Keeping up with K8s
Kubernetes v1.19 support in vSphere with Tanzu
As we all know, Kubernetes and the cloud native space has a massive rate of development and release, the cadence for normal enterprises is actually a considerable paradigm shift in their patching and updating strategy, not to mention the relatively short (for enterprise software) support cycles of K8s based solutions which accelerates adoption of new versions of the Kubernetes platform.
Since we introduced vSphere with Tanzu in vSphere 7.0, we have been keeping up with the Kubernetes release cycle in an n-1 pattern from upstream Kubernetes releases (i.e: if the current upstream version of K8s is v1.20 we will ship v1.19) this allows us to consume not the GA version, but the patch versions where major bugs have been resolved resulting in better stability and a more supportable platform.
Rest assured, as upstream Kubernetes continues it's heavy forward momentum we are keeping up with releases and shipping them out automatically for use in your vSphere with Tanzu clusters.
New Features in K8s v1.19
Given both the Supervisor cluster and TKG clusters can be K8s v1.19 based you can take advantage of the many new features and changes that 1.19 has to offer (see here for the full list).
Checking currently supported K8s versions for your release
We have made it easy in 7.0 U2 to check what versions of TKG are supported on your vSphere with Tanzu infrastructure - simply log into your vSphere with Tanzu supervisor with kubectl and query the releases:
$ kubectl get tanzukubernetesreleases
NAME VERSION READY COMPATIBLE CREATED UPDATES AVAILABLE
v1.16.12---vmware.1-tkg.1.da7afe7 1.16.12+vmware.1-tkg.1.da7afe7 True True 40h [1.17.17+vmware.1-tkg.1.d44d45a 1.16.14+vmware.1-tkg.1.ada4837]
v1.16.14---vmware.1-tkg.1.ada4837 1.16.14+vmware.1-tkg.1.ada4837 True True 40h [1.17.17+vmware.1-tkg.1.d44d45a]
v1.16.8---vmware.1-tkg.3.60d2ffd 1.16.8+vmware.1-tkg.3.60d2ffd False False 40h [1.17.17+vmware.1-tkg.1.d44d45a 1.16.14+vmware.1-tkg.1.ada4837]
v1.17.11---vmware.1-tkg.1.15f1e18 1.17.11+vmware.1-tkg.1.15f1e18 True True 40h [1.18.15+vmware.1-tkg.1.600e412 1.17.17+vmware.1-tkg.1.d44d45a]
v1.17.11---vmware.1-tkg.2.ad3d374 1.17.11+vmware.1-tkg.2.ad3d374 True True 40h [1.18.15+vmware.1-tkg.1.600e412 1.17.17+vmware.1-tkg.1.d44d45a]
v1.17.13---vmware.1-tkg.2.2c133ed 1.17.13+vmware.1-tkg.2.2c133ed True True 40h [1.18.15+vmware.1-tkg.1.600e412 1.17.17+vmware.1-tkg.1.d44d45a]
v1.17.17---vmware.1-tkg.1.d44d45a 1.17.17+vmware.1-tkg.1.d44d45a True True 40h [1.18.15+vmware.1-tkg.1.600e412]
v1.17.7---vmware.1-tkg.1.154236c 1.17.7+vmware.1-tkg.1.154236c True True 40h [1.18.15+vmware.1-tkg.1.600e412 1.17.17+vmware.1-tkg.1.d44d45a]
v1.17.8---vmware.1-tkg.1.5417466 1.17.8+vmware.1-tkg.1.5417466 True True 40h [1.18.15+vmware.1-tkg.1.600e412 1.17.17+vmware.1-tkg.1.d44d45a]
v1.18.10---vmware.1-tkg.1.3a6cd48 1.18.10+vmware.1-tkg.1.3a6cd48 True True 40h [1.19.7+vmware.1-tkg.1.fc82c41 1.18.15+vmware.1-tkg.1.600e412]
v1.18.15---vmware.1-tkg.1.600e412 1.18.15+vmware.1-tkg.1.600e412 True True 40h [1.19.7+vmware.1-tkg.1.fc82c41]
v1.18.5---vmware.1-tkg.1.c40d30d 1.18.5+vmware.1-tkg.1.c40d30d True True 40h [1.19.7+vmware.1-tkg.1.fc82c41 1.18.15+vmware.1-tkg.1.600e412]
v1.19.7---vmware.1-tkg.1.fc82c41 1.19.7+vmware.1-tkg.1.fc82c41 True True 40hThis will show you all TKG releases available, as well as if they are compatible with your current Supervisor cluster version.
You can also note from above the UPDATES AVAILABLE column which lists any updates that are available for a given release and the recommended upgrade path.