I use VKS to deploy multiple client applications and reuse my existing VMware infrastructure for Kubernetes-based applications. I like that it helps my clients maintain a private cloud without relying on public cloud providers and reuse their existing data center infrastructure. It also supports modern infrastructure, including AI/ML, streaming services, and databases. With support from the VMware team and the existing architecture, migration was easy.

I use VMware vSphere Kubernetes Services (VKS) to run Kubernetes alongside our existing virtual machines. It saves us from building and maintaining clusters by hand, and we can spin up a cluster in minutes from a YAML file instead of waiting days. I like that we can keep sensitive data and workloads on-prem while working the way we would in the cloud, and that upgrades are easier. The declarative setup in a YAML file in Git feels like other infrastructure as code, such as Terraform. Changes go through pull requests and CI/CD, so they’re visible, reviewed, and tracked, and we can roll them back quickly if something goes wrong. Promoting the same change through Dev, Int, and Prod keeps the environments consistent with the code. Rolling upgrades replace nodes one by one instead of patching them in place, so our workloads keep running and each node comes up clean. They’re time-efficient, reduce manual work, and make changes less risky.

I’m still fairly new to vSphere, but what I appreciate most is having everything in one place. Compute, storage, and networking are managed together, so I don’t have to keep jumping between different tools just to get basic tasks done. SDDC Manager also makes updates and other lifecycle work feel much less intimidating than I expected.