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Following is the list of prerequisites for running Kubernetes with vSphere Cloud Provider:

  • Kubernetes version - v1.6.5 and above

Following table summarizes key features introduced in vSphere Cloud Provider in each Kubernetes release

Kubernetes Release vSphere Cloud Provider feature
v1.11.0 Added a mechanism in vSphere Cloud Provider to get credentials from Kubernetes secrets, rather than the plain text vsphere.conf file
SAML token authentication support
v1.9.0 Multi vCenter Support
v1.8.2 Performance improvement for large scale deployment
v1.8.0 vSphere Cloud Provider refactoring for better debuggability, logging and code maintenance
v1.7.0 Integration with vSphere Storage Policy Based Management (SPBM) for dynamic volume provisioning.
Enhanced vSphere Cloud Provider debuggabilty via integration with metrices exposed for Kubernetes storage APIs.
v1.6.5 Integration with vSphere HA
v1.6.3 Dynamic volume provisioning using vSAN storage capabilities

  • vSphere version - 6.0.x (Virtual Hardware 11) and above. (Note: Standalone ESX is not supported.)

  • Container Host operating systems -
    • Photon - v1.0 GA
    • Ubuntu - v16.04
    • CoreOs - v4.11.2
    • Centos - v7.3
    • RHEL OS - v7.4
    • SLES - v12 SP3
  • govc v0.18 and above

The govc CLI can be used for additional configuration and troubleshooting. Example govc configuration:

    export GOVC_URL='vCenter IP OR FQDN'
    export GOVC_USERNAME='vCenter User'
    export GOVC_PASSWORD='vCenter Password'
    export GOVC_INSECURE=1
  • vSphere setup to deploy the Kubernetes cluster.
    • For Kubernetes version 1.9.x and above: vSphere Cloud Provider supports Kubernetes cluster spanning across multiple vCenters.
    • For Kubernetes version 1.8.x and below: vSphere Cloud Provider supports Kubernetes cluster deployed only in one vCenter.
  • vSphere supported storage.
    • It can be HCI offering such as VMware vSAN or block and file storage offerings like VMFS and NFS.
    • With Kubernetes version 1.9.x if user wants to use multiple vCenters then vSAN storage can not be used. vSAN is limited to one cluster in one vCenter deployment.
  • vCenter user with required set of privileges.
  • VMware Tools needs to be installed on the guest operating system on each Node VM. Please refer this link for instruction on installing VMware tools.
  • Node VM name requirements needed only until Kuberneters version 1.8.x.
    • VM names can not begin with numbers.
    • VM names can not have capital letters, any special characters except . and -.
    • VM names can not be shorter than 3 chars and longer than 63
  • The disk.EnableUUID parameter must be set to “TRUE” for each Node VM. Please refer this section.