Why NetApp Astra for VMware Tanzu

There’s a massive architectural shift from monolithic development to microservices as organizations race to deliver new software faster. In just a few short years, application development cycles have shrunk from 12 months to as often as every week. Around the world, microservices now dominate monolithic application development, but they require orchestration.

Kubernetes is a phenomenal way to help your application developers deliver software faster by breaking down and orchestrating virtual machines, particularly across clouds. And it’s catching on quickly. In a 2021 survey by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), 96% of respondents reported using or evaluating Kubernetes.

At the same time, VMware is everywhere. More than 400,000 companies, including 100% of Fortune 500 and 100% of Fortune Global 100 companies, use VMware technologies and services.

IDC expects that in the near term, a majority of on-premises deployments of Kubernetes will also run on top of VMs. That’s why it’s important to plan for a platform that can support a hybrid infrastructure—a common infrastructure that can serve legacy VMs as well as new containerized applications. That’s Tanzu.

VMware Tanzu is a modular, cloud-native application platform that makes it easier to build, deliver, and operate cloud-native apps in a multicloud world. Rather than compete with Kubernetes, Tanzu offers a centralized, automated, and secure operating model for modern apps and Kubernetes on private and public clouds, including a consistent, productive developer experience. The VMware Tanzu model enables organizations to choose the best landing zones for their apps and to realize more value from their public cloud strategies.

Even if your applications are microservices based, they still need data. Mainstream, enterprise applications can’t live without data. Tanzu solves the compute side of the problem but not the storage side. Kubernetes running on bare metal storage is not known for security or reliability. So to take full advantage of Tanzu and containers, you need an enterprise storage foundation and data protection.

Need a reason to choose NetApp for VMware Tanzu? How about five?

1. Prevent application downtime and data loss.

Your applications may have business continuity requirements, and, let’s face it, applications fail. Infrastructure fails. NetApp® Astra™ Control provides integrated app-aware data protection for Tanzu to replicate, back up, and protect containers at the application level. NetApp ONTAP® features that are integrated into NetApp Astra Control deliver low recovery point objectives (RPOs) and recovery time objectives (RTOs) for Tanzu applications through continuous replication.

2. Enable effortless Kubernetes upgrades.

There’s a new version of Kubernetes every 3 or 4 months. Customers want to leverage all the innovations in the Kubernetes space, but a typical enterprise doesn’t like to change core software that frequently. Enterprises are still used to typical upgrade cycles of 9 to 12 months. There are a lot of things that could go wrong in an upgrade path. Depending on the software, upgrades can mean a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. NetApp Astra Control enables effortless cluster upgrades with a blue-green deployment strategy through application-level replication and data protection.

3. Simplify dev/test workflows with application portability.

The primary reason for containerization is the fast delivery of software and services to your users. That gives your dev teams a lot of flexibility to create and test new features very quickly and, most importantly, to put them into production. But with different teams working in different TKG clusters, you need an orchestration platform that can move applications seamlessly from dev to test and into production.

NetApp Astra Control enables application portability across TKG clusters, so you can move an entire application, along with its data, from one cluster to another, no matter where the clusters are located.

4. Allow your DevOps teams to focus on delivering value instead of building DIY solutions for data protection.

Kubernetes is an open framework, so of course you can always build a do-it-yourself (DIY) solution. But with the rate of innovation in Kubernetes, is this the best use of your resources? By using a proven solution from a trusted VMware partner, you can focus on your core business and on delivering services, rather than on managing infrastructure and data protection.

Example: NetApp Astra Control versus DIY alternatives for Kubernetes data protection

Evaluator Group compared the costs associated with open-source data protection tools to NetApp Astra Control by installing and operating both solutions to protect containerized applications running on multiple Kubernetes/OpenShift clusters. The study found that Astra Control beats DIY solutions with:

• 2 to 3 times lower TCO
• Better backups with greater application consistency using NetApp Snapshot™ technology
• Better IT admin experience with a web-access user interface versus CLI only
• Automatic scanning for new applications and unprotected applications
• Enterprise-class support from NetApp

Read the full Evaluator Group study.

5. Scale to fit your needs.

Finally, NetApp storage and data protection solutions are easy to deploy and easy to grow. As you expand your use of containerized applications and VMware Tanzu, you can find a solution to fit your needs with flexible, cloud-native, shared storage options that scale with your applications and use cases. NetApp Astra Control works across any workload, any Kubernetes platform, any cloud, and your on-premises infrastructure.

NetApp extends Tanzu’s core functionality by offering complementary technologies. If you're a VMware administrator running Tanzu, you’ll want to use NetApp Astra Control to provision dynamic storage, protect and move your applications.

Want to learn more? Here are three ways to get started:

• Register now for NetApp INSIGHT, November 1-3, to learn more about Astra Control and our solutions for VMware Tanzu
• Watch our on-demand webinar: Kubernetes, VMware, and NetApp – A Match Made in Container Heaven
• Dive into NetApp solutions for VMware