The document discusses running Oracle WebLogic Server applications on Kubernetes and VMware PKS. It provides an overview of Kubernetes, PKS, and WebLogic Server challenges in containerization due to state management needs. It then describes how Kubernetes StatefulSets address these challenges by providing stable network identities and preserving state across container restarts. The document concludes with a demo of deploying WebLogic Server on PKS and lists five reasons why this approach is better than traditional deployment methods in terms of developer productivity, application monitoring, elasticity, multi-cloud support, and patching/upgrades.

1. ©2018 VMware, Inc.
Run Stateful Apps
on Kubernetes with PKS
Highlight WebLogic Server
Simone Morellato, VMware, Inc.

2. 2©2018 VMware, Inc.
Can I containerize and
run Traditional Stateful
Apps on PKS?
YE
S

3. Agenda
3©2018 VMware, Inc.
Kubernetes overview
PKS overview
Oracle WebLogic Server
Why and how to containerize
Demo

4. 4©2018 VMware, Inc.
Who I am
Morellato Simone
@morellatosimone
Director Technical Product
Management @ VMware

5. 5©2018 VMware, Inc.
Kubernetes and PKS Overview

6. 6©2018 VMware, Inc.
What is Docker?
OS
App 1
Bins/Libs
App 2
Bins/Libs
App 3
Bins/Libs
Container Engine
Docker Host

7. 7©2018 VMware, Inc.
What is Kubernetes?
OS
App 1
Bins/Libs
App 2
Bins/Libs
App 3
Bins/Libs
Container Engine
Docker Host
Kubernetes Node
OS
App 1
Bins/Libs
App 2
Bins/Libs
App 3
Bins/Libs
Container Engine
Docker Host
Kubernetes Node
OS
App 1
Bins/Libs
App 2
Bins/Libs
App 3
Bins/Libs
Container Engine
Docker Host
Kubernetes Node
Kubernetes Master

8. 8©2018 VMware, Inc.
What is PKS?
OS
App 1
Bins/Libs
App 2
Bins/Libs
App 3
Bins/Libs
Container Engine
VM
Docker Host
Kubernetes Node
OS
App 1
Bins/Libs
App 2
Bins/Libs
App 3
Bins/Libs
Container Engine
VM
Docker Host
Kubernetes Node
OS
App 1
Bins/Libs
App 2
Bins/Libs
App 3
Bins/Libs
Container Engine
VM
Docker Host
Kubernetes Node
Kubernetes Master

9. 9©2018 VMware, Inc.
What is PKS?
Node
Node
Node
Kubernetes
Master
Node
Node
Node
Kubernetes
Master
Node
Node
Node
Kubernetes
Master

10. 10©2018 VMware, Inc.
What is PKS?
Node
Node
Node
Kubernetes
Master
Node
Node
Node
Kubernetes
Master
Node
Node
Node
Kubernetes
Master

11. 11©2018 VMware, Inc.
What is PKS?
Node
Node
Node
Kubernetes
Master
Node
Node
Node
Kubernetes
Master
Node
Node
Node
Kubernetes
Master

12. 12©2018 VMware, Inc.
PKS and Kubernetes are complementary technologies
Developers love Kubernetes because it keeps their application up, Operators love PKS because
it keeps the Kubernetes clusters up.
CONFIDENTIAL 12
Container scheduling, app scale,
resiliency, and Day 2
Desired state of Application
Kubernetes cluster scheduling,
scale, resiliency, and Day 2
Desired state of Kubernetes

13. 13©2018 VMware, Inc.
Majority of Enterprise Java apps (Middleware, COTS, etc.) built since 1990s
run on
• Oracle WebLogic (“WLS”) or
• IBM WebSphere (“WAS”)
Enterprises looking to containerize and “Lift & Shift” existing WLS/WAS-
based apps
Risk/Resource factors prevent refactor to cloud native microservices
Why Oracle WebLogic as a test workload?
Excellent example of a traditional application

14. 14©2018 VMware, Inc.
Current State versus Desired State
Containerize WebLogic as-is and deploy atop Kubernetes
Physical OS or VM
Customer
Datacenter
DevOps
VMs

15. 15©2018 VMware, Inc.
Why is Oracle WebLogic hard to containerize?
Complex requirements around state management
Each instance has unique and fixed identity
that must persist across restarts
• Instance Name: wls1
• Instance URI: wls1.prod.appxzy.com
Each instance has configuration and runtime
state on filesystem
hardwired to its unique identity
• Configuration XML
• Transaction & JMS logs

16. 16©2018 VMware, Inc.
Instance identity & state must be preserved
across container restarts
wls1.prod.appxyz.com
transaction log 1 (owner = wls1)
transaction log 2 (owner = wls2)
wls2.prod.appxyz.com
Shared Filesystem
“WLS Cluster”
MS 0 MS 1

17. 17©2018 VMware, Inc.
Instance identity & state must be preserved
across container restarts
wls1.prod.appxyz.com
transaction log 1 (owner = wls1)
transaction log 2 (owner = wls2)
wls2.prod.appxyz.com
Shared Filesystem
“WLS Cluster”
MS 0 WLS 2Failure!

18. 18©2018 VMware, Inc.
Instance identity & state must be preserved
across container restarts
wls1.prod.appxyz.com
transaction log 1 (owner = wls1)
transaction log 2 (owner = wls2)
Shared Filesystem
“WLS Cluster”
MS 0 MS X
wlsX.prod.appxyz.com

19. 19©2018 VMware, Inc.
Instance identity & state must be preserved
across container restarts
wls1.prod.appxyz.com
transaction log 1 (owner = wls1)
transaction log 2 (owner = wls2)
Shared Filesystem
“WLS Cluster”
MS 0 MS X
wlsX.prod.appxyz.com

20. 20©2018 VMware, Inc.
Intro to Kubernetes Workloads
Jobs: for apps that run to termination
Cron Jobs: for apps that run on a time schedule
Daemon Sets: for apps that run on each VM/Machine
Deployments: for stateless apps
Replica Sets: for apps that need multiple instances
Stateful Sets: for stateful apps

21. 21©2018 VMware, Inc.
Kubernetes StatefulSets to the Rescue
Addresses WebLogic needs around fixed identities and state
Source: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/workloads/controllers/statefulset/

22. 22©2018 VMware, Inc.
Stable, Unique Network Identifiers
Identity primitives in Kubernetes StatefulSets

23. 23©2018 VMware, Inc.
Kubernetes StatefulSets to the rescue
wls1.prod.appxyz.com
transaction log 1 (owner = wls1)
transaction log 2 (owner = wls2)
wls2.prod.appxyz.com
Shared Filesystem
“WLS Cluster”
MS 0 MS 1

24. 24©2018 VMware, Inc.
Instance identity & state must be preserved
across container restarts
wls1.prod.appxyz.com
transaction log 1 (owner = wls1)
transaction log 2 (owner = wls2)
wls2.prod.appxyz.com
Shared Filesystem
“WLS Cluster”
MS 0 WLS 2Failure!

25. 25©2018 VMware, Inc.
Instance identity & state maintained across container restarts
wls1.prod.appxyz.com
transaction log 1 (owner = wls1)
transaction log 2 (owner = wls2)
Shared Filesystem
“WLS Cluster”
MS 0 MS 1
wls2.prod.appxyz.com

26. 26©2018 VMware, Inc.
Demo
Oracle WebLogic Server on PKS

27. 27©2018 VMware, Inc.
WebLogic instances deployed as Kubernetes StatefulSets
ms0.prod.appxyz.com
MS-0
ms1.prod.appxyz.com
MS-1
StatefulSet “ms”
as.prod.appxyz.com
WLS “Admin Server”
StatefulSet “as”
“WLS Admin Server”
manages global
configuration & state
Java app deployed to
”Cluster” of ”WLS
Managed Servers”
VMware SDDC
VMware PKS

28. 28©2018 VMware, Inc.
Stable, Persistent Storage
Persistence primitives in Kubernetes StatefulSets

29. 29©2018 VMware, Inc.
Storage classes and dynamic provisioning
Developer
Configures Classes
Claim for
Classes
Claim request specifies a class
References claim in pod
Pod
GOLD
JMS logs
SILVER
XMLs
1
2
3
29
claim
10G 10GOperator

30. 30©2018 VMware, Inc.
Why is running WebLogic (WLS) on
PKS better than
Business As Usual (BAU)?”
5 Reasons Why

31. 31©2018 VMware, Inc.
Developer Productivity
BAU
• Multi-step
human workflow
across systems,
networking,
storage and
middleware
teams
PKS
• One K8s
command
(“kubectl apply -f
<YML-file>”). K8s
will automatically
provision desired
stack and
instances across
(pre-allocated)
resource pool
Provisioning of net new WLS environments

32. 32©2018 VMware, Inc.
Application monitoring and remediation
BAU
• WLS operations
team monitoring
individual
server and app
instance health
PKS
• K8s
automatically
tracks/(re)starts
/stops desired #
replicas
is App running ok on every WLS instance?

33. 33©2018 VMware, Inc.
Application elasticity
BAU
• Multi-step
human
workflow
across
systems,
networking,
storage and
middleware
teams
PKS
• One K8s
command to
increase #
Replicas. K8s
Headless
Service
automatically
manages
DNS mapping
spin up additional WLS cluster members on demand

34. 34©2018 VMware, Inc.
Multi Cloud IaaS support
BAU
• Homegrown
(Chef/Puppet/A
nsible/..) scripts
customized for
various clouds
PKS
• Out-of-the-box
support for
vSphere, GCP,
AWS, Azure.

35. 35©2018 VMware, Inc.
Patch / Upgrades
BAU
• Multi-step
human
workflow
across
systems,
networking,
storage and
middleware
teams
PKS
• Out-of-the-
box
automation
with
Concourse,
PKS(BOSH)
and K8s

36. 36©2018 VMware, Inc.
Operational Task Business As Usual (BAU) WLS on PKS
Developer Productivity
Provisioning of net new WLS environments
Multi-step human workflow across
systems, networking, storage and
middleware teams
One K8s command (“kubectl apply -f
<YML-file>”). K8s will automatically
provision desired stack and instances
across (pre-allocated) resource pool
Application monitoring and remediation
(is App running ok on every WLS instance?)
WLS operations team monitoring individual
server and app instance health
K8s automatically tracks/(re)starts/stops
desired # replicas
Application elasticity (spin up additional
WLS cluster members on demand)
Multi-step human workflow across
systems, networking, storage and
middleware teams
One K8s command to increase # Replicas.
K8s Headless Service automatically
manages DNS mapping
Multi Cloud IaaS support
Homegrown (Chef/Puppet/Ansible/..) scripts
customized for various clouds
Out-of-the-box support for vSphere, GCP,
AWS, Azure.
Patch / Upgrades
Multi-step human workflow across
systems, networking, storage and
middleware teams
Out-of-the-box automation with Concourse,
PKS(BOSH) and K8s
Why is running WebLogic (WLS) on PKS better than
Business As Usual (BAU)?”

37. 37©2018 VMware, Inc.
See PKS product page on VMware.com
https://cloud.vmware.com/pivotal-container-service
Read posts and tutorials about PKS on Cloud-Native Apps Blog
https://blogs.vmware.com/cloudnative/
Try it out
HOL-1931-02-CNA – VMware PKS– Getting Started
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