Kubernetes for vSphere Admins – part of the June 2023 VMware User Group Global Virtual Event series

This session was selected by the VMware User Group (VMUG) for their Global Virtual Event which was held on June 27, 2023. As part of the session, some of the fundamentals of Kubernetes (K8s) are discussed. The talk then moves onto areas where vSphere Administrators can begin to onboard with Kubernetes, particularly when K8s control plane and worker nodes are deployed as a set of virtual machines on top of vSphere infrastructure.

The two areas which are discussed in significant detail are the external Load Balancers and the vSphere CSI driver. The talk examines the options for different Load Balancers that can be deployed on vSphere infrastructure before looking at the vSphere CSI driver and how it is used by Kubernetes to consume storage on underlying vSphere datastores. This is necessary when there is a need to create persistent volumes for applications deployed in K8s.

It is my personal opinion that these are the main areas where a vSphere administrator would need to work ‘hand-in-hand’ with a Kubernetes Cluster admin, and is thus the best place for a vSphere admin to gain knowledge on Kubernetes. From this starting point, the vSphere admin can then begin their journey to gaining even more insights into the operational aspects of K8s. The recording is just over 30 minutes in length. Hope you find it useful.