Helloooo!

For some time now I wanted to deploy Kubernetes Clusters on my vSphere environment using vRealize Automation. So I installed Enterprise PKS 1.6 without NSX-T in my Lab.

This post will cover how to setup vRA 8 with Enterprise PKS. Turns out, it’s not difficult at all!

Add PKS Integration

1. Log on to vRA 8 and go to Cloud Assembly
2. Once in Cloud Assembly go to ‘Infrastructure‘ – ‘Connections‘ – ‘Integrations‘ and click ‘Add Integration‘. Select ‘VMware Enterprise PKS‘ afterwards:
   
3. Fill in the details:
   I’m using Local Authentication for my Enterprise Setup so ‘UAA address’ & ‘PKS address’ are the same for me. Just different ports.
   
   Make sure to validate your setup!

The Enterprise PKS Integration has been added! Now let’s see what we can do with it.

Add Kubernetes Zone

What is a Kubernetes Zone?

Kubernetes zones enable cloud administrators to define policy based placement of Kubernetes clusters and namespaces used in Cloud Assembly deployments. An administrator can use this page to specify what clusters are available for provisioning of Kubernetes namespaces and, additionallly, what properties are acceptable for clusters.

Basically once you have deployed a Kubernetes Zone, you can deploy Kubernetes Clusters on it and define namespaces on those Kubernetes Clusters. You can use the PKS Plans to do sizing of your Kubernetes Clusters.

1. Log on to vRA 8 and go to Cloud Assembly
2. Once in Cloud Assembly go to ‘Infrastructure‘ – ‘Configure‘ – ‘Kubernetes Zones‘ and click ‘New Kubernetes Zone‘.
3. Choose your Enterprise PKS Integration you’ve just added & provide a name:
   
4. Click on ‘On-demand‘ and select the PKS Plans you want to associate with this Kubernetes Zone. Assign a tag to it & make sure to select ‘Allow Provisioning’.
   
   
   By assigning a tag to your PKS Plans, you can later specify those tags in your Blueprint and offer your vRA 8 Users a choice in size of Kubernetes Cluster they can deploy in your Kubernetes Zone.
5. In ‘Clusters‘ choose your already deployed Kubernetes Clusters which apply to this zone. These Clusters can be used to deploy Kubernetes Namespaces on for example.
   

Assign your Kubernetes Zone to a Project

1. Log on to vRA 8 and go to Cloud Assembly
2. Once in Cloud Assembly go to ‘Infrastructure‘ – ‘Configure‘ – ‘Projects‘ and click ‘Open‘ on your Project.
   
3. Go to ‘Kubernetes Zones‘ and add the Kubernetes Zone we just created & assign it a priority to your likings:
   
   
4. Make sure to save your changes!

So we’ve added our Enterprise PKS integration, created Kubernetes Zones and added them to our Project. We can now create Kubernetes Blueprints to start deploying Kubernetes Clusters within that Project on our Kubernetes Zone!

Next up: Create your first Kubernetes Blueprint

• K8s