Abstract: An example virtualized computing system includes: a host cluster having a virtualization layer directly 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; an orchestration control plane integrated with the virtualization layer and including a master server and native VM controllers, the master server managing lifecycles of the pod VMs and the native VMs; and management agents, executing in the native VMs, configured to receive decoupled information from the master server through the native VM controllers and to provide the decoupled information for consumption by the applications executing in the native VMs, the decoupled information including at least one of configuration information and secret information.

Abstract: An example virtualized computing system includes: a host cluster having a virtualization layer directly 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; an orchestration control plane integrated with the virtualization layer and including a master server and native VM controllers, the master server managing lifecycles of the pod VMs and the native VMs; and management agents, executing in the native VMs, configured to receive decoupled information from the master server through the native VM controllers and to provide the decoupled information for consumption by the applications executing in the native VMs, the decoupled information including at least one of configuration information and secret information.

Abstract: An example method of application monitoring in a virtualized computing system including a host cluster of having a virtualization layer directly executing on hardware platforms of hosts, the virtualization layer supporting execution of virtual machines (VMs) and integrated with an orchestration control plane includes: receiving, at a pod VM controller, a health monitoring specification, the pod VM controller executing in the virtualization layer external to the VMs; providing, from the pod VM controller to a pod VM agent executing in a pod VM of the VMs, the health monitoring specification, the pod VM including a container engine supporting execution of containers therein; executing, in the pod VM by the pod VM agent, at least one probe of an application executing in one or more of the containers; and returning, from the pod VM agent to the pod VM controller, application health status obtained from the at least one probe.

Abstract: An example virtualized computing system includes: a host cluster having a virtualization layer directly 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; an orchestration control plane integrated with the virtualization layer and including a master server and native VM controllers, the master server managing lifecycles of the pod VMs and the native VMs; and management agents, executing in the native VMs, configured to receive decoupled information from the master server through the native VM controllers and to provide the decoupled information for consumption by the applications executing in the native VMs, the decoupled information including at least one of configuration information and secret information.

Abstract: An example virtualized computing system includes: a host cluster having a virtualization layer directly 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; an orchestration control plane integrated with the virtualization layer and including a master server and native VM controllers, the master server managing lifecycles of the pod VMs and the native VMs; and management agents, executing in the native VMs, configured to receive decoupled information from the master server through the native VM controllers and to provide the decoupled information for consumption by the applications executing in the native VMs, the decoupled information including at least one of configuration information and secret information.