Larik-Jan: ‘My first impression: VMware Explore has a very complete programme this year, actually right from the start on Monday 9:00 in the morning. However, there is a small but noticeable difference from previous years, since traditionally this day is dedicated to partners and the event only started from Tuesday for both partner and customers. The event is as grand and beautifully designed as previous years, but attendance still seems to lag a bit behind. Today I attended some initial sessions, all of which were very interesting and which I would like to take you through below.’

Supervisor Services

On Monday morning, we dwelled on the development of VMware Cloud Foundation. But, what was this all about? VMware has merged its 168 products into two products: VMware vSphere Foundation and VMware Cloud Foundation along with a set of add-ons.

The first session showed how VCF is evolving into a platform for all Private Cloud services: infrastructure services (virtual servers) and also Kubernetes have been given complete focus, with the product Tanzu disappearing from the product name catalogue. In its place, Service Controlplane has returned. A quick note on the why: in the world of applications, Kubernetes has become the platform for applications. Its interoperability across different Cloud platforms and its ease of scaling and modularity are the reasons for this. Currently, 86% of organisations are looking at migrating to Kubernetes for their applications.

Kubernetes is fully controllable from an API, facilitating simple DevOPs operations. VMware by Broadcom has taken up this concept and translated it into the service control plane with the aim of enabling unified deployment of all Private Cloud services with APIs: the Supervisor Controlplane.

These Supervisor Services also include vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS), which is disconnected from vCenter and can therefore also provide faster streamlining of new Kubernetes services.

Another enhancement shown is an improvement in a stretched vSAN cluster, where proper redundancy of the Supervisor Control Plane (ETCD) can be achieved.

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Furthermore, Windows Container Support is also supported and self-service is also being developed further. All in all, this session was very inspiring and really shows that VCF is seen as a flagship and will continue to be extended.

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