System vSphere Template

Overview¶

This documentation provides an overview of system template for Rafay Managed Kubernetes Clusters on VMware vSphere .These templates are designed to simplify the provisioning, configuration, and management of Kubernetes clusters on VMware vSphere.

Intial Setup¶

The platform team is responsible for performing the initial configuration and setup of the MKS on vSphere template. The sequence diagram below outlines the high-level steps. In this process, the platform team will configure and share the template from the system catalog to the project they manage and then share the template downstream with the end user.

sequenceDiagram
    participant Admin as Platform Admin
    participant Catalog as System Catalog
    participant Project as End User Project

    Admin->>Catalog: Selects MKS on vSphere Template from System Catalog
    Admin->>Project: Shares Template with Predefined Controls
    Project-->>Admin: Template Available in End User's Project

End User Flow¶

The end user launches a shared template, provides required input values, and deploys the cluster.

sequenceDiagram
    participant User as End User
    participant Project as Rafay Project
    participant Infra as VMware vSphere Infra

    User->>Project: Launch Shared Template for MKS on VMware vSphere
    User->>Project: Provide Required Input Values
    note right of User: Input values include:<br>API Key,<br>Node Configuration<br>(SSH Key, Authorized Key),<br>vSphere Details<br>(Datacenter, Network, Datastore,<br>Server Address, Compute Cluster,<br>VM Template)
    User->>Project: Click "Deploy"
    Project->>Infra: Deploy Virtual Machines and Prepare Nodes<br>for Kubernetes Deployment
    Project->>Infra: Provision Rafay Managed Kubernetes Cluster<br>on the deployed nodes
    Infra-->>User: Cluster Deployment Successful

This system template allows you to configure, templatize, and provision a Rafay Managed Kubernetes Cluster (Rafay MKS) on VMware vSphere

The templates are designed to support both:

Day 0 operations: Initial setup
Day 2 operations: Ongoing management like k8s upgrades , addition of new nodes etc.

Key Capabilities¶

This template enables users to:

Deploy Virtual Machines on VMware vSphere based on the provided configuration.
Provision and manage the lifecycle of Rafay Managed Kubernetes Clusters on VMware vSphere Environment.
Configure:
- Container Network Interface (CNI)
- Add-ons defined in the cluster blueprint.

Resources¶

This system template will deploy the following resources:

Virtual Machines on the VMware vSphere Infra based on the provided configuration.
Upstream Kubernetes on the deployed VM nodes.

Pre-Requisites¶

Access to VMware vSphere Infra:
Ensure you have access to VMware vSphere with the following details:
- Datacenter
- Network
- Datastore
- Compute Cluster
- vSphere Server Address
- vSphere Username
- vSphere Password
- Private Key: Used for accessing the nodes.
- Public Authorized Key: Used for remote SSH access to the VMs.
- VM Template: The template to be used for creating VMs on VMware vSphere.
Agent Configuration:
An agent must be configured in the project where the template will be used.Follow these instructions to deploy an agent: Agent Deployment Guide. Existing agents can also be reused.
Rafay Configuration:
- Specify the API key of the controller for API Key input variable.

Input Variables for MKS on VMware vSphere System Template¶

Name	Default Value	Description	Value Type
Worker VM Memory	`64`	Amount of memory [GiB] per worker VM	Text
Worker VM Prefix	`$(environment.name)$-w`	Prefix for worker virtual machine names	Expressions
Cluster Blueprint	`minimal`	Blueprint to be added to the cluster	Text
Worker VM Count	`1`	Number of worker VMs to create	Text
Worker VM Disk Data Size	`30`	Additional storage device configured for the VM [GiB]	Text
System Components Placement	`{"node_selector":{},"tolerations":[]}`	Placement settings for system components	JSON
Worker VM CPU	`8`	Number of CPUs per worker VM	Text
vSphere User	`rafay`	vSphere username for authentication	Text
Controlplane VM Disk Data Size	`30`	Additional storage device configured for the Control Plane VM [GiB]	Text
Auto Approve Nodes	`true`	Automatically approve nodes (Allowed: [true, false])	Text
Controlplane VM Prefix	`$(environment.name)$-cp`	Prefix for Control Plane virtual machine names	Expressions
vSphere Compute Cluster	`Cluster1`	vSphere compute cluster where virtual machines will be created	Text
vSphere VM Template	`vm-agent-template`	Template name for creating virtual machines	Text
Cluster Blueprint Version	`latest`	Blueprint version	Text
vSphere Network Worker	`rafay`	Configure vSphere network in the selected data center for Worker Node VMs	Text
Controlplane VM Memory	`16`	Amount of memory [GiB] per Control Plane VM	Text
vSphere Password		vSphere password for authentication	Text
Controlplane VM CPU	`4`	Number of CPUs per Control Plane VM	Text
VM Operating System	`Ubuntu-22.04`	Operating system of the VM	Text
vSphere Resource Pool	`ovhServers`	The vSphere resource pool to use for VM deployment. Set to an empty Text to use the default cluster pool.	Text
vSphere Server	`pcc-147-135-35-53.ovh.us`	The vCenter server IP or FQDN	Text
Cluster Project	$(environment.project.name)$	Name of the project	Expressions
Cluster Network	`{"cni":{"name":"Calico","version":"3.26.1"},"pod_subnet":"10.244.0.0/16","service_subnet":"10.96.0.0/12"}`	The network configuration	JSON
Cloud Credentials		Upstream cloud credentials	Text
vSphere Network Controlplane	`rafay`	Configure vSphere network in the selected data center for Control Plane VMs	Text
vSphere Datastore	`ssd-001870`	Datastore where virtual machines will reside	Text
Cluster Dedicated Controlplanes*	`false`	Enable dedicated control planes (Allowed: [true, false])	Text
Proxy Config	`{}`	Configure proxy if your infrastructure uses an outbound proxy	JSON
Cluster Kubernetes Version	`v1.30.4`	Version of Kubernetes (Allowed: [v1.28.13, v1.29.8, v1.30.4, v1.31.0])	Text
Worker VM OS Disk Size	`50`	Primary storage device for the Worker VM [GiB]	Text
Cluster HA	`false`	Enable high availability (Allowed: [true, false])	Text
vSphere Worker Folder	`$(environment.name)$-worker`	vSphere folder where Worker VMs will be organized	Expressions
Kubernetes Upgrade	`{"params":{"worker_concurrency":"50%"},"strategy":"sequential"}`	Kubernetes upgrade strategy and parameters	JSON
Controlplane VM Disk OS Size	`50`	Primary storage device for the Control Plane VM [GiB]	Text
vSphere Controlplane Folder	`$(environment.name)$-controlplane`	vSphere folder where the Control Plane VMs will be organized	Text
VM Username	`ubuntu`	VM username for authentication	Text
vSphere Storage Policy		The vSphere storage policy. Set to an empty Text if not using a storage policy	Text
Cluster Labels	`{"env":"dev","release":"stable"}`	Labels for the cluster	JSON
vSphere Datacenter	`pcc-147-135-35-53_datacenter1145`	vSphere data center to deploy virtual machines	Text
Controlplane VM Count	`1`	Number of Control Plane VMs to create	Text
Cluster Location	`sanjose-us`	Location of the cluster	Text
Cluster Name	$(environment.name)$	Name of the cluster	Expressions
API Key		Enter the API key of the controller	Text
Rest Endpoint	`console.rafay.dev`	Select the endpoint of the controller	Text
private-key		SSH private key for virtual machine access	Text
authorized-key		Public key to configure remote SSH access to the nodes	Text

Launch Time¶

The estimated time to launch an MKS cluster using this template is approximately 15 to 20 minutes.