Migrate, then Modernize!
App Modernization with Kubernetes on VMC
Kubernetes, Kubernetes, Kubernetes…
Many IT departments are dealing with an increasing demand from the business to deliver support for Kubernetes. Commercial, of the shelf applications are packaged as a container more often and internal software development teams are adopting Kubernetes as their go-to platform to rapidly deliver their applications and services. A lot of the IT departments we talk to, initially fire up a couple of Linux VMs on their VMware platform and experiment with Kubernetes. They soon realize they got a lot more than they bargained for. Kubernetes is hard to get up and running and even more difficult to maintain and secure properly at scale. Kubernetes also painfully exposes which cloud capabilities are missing in the existing VMware environment, such as software-defined storage and networking, desired-state infrastructure, elasticity and more. All the while, the number of applications and services running on the “Friday afternoon implementation of Kubernetes on a bunch of Linux VMs” is growing exponentially. Things are starting to get out of control…
In an alternative strategy, companies look at public clouds for a fast introduction of Kubernetes. All the different Kubernetes flavors in AWS, Azure and Google Cloud Platform deliver what they promise and you can fire up Kubernetes pods within minutes. But, what about your Identity and Access Management? How are you ensuring compliance is met? How are you dealing with network connectivity to your on-premises VMware environment? How do you stay in control of your cloud bills? And who is going to manage this completely new technology stack? Before you know it, you’re down the public cloud rabbit hole just to get a Kubernetes cluster up and running.
The pressure is on!
There often is a big need to modernize application environments from both a business and a technical perspective. Business teams are under pressure to innovate. But, developing mature capabilities to provide reliable and secure Kubernetes to the business is hard and in turn puts a lot of pressure on the IT teams. They are already busy getting all the latest upgrades, updates, and security patches in place in the infrastructure. All of a sudden, they are forced to dive into this new, complex, and sometimes confusing world of Kubernetes. IT now needs to modernize the infrastructure and turn their traditional virtual infrastructure into a Software-Defined Data Center with cloud capabilities. Stress goes up, morale and internal customer satisfaction go down … because IT can’t deliver on time.
Why not migrate to VMware Cloud first?
VMware Cloud delivers a modern cloud infrastructure to run the enterprise workloads of today and tomorrow. Instead of investing heavily in modernizing the existing on-premises VMware virtual infrastructure, more and more companies choose to simply consume a fully capable VMware SDDC as-a-service with VMware Cloud. VMware Cloud delivers all the cloud capabilities they need in a fully managed cloud service. This means the IT team can finally free up time to get ahead of the innovation curve.
Tanzu Kubernetes Grid (TKG) on VMware SDDC
VMware Cloud on AWS now supports Tanzu Kubernetes Grid on VMware SDDC. It delivers an enterprise-grade Kubernetes runtime that you can run, manage, and connect consistently across a hybrid cloud environment without having to worry about the underlying infrastructure or a potential cloud vendor lock-in. If the long-term strategy is to run a hybrid cloud environment, then this “migrate, then modernize” strategy simply buys time. Customers can use this time to develop the required capabilities in their on-premises data center (by deploying VMware Cloud Foundation with Kubernetes for example) and run, manage, and connect it just like the TKG deployment on VMware Cloud on AWS.
VMware Cloud on AWS with Kubernetes Proof of Concept
If you are looking for a solution to rapidly introduce Kubernetes in your VMware environment, and you want a container platform solution that delivers speed, portability, scalability and above all, consistency and reliability … reach out to us to learn about our VMware Cloud Proof of Concept. In a timeboxed engagement of up to 10 business days, we deploy VMware Cloud on AWS with Tanzu Kubernetes Grid and get you up and running in no time!
