Verrazzano Enterprise Container Platform – Introduction

Docs: Verrazzano Architecture

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Each Verrazzano installation sits on top of a Kubernetes cluster (that can be hosted on a variety of environments). Verrazzano relies on the Kubernetes API to pull information from the cluster to its components and push instructions from its components down to the cluster. Specifically, Verrazzano uses custom resources, extensions of the Kubernetes API to configure Kubernetes environments and provide additional functionality.

Because Verrazzano extends Kubernetes, you can continue to use many of the Kubernetes management tools you’re already familiar with, such as kubectl and kubeadm.

Each Kubernetes cluster must have both a Container Network Interface (CNI) and a Container Storage Interface (CSI) plugin.

Inside a Verrazzano installation

Verrazzano consists of many, discrete components. To coordinate between these components, Verrazzano engages the Istio service mesh - an infrastructure layer that manages the flow of information between services. Most Verrazzano components operate from within the Istio service mesh and rely on it to facilitate fast, reliable, and secure communication between them. Istio also provides useful features such as load balancing, traffic control, observability, and more.

Learn more about how Istio handles traffic and network security in Verrazzano at Networking.

The components within the service mesh can broadly be organized into the following categories:

Backup and restore
Certificate management
Cluster management
GitOps
Identity management
Observability
Verrazzano operators

See Installed Software for a list of the components included with Verrazzano. Depending on which installation profile you choose to apply, some components are not enabled by default.

One Verrazzano component that does not reside within the service mesh is the Verrazzano platform operator, a custom Kubernetes operator that handles the management of Verrazzano itself - including installation (and uninstallation), upgrades, and troubleshooting. The platform operator also works with the service mesh to synchronize actions between the components and Kubernetes clusters.

Application deployment

With Verrazzano, you can manage a variety of application types. Depending on their type, applications are deployed from different spaces within the architecture of Verrazzano.

Applications that conform to the Open Application Model (OAM) specification are deployed within the service mesh. Their close proximity to other components allows for significant automation and configuration benefits.

Other application types are deployed in the Kubernetes cluster. They can still use Verrazzano features but may require additional configuration. Whichever application types you use, they’ll benefit from Verrazzano’s comprehensive management solution.

Multicluster support

You can use Verrazzano in single and multicluster Kubernetes environments. In a multicluster environment, there is an admin cluster, which is the central management point for deploying and monitoring applications, and one or more managed clusters, which look to the admin cluster for configurations.

Verrazzano is installed on every cluster; admin clusters are installed with either a dev or prod profile, while managed clusters use a managed-cluster profile which has fewer components enabled by default and requires registration to an admin cluster. See Installation Profiles for details.

After registration, a managed cluster submits logging and metrics data to its admin cluster, and receives configuration instructions in turn, over HTTPS.

Docs: Verrazzano Features

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Verrazzano Enterprise Container Platform delivers a unified platform for standardizing application and cluster management across various hosting environments. It’s built from many familiar open source projects, each working in concert on Kubernetes clusters to provide vital container management services.

Getting started with Verrazzano is easy - the basic installation process is simple yet flexible enough to evolve with your requirements.

Unified hosting environment for all application types

The flexibility of Verrazzano ensures that you can deploy both cloud native and traditional applications in on-premises and multicloud environments and manage them all using the same components. Using a consistent set of tools and processes reduces overhead related to training and maintenance, leaving more development resources available to address your business needs.

Verrazzano can even accelerate your approach to modernizing your traditional applications. While cloud native technologies offer many advantages, the labor requirements necessary to convert your existing applications can be intimidating. Verrazzano presents a bridge between the two: developers can immediately start building new applications cloud natively, while simultaneously maintaining and converting their existing traditional applications on a timeline that makes sense, all within the same platform.

Complete application life cycle management

Starting with deployment, Verrazzano supports an application through all phases of its life cycle. It extensively automates the deployment process so you can reproduce successful application deployments reliably, even in multicloud environments.

Verrazzano understands that application management is a continuous and dynamic process where deployment is just the beginning. As an application moves through its life cycle, its management system must be able to adapt to its developing needs. Day 2 operations are given equal consideration so that post-deployment, you can continue to optimize your applications and their clusters over the course of their lifetime.

With management occurring within a single platform, Verrazzano makes it easy to follow the principles of DevOps and GitOps. Coordination between diverse types of users becomes effortless, encouraging quick resolutions and creative innovations.

For a list of the software that make up Verrazzano and what they do, see Installed Software.

Dependable infrastructure management

Verrazzano also recognizes that the direct management of applications is only part of what makes up a useful container management platform: to consistently provide a stable and reliable service, you need to start with a healthy foundation. The infrastructure supporting your applications must be equally well supported.

Verrazzano tracks and receives valuable and timely information on the state of your clusters to ensure they’re operating optimally.

Verrazzano also supports both single and multicluster Kubernertes environments.

For more information on how Verrazzano works in a multicluster environment, see Multicluster.

Comprehensive observability

Verrazzano includes a variety of logging, monitoring, and tracing components so you can make intelligent decisions based on the comprehensive data generated by your application and its environment. Many of the components in this observability stack offer significant automated functionality which means Verrazzano alerts you to problems before you know to look for them.

For more information on the available observability options, see Observability.

Integrated security

Verrazzano protects your applications and other resources with a robust set of security-focused components. It takes advantage of Kubernetes Role-Based Access Control to authorize only the right users to the right resources. Verrazzano also incorporates an identity solution that’s easily integrated with OAuth and LDAP systems so you can streamline user management and implement Single Sign On services, protecting Verrazzano components and your applications.

Furthermore, a single and cohesive platform can reduce potential security gaps that often arise when working across unrelated software components. Verrazzano seals potential breaches between its individual components to minimize any compatibility issues and ensure each component remains on a supported and secure version.

For more information on how Verrazzano protects your applications, see Security.

Docs: Verrazzano and the Open Application Model

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Open Application Model (OAM) is a runtime-agnostic specification for defining cloud native applications; it allows developers to focus on the application instead of the complexities of a particular runtime infrastructure. OAM provides the specification for several file formats and rules for a runtime to interpret. Verrazzano uses OAM to enable the definition of a composite application abstraction and makes OAM constructs available within a VerrazzanoApplication YAML file. Verrazzano provides the flexibility to combine what you want into a multicloud enablement. It uses the VerrazzanoApplication as a means to encapsulate a set of components, scopes, and traits, and deploy them on a selected cluster.

OAM’s workload concept makes it easy to use many different workload types. Verrazzano includes specific workload types with special handling to deploy and manage those types, such as WebLogic, Coherence, and Helidon. OAM’s flexibility lets you create a grouping that is managed as a unit, although each component can be scaled or updated independently.

How does OAM work?

OAM has five core concepts:

Workloads - Declarations of the kinds of resources supported by the platform and the OpenAPI schema for that resource. Most Kubernetes CRDs can be exposed as workloads. Standard Kubernetes resource types can also be used (for example, Deployment, Service, Pod, ConfigMap).
Components - Wrap a workload resource’s specification data within OAM specific metadata.
Application Configurations - Describe a collection of components that comprise an application. This is also where customization (such as, environmental) of each component is done. Customization is achieved using scopes and traits.
Scopes - Apply customization to several components.
Traits - Apply customization to a single component.

Docs: Verrazzano in a Multicluster Environment

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Review the following key concepts to understand multicluster Verrazzano.

Admin cluster - A Kubernetes cluster that serves as the central management point for deploying and monitoring applications in managed clusters.
Managed clusters - A Kubernetes cluster that has the following characteristics:
- It is registered with an admin cluster with a unique name.
- Verrazzano multicluster applications may be deployed to the managed cluster from the admin cluster.
- Logs and metrics for Verrazzano system components and Verrazzano multicluster applications deployed on the managed cluster are viewable from the admin cluster.
Verrazzano multicluster resources - Custom Kubernetes resources defined by Verrazzano.
- Each multicluster resource serves as a wrapper for an underlying resource type.
- A multicluster resource allows the placement of the underlying resource to be specified as a list of names of the clusters in which the resource must be placed.

For more details, see here.