According to the VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 Architecture Guide under the VMware Kubernetes Service (VKS) Lifecycle Management section, the management and orchestration of Kubernetes clusters within VCF occur through three controller layers. These are explicitly identified as the Virtual Machine Service, the Cluster API (CAPI), and the Cloud Provider Plugin (CPP).
The Virtual Machine Service (VMS) acts as the integration layer between vSphere and Kubernetes, enabling Kubernetes objects (such as clusters and machines) to be represented as vSphere resources. The Cluster API provides declarative lifecycle management for Kubernetes clusters, automating provisioning, upgrades, and scaling through Kubernetes-native APIs. The Cloud Provider Plugin integrates the cluster lifecycle with vSphere infrastructure management, ensuring alignment of networking, storage, and compute resource operations.
Together, these three controller layers deliver a fully automated, policy-driven, and API-centric approach to cluster provisioning, maintenance, and scaling in VCF-based environments, supporting consistent lifecycle operations across workload domains. This framework replaces traditional manual configuration and ensures full compliance with VCF’s software-defined architecture principles.
References (VMware Cloud Foundation documents):
• VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 Architecture and Design Guide – “VMware Kubernetes Service (VKS) Lifecycle Management Architecture.”
• VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 Detailed Design Library – “VKS Cluster Architecture: Virtual Machine Service, Cluster API, and Cloud Provider Plugin.”
• VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0.2 Reference Design – “Cluster Lifecycle Controller Layers in VCF Kubernetes Service.”
