Declarative vm management for a container orchestrator in a virtualized computing system

Abstract

An example virtualized computing system includes a host cluster having a virtualization layer executing on hardware platforms of hosts, the virtualization layer supporting execution of virtual machines (VMs), the VMs including pod VMs and native VMs, the pod VMs including container engines supporting execution of containers in the pod VMs, the native VMs including applications executing on guest operating systems; and an orchestration control plane integrated with the virtualization layer, the orchestration control plane including a master server having a pod VM controller to manage lifecycles of the pod VMs and a native VM controller to manage lifecycles of the native VMs.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A virtualized computing system, comprising:
 a host cluster having a virtualization layer executing on hardware platforms of hosts, the virtualization layer supporting execution of virtual machines (VMs), the VMs including first VMs and second VMs, the first VMs including container engines supporting execution of containers in the first VMs, the second VMs including non-virtualized guest operating systems;   a virtualization management server configured to manage the virtualization layer and the host cluster; and   an orchestration control plane integrated with the virtualization layer, the orchestration control plane including: a lifecycle controller configured to cooperate with the virtualization layer to manage lifecycles of the first VMs, and a VM controller configured to cooperate with the virtualization management server to manage lifecycles of the second VMs.   
     
     
         2 . The virtualized computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the second VMs execute non-containerized applications. 
     
     
         3 . The virtualized computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the orchestration control plane includes custom APIs to manage objects monitored by the VM controller. 
     
     
         4 . The virtualized computing system of  claim 3 , wherein the objects include VM objects for the second VMs and VM image objects for VM images of guest software executing in the second VMs, the guest software including the non-virtualized guest operating system. 
     
     
         5 . The virtualized computing system of  claim 3 , wherein the objects include VM service objects for exposing network services of the second VMs. 
     
     
         6 . The virtualized computing system of  claim 3 , wherein the objects include virtual network resource objects for representing networks consumed by the second VMs. 
     
     
         7 . The virtualized computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the VM controller is configured to communicate with a controller in the virtualization layer to provide decoupled information to the second VMs. 
     
     
         8 . A method of application orchestration in a virtualized computing system including a host cluster having a virtualization layer directly executing on hardware platforms of hosts and a virtualization management server configured to manage the virtualization layer and the hosts, the virtualization layer supporting execution of virtual machines (VMs), the virtualization layer integrated with an orchestration control plane, the method comprising:
 receiving, at the orchestration control plane, specification data for a first application and a second application;   deploying, by a lifecycle controller executing in the orchestration control plane, the first application to a first VM in a host of the host cluster based on the specification data, the first VM including a container engine supporting execution of containers in the pod VM; and   deploying, by a VM controller executing in the orchestration control plane and in cooperation with the virtualization management server, the second application to a second VM in the host, the second VM executing on the virtualization layer in parallel with the first VM.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the specification data specifies a VM resource referencing a VM image resource for a VM image of guest software executing in the second VM. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the specification data specifies a VM resource referencing a VM profile resource having attributes of the second VM. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the specification data specifies a VM resource referencing a network resource for a virtual network connected to the second VM. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the step of deploying comprises:
 cloning the second VM from a VM image referenced in the specification data;   applying policies to the second VM based on the specification data; and   starting the second VM on a selected host of the host cluster.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 receiving decoupled information at a management agent in the virtualization layer from the orchestration control plane through the VM controller; and   providing the decoupled information for consumption by the second application executing in the second VM, the decoupled information including at least one of configuration information and secret information.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the second_application in the second VM is non-containerized. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions to be executed in a computing device to cause the computing device to carry out a method of application orchestration in a virtualized computing system including a host cluster having a virtualization layer directly executing on hardware platforms of hosts and a virtualization management server configured to manage the virtualization layer and the hosts, the virtualization layer supporting execution of virtual machines (VMs), the virtualization layer integrated with an orchestration control plane, the method comprising:
 receiving, at the orchestration control plane, specification data for a first application and a second application;   deploying, by a lifecycle controller (PLC), the first application to a first VM in a host of the host cluster based on the specification data, the first VM including a container engine supporting execution of containers in the first VM; and   deploying, by a VM controller executing in the orchestration control plane and in cooperation with the virtualization management server, the second application to a second VM in the host, the second VM executing on the virtualization layer in parallel with the first VM.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the specification data specifies a VM resource referencing a VM image resource for a VM image of guest software executing in the second VM. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the specification data specifies a VM resource referencing a VM profile resource having attributes of the second VM. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the specification data specifies a VM resource referencing a network resource for a virtual network connected to the second VM. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the step of deploying comprises:
 cloning the second VM from a VM image referenced in the specification data;   applying policies to the second VM based on the specification data; and   starting the second VM on a selected host of the host cluster.   
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the second application in the second VM is non-containerized.