VMware Tanzu is NOT Kubernetes

Do you normally assume that Tanzu automatically means Kubernetes or containers every time you hear this term?

Newsflash…Not necessarily. It is however all focused around cloud native application development and data though, where Kubernetes is obviously a huge part of it.

Tanzu Products

  • Tanzu Gemfire = Ultra-high speed, in-memory data and compute grid
  • Tanzu SQL = enterprise-ready relational database-as-a-service for your developers (both MySQL and PostgreSQL)
  • Tanzu Greenplum = Next generation data warehousing and large-scale analytics processing (MPP* Database Server)
  • Tanzu RabbitMQ = Make your apps scalable and resilient with enterprise-grade, production ready RabbitMQ distribution
  • Tanzu Data Services = Combination of Gemfire, SQL< Greenplum and RabbitMQ
  • Tanzu Observability (soon to be called Aria) = Unified observability for the modern cloud
  • Tanzu Service Mesh = Connectivity and security for modern applications (visibility, security, analytics)
  • Tanzu Mission Control = Simplified Kubernetes management (multi-cloud and/or multi-cluster)
    • Includes Lifecycle Management, Identity/Access, Security/Compliance/Audit and Data Protection too.
  • Tanzu Kubernetes Grid = Enterprise-ready Kubernetes runtime
  • Tanzu Application Transformer = Application that facilitates the transformation from legacy VMs into containers
  • Tanzu Labs = service that partners side-by-side with orgs to accelerate the delivery of software and app modernization
  • Tanzu Application Service = Modern runtime for microservices (Run on your preferred infrastructure targets)
  • Tanzu Build Service = service that automates container creation, management, and governance
  • Tanzu Application Catalog = Curated image catalog

Tanzu License Offerings

  • Tanzu Community Edition = Great option to learn the product and deploy in your lab, for free
  • Tanzu Basic = Run Kubernetes on vSphere across a single cloud with basic functionality (perfect for vSphere admins)
  • Tanzu Standard = Run and manage Kubernetes across a multiple clouds with extended functionality (Platform Ops)
  • Tanzu Advanced = Run and manage Kubernetes across anywhere with all the bells and whistles (DevSecOps)

Does that clear some confusion? Or did I make it worse? If you were asked today what each product focuses on, could you explain it? Did I miss any others (very possible!)?

Most importantly, why would anyone want to use any of these services when they can simply leverage the native cloud provider services? Because Tanzu is cloud agnostic. Any applications that you create and manage from Tanzu can be deployed to any cloud (public and private), and managed the same consistent way without needing a different runbook per cloud provider.

Hopefully this Tanzu cheat sheet is helpful to clarify some of the product lineup, and what their focus is.

*MPP = massively parallel processing

Disclaimer: “I am a member of the Tanzu Vanguard community. As an active member, I am passionate about Tanzu and its offerings and willingly share my knowledge and experience with the world. I am not a representative of VMware. My views are my own. If you’d like to learn more about Tanzu Vanguard, please visit https://tanzu.vmware.com/vanguard”