TAP on Build. Run. Repeat.

Using HashiCorp Vault as Ingress TLS Certificate Issuer in TAP

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 09:00:00 -0400

Using HashiCorp Vault as Ingress TLS Certificate Issuer in TAP

Tanzu Application Platform (TAP) uses Contour HTTPProxy resources to expose several web components externally via ingress. Some of these components include the API Auto Registration, API Portal, Application Live View, Metadata Store, and TAP GUI. Web workloads deployed through TAP also leverage the same method for their ingress resources. For example:

$ kubectl get httpproxy -A

NAMESPACE NAME FQDN TLS SECRET STATUS STATUS DESCRIPTION
api-auto-registration api-auto-registration-controller api-auto-registration.tap.cloudnativeapps.cloud api-auto-registration-cert valid Valid HTTPProxy
api-portal api-portal api-portal.tap.cloudnativeapps.cloud api-portal-tls-cert valid Valid HTTPProxy
app-live-view appliveview appliveview.tap.cloudnativeapps.cloud appliveview-cert valid Valid HTTPProxy
metadata-store amr-cloudevent-handler-ingress amr-cloudevent-handler.tap.cloudnativeapps.cloud amr-cloudevent-handler-ingress-cert valid Valid HTTPProxy
metadata-store amr-graphql-ingress amr-graphql.tap.cloudnativeapps.cloud amr-ingress-cert valid Valid HTTPProxy
metadata-store metadata-store-ingress metadata-store.tap.cloudnativeapps.cloud ingress-cert valid Valid HTTPProxy
tap-demo-01 spring-petclinic-contour-76691bbb1936a7b010ca900ce58a3f57spring spring-petclinic.tap-demo-01.svc.cluster.local valid Valid HTTPProxy
tap-demo-01 spring-petclinic-contour-88f827fbdc09abbb4ee2b887bba100edspring spring-petclinic.tap-demo-01.tap.cloudnativeapps.cloud tap-demo-01/route-a4b7b2c7-0a56-48b9-ad26-6b0e06ca1925 valid Valid HTTPProxy
tap-demo-01 spring-petclinic-contour-spring-petclinic.tap-demo-01 spring-petclinic.tap-demo-01 valid Valid HTTPProxy
tap-demo-01 spring-petclinic-contour-spring-petclinic.tap-demo-01.svc spring-petclinic.tap-demo-01.svc valid Valid HTTPProxy
tap-gui tap-gui tap-gui.tap.cloudnativeapps.cloud tap-gui-cert valid Valid HTTPProxy

TAP uses a shared ingress issuer as a centralized certificate authority representation, providing a method to set up TLS for the entire platform. All participating components get their ingress certificates issued by it. This is the recommended best practice for issuing ingress certificates on the platform.

Getting Started with Carvel ytt - Real-World Examples

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 09:00:00 -0400

Over the years of working with Tanzu Kubernetes Grid (TKG), one tool has stood out as a game-changer for resource customization: Carvel’s ytt. Whether tailoring cluster manifests, customizing TKG packages, or addressing unique deployment requirements, ytt has consistently been a fundamental part of the workflow. Its flexibility, power, and declarative approach make it an essential tool for anyone working deeply with Kubernetes in a TKG ecosystem.

But what exactly is ytt? Short for YAML Templating Tool, ytt is part of the Carvel suite of tools designed for Kubernetes resource management. It provides a powerful, programmable approach to templating YAML configurations by combining straightforward data values, overlays, and scripting capabilities. Unlike many traditional templating tools, ytt prioritizes structure and intent, making it easier to maintain, validate, and debug configurations—particularly in complex, large-scale Kubernetes environments.

Production-Grade Multi-Cluster TAP Installation Guide

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 09:00:00 -0400

Introduction
Prerequisites
Prepare your Workstation
Relocate TAP Images to your Private Registry
Install TAP
Wrap Up

Introduction

Since my previous posts on TAP Overview and Backstage, I have been diving deeper into TAP, trying to establish the practices around it.

VMware Tanzu Application Platform Overview

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 09:00:00 -0400

In the first part of this series, I described what Backstage is and some of the advantages it aims to solve. VMware uses Backstage to enable its Tanzu Application Platform (TAP). Before we can understand how, however, we need to understand what TAP is and what it aims to do.

So, what exactly is the Tanzu Application Platform?

TAP is a robust application development platform entirely focused on the developer experience. It provides a rich set of developer tools in a centralized user interface. It is the latest innovation in this space from VMware. It is a true game-changer, building upon community-adopted tooling and the existing products within the Tanzu Advanced Suite to offer a next-gen PaaS solution that aims to solve the same challenges the traditional PaaS systems solve, as well as the issues they introduced.