blockchain, ML, AI and any kind of data analysis (number crunching).

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Monitor Tanzu K8s Compliance with Runecast Analyzer

Checking the cluster’s compliance for security or hidden problems is meanwhile a standard task. There are automated tools to do the job such as VMware Skyline or Runecast Analyzer. In addition to standard vSphere clusters, the latter can also check vSAN, NSX-T, AWS, Kubernetes and, since version 5.0, Azure for compliance.

In this blog post I’d like to outline how to connect a vSphere with Tanzu [*] environment to Runcast Analyzer. [* native Kubernetes Pods and TKG on vSphere]

Some steps are simplified because it is a Lab environment. I will point this out at the given point.

Before we can register Tanzu in Runecast Analyzer, we need some information.

  • IP address or FQDN of the SupervisorControlPlane
  • Service account with access to the SupervisorControlPlane
  • Service account access token
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