FAQ

Table of Contents

Contact

Siteng (C10) Yu
ysiteng@vmware.com
Product Manager

Site Features

How should internal teams submit change or feature requests?

Reach out to #tanzu-network Slack channel with details about the request: the problem the feature aims to solve, your feature request, and information about why it’s important.

If you have feedback or issues specifically around the newly launched UI, please submit it through this survey.

How are change requests prioritized?

We’ll have a conversation to clarify the request, then the priority of a change request or feature is based on the value it will create to the users and to the business.

How to create an account?

Products

Creating a new product

To create a new product on Tanzu Network, reach out to #tanzu-network slack with the following information: * A confirmation that your product name has been approved by the "Naming Committee". (The naming approval process is outside the scope of Tanzu Network and requires submitting a request through Workfront. Please ask your Product Marketing Manager for assistance) * Please verify that you have filled out the New Product Request Form.

Managing Product Pages

To become "product admin" of an existing product in order to get edit access to the product page for release management, please reach out to #tanzu-network Slack channel. In your message, please tag the Product Manager of the product you are trying to get access to. We need their approval to complete the request.

When a new product admin is added, we will check to see who can be removed from the list, in order to limit security risks and keep a closer control over who has management rights to products.

Indicating a product compatible with TKGI

The admins can mark compatibility of a product with Tanzu Kuberenetes Grid Integrated Edition by selecting the proper option when they are creating/editing the product.

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Creating a product alias

A product alias allows Tanzu Network users to search for a product in the Tanzu Network front page search bar using a product's informal name. (For example, to find Single Sign-On for PCF a user can search the alias sso)

A product admin may provide Product Tags that will be used in search. Navigate to the product page and click on the Edit Product link.

Changing a Product Slug

A product slug is a unique identifier for the product. Every slug is associated with just one product. Through the method detailed here, a product can have more than one slug.

A product admin may change the product slug. Navigate to the product page and click on the Edit Product link. Enter the desired slug in the Product Slug field.

The newly created slug will work. The former slug will also work. Beware: the former slug can now be chosen by another product. Once this is done, the slug will no longer direct to the original product.

Changing a Product Suite

A product suite is like any other product: the user needs to be an Product Admin to manage the suite. Our Product Manager can add the product in the suite and give you admin rights so you can make any required changes.

Providing Feedback for a Product

Users can provide feedback on a specific product by using product feedback feature. For using this feature the user should be signed-in on Tanzu Network. The feedback action icon is visible on detail page of the specific product. This feature can be used to communicate to the product owners about issue or ask questions pertaining to that specific product. Image here

Releases

Making a change to a release that is already visible to All Users

When a release has been made available to all users, the release and all associated files are made immutable. Teams will no longer be able to alter metadata, switch the license, or make other changes.

In the unfortunate case that a team has made a release available and discovered that some change is imperative, the team should fill out this form. After completing the form, the team should announce in the #tanzu-network slack channel that the form has been completed. The Tanzu Network team will make the release mutable.

Tanzu Network Team Member Action: Open the admin view of the request form. Click on Responses and then Individual and open the latest response. Verify that the request comes from an admin of the specified product. If so, go to the Tanzu Network GUI and open Admin Tools. Edit the product in question to make it mutable. In a slack thread on #tanzu-network, let the requester know that their release is now mutable. Include a message to this effect, "Please let us know when you are done making changes. The Tanzu Network team defaults to making releases immutable again in 24 hours. If you need more time, please let us know." Create a chore in tracker to make the product immutable; block the story for 24 hours.

Giving someone access to Releases that Are Not Available to All Users

Tanzu Network releases are either available to All Users, Admins Only, or Specific User Groups. If there’s a specific release that you or your customer needs early access to, you or your customer will need to be added to a User Group.

To get access to a User Group in order to get access to early releases, please reach out to the team responsible for the product in question. If you need further assistance, then reach out to #tanzu-network Slack channel.

Controlling Access to Releases: What Early Access User Groups should I use for my Limited Availability release?

As a Product Admin releasing software to Tanzu Network, you may want to create a release and make it only available to selected user groups.

  1. Edit the release and click ‘Selected User Groups Only’ for Availability
  2. Associate one or more groups with the release.

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There are three ‘General’ groups available to Product Admins setting Release visibility: 1. VMware Tanzu Internal Early Access: This group contains many internal VMware employees, including much of the field. 1. VMware Tanzu Customer Early Access: This group primarily contains external customers who would like early access to pre-GA products

Besides these cross-cutting, general groups, there are several customer-specific groups to choose from when setting visibility on a product. It is up to the Product Admin to decide who should see what release, when.

Finding if Changes Have Occurred

If a user would like to know if changes have been made to a release, please reach out to #tanzu-network Slack channel.

If a site admin needs to know when changes were made to a release:

  1. Log in to Tanzu Network.
  2. From the upper right menu, select Admin Tools.
  3. From the top tab selection, choose Releases.
  4. For the release in question, click on view.
  5. In the latter half of the page, the Changes table will list all changes, along with their timestamps.

Adding an OSL file to a release

Visit the “Product Files” tab for your product. Create a new file by uploading the OSL file, making sure to indicate that the “File Type” is “Open Source License” (SHA256 is not used for this file type). Once uploaded, navigate to the “Releases” admin tab for your product and add the OSL file to all applicable releases. If you’ve done it correctly, when viewing your product release on Tanzu Network, you should see a “LICENSE FILES” section near the bottom of the “Release Details” box on the right side and the file will automatically be made available publicly to customers at https://network.tanzu.vmware.com/open-source.

Hiding Releases

If a product owner wants to hide a release that has already been set to the "All Users" availability then please follow the steps mentioned in making a change to a release that is already visible to All Users. It is recommended to change the release availability to "Admins Only".

Checking for New Releases

Any user can check for new releases which are visible to "All Users" by using a preferred RSS reader and point it to the Tanzu Network RSS Feed. The previous approach of indicating a new release by sending an email notification has been deprecated. These emails are not sent anymore.

Files and File Groups

Associating new Product Files to a File Group

A product admin can add product files to a file group using either the website GUI or the API V2 endpoint.

Using the website: Navigate to https://network.tanzu.vmware.com/products/{YOUR_PRODUCT_SLUG}/product_files and click on the existing File Group. Select any product files that should be included in the group.

Using API V2: See the API documentation on PATCH /api/v2/products/:product_slug/file_groups/:file_group_id

Associating a Product File to a new Release

A product admin can associate a product file (or group) to a new release through the website GUI only.

While on the release edit page, select the file editor and choose the files to be associated with the release.

Associating a Product File to an Existing Release that is NOT All Users

A product admin can associate a product file (or group) to an existing release through the website GUI or the API V2 endpoint.

Using the website: Navigate to https://network.tanzu.vmware.com/products/{YOUR_PRODUCT_SLUG}/releases/{YOUR_RELEASE}/edit. Select the file editor and choose the files to be associated with the release.

Using API V2: See the API documentation on PATCH /api/v2/products/:product_slug/releases/:release_id/add_product_file

Associating a Product File to an Existing Release that is All Users

In order to edit a release that has availability set to All Users, please follow the steps mentioned here.

After completing the steps mentioned, follow the steps noted above.

User Groups

Creating a New User Group

For Site/Product Admins:

Using the website: A Site or Product Admin can create new groups. On the User Group page click on the button Create New User Group. Input the name, description and invitees to the group.

To determine a Product Admin, check the "Team" tab on a product page. Please contact them to have a user group created.

Using API V2: See the API documentation on POST /api/v2/user_groups

Adding a User to a User Group

Viewing and managing user groups on the website: Most users can view all user groups by clicking on the upper-right dropdown menu on the Tanzu Network website and selecting User Groups. All user groups managed by the user will be displayed with links to view, add and remove members. All user groups not managed by the user will be displayed without management links. All user groups will display the names of up to three administrators for that group.

Adding or removing members if you are an internal VMware Tanzu user: If you manage the user group, see above. Otherwise, contact one of the administrators for that group.

Adding or removing members if you are an external user: Please ask your Platform Architect or other internal VMware Tanzu contact.

Using API V2: See the API documentation on PATCH /api/v2/user_groups/:user_group_id/add_member

Subscription Groups

Creating a New Subscription Group

If you would like to set up a Subscription Group for a customer, please reach out to #tanzu-network Slack channel specifying the following: * Company name * Account # (from salesforce or any other ERP tool) * Customer Email (Platform Operator) * All Entitled Products (not subscriptions - see more information here)

As customers grow their product consumption, please reach out to #tanzu-network Slack channel to update the Subscription Groups.

For Site Admins:

A site admin can only create new subscription groups through the website. On the Subscription Group page click on the button Create New Subscription Group and fill in the required fields.

Adding/Removing a User from a Subscription Group

Adding or removing members if you are an internal VMware user: If you do not manage the subscription group, contact one of the administrators for that group or reach out to #tanzu-network Slack channel. Admins of subscription group can click on the upper-right dropdown menu on the Tanzu Network website and selecting Subscription Groups. From there, users should be able to view all the subscription groups they are part of and select the one they would like to manage. On the management panel, users should be able to add/remove members, and also promote members to be admins.

Adding or removing members if you are an external user: Please ask your Platform Architect or other internal VMware contact.

Using API V2: See the API documentation on PATCH /api/v2/subscription_groups/:subscription_group_id/add_member

Adding/Removing a Product Entitlement for a Subscription Group

Adding or removing product entitlements if you are an internal VMware user: If you are not a Site Admin, please contact one of the administrators or reach out to #tanzu-network Slack channel.

Adding or removing product entitlements if you are an external user: Please ask your Platform Architect or other internal VMware contact.

For Site Admins

Adding or removing product entitlements to a subscription group can only be done via the website.

On the specific subscription group, select Edit Subscription Group on the top right corner. Select the products that should be associated with the subscription group and update the subscription group.

Alerts

Overview

Email alerts

Note - Users are automatically subscribed when the product is downloaded.

Tanzu Network users can receive product alerts by clicking the "Get Email Alerts" button on the product page. Users will receive an email notification each time there is an alert that is associated with the product or any updates from VMware Tanzu.

Users can stop receiving email alerts by clicking the "Getting Email Alerts" button.

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Example of a security alert email, created by a Product Owner or Release Manager

In-App Security Alerts

If a user is receiving email alerts for a product, they will also receive in-app notifications for the product. In-app notifications are triggered when a security alert has been issued for any of the files that the user has downloaded.

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In-app security notifications are represented with a yellow triangle.

How can we send Tech Advisory notifications to customers?

Tanzu Network alerts can be triggered by a release manager issuing a CVE alert for one or more product files. We call this "product alert". This triggers an email as well as an in-app notification.

When a user downloads something from a product, they automatically begin receiving email alerts for the product.

Will the customer only receive an alert for the product they purchased?

If the customer has clicked "Get Email Alerts" for the product on Tanzu Network or downloaded at least one file from the product page on Tanzu Network, they will receive emails about CVE alerts issued by the product's release manager through Tanzu Network.

Posting alerts from Tanzu Network
  1. The release manager goes to the product pages and clicks "Actions" > "Create Alert". Click here for screenshot.

  2. The release manager inputs information about the alert into the "Create Alert" form and hits "Send" to send the alert via email to all users who have downloaded the affected file(s). Click here for screenshot.

  3. Tanzu Network users (paying and non-paying customers) who have downloaded the files addressed in the alert receive an email. Click here for screenshot.

At this time, there is no way to customize the design for these alerts, or preview them before sending out.

How can I style text in an alert?

The Create Alert page accepts markdown for the Details and Recommended Action sections. Admins can bold text for emphasis, create numbered lists or lists with bullets, and can add links.

Usage Reports

How can I see usage reports for my product?

Via GUI: As a Product Admin, you can view download reports for your product(s). To do so - login to Tanzu Network and click through to the reports section:

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Click on the icon to download the CSV report.

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Via API: You can also access these reports directly via the API. Reports are currently available in CSV format, but will soon be available in JSON format.

Tanzu Network Concourse Resource

The best way to find out when new releases of products are released is to build a Concourse pipeline that uses the Tanzu Network Resource. This resource can be used to poll for new releases of products that match several desired criteria (e.g.: regular expression on filename, release type, etc.) and can also be used to upload newly assembled releases to Tanzu Network for further distribution. Please see the documentation for the Tanzu Network Concourse Resource itself for more information.

EULAs

Import update: new VMware General Term roll out as of Oct.26 2022

Legal asked ALL PRODUCTS TO MOVE TO VMWARE GENERAL TERMS ON THE NEXT NEW RELEASE (MAJOR OR MINOR). The goal is to have all new acceptances be on the VMware General Terms within the next 6 months. To cause the least amount disruption to current customer workflows, the NEW EULA will be named VMware General Terms with doc slug vmware_general_terms.

We will keep the old universal EULA as it is with the name VMware software EULA with the old doc slug vmware_eula. Existing releases which have been published will still be tied to the old Universal EULA.

Note on Major/Minor releases: we will leave it up to the product admin for each product to decide when to move to the new VMware General Terms. If moving to new VMware General Terms on the next minor release, users will HAVE TO sign the new VMware General Terms (which is different to the current behavior). Older versions of EULA will soon not be supported 6 months from now, so we strongly encourage the move to happen ASAP.

How can we mandate the attachment of a EULA when posting the bits on Tanzu Network (this is a requirement for GA)?

Currently, this is a required field on the release. It’s impossible to create a release without associating the product with a EULA. Thus, all bits posted to a release page are covered by a EULA.

How do I know which EULA to use for my release?

Reach out on *#tanzu-network Slack channel to discuss legal agreements.

How can I add a new EULA or edit the text of an existing EULA?

To create or modify a EULA, please reach out on #tanzu-network slack.

How do I create a release for a non-production environment?

For questions about production vs. non-production EULAs, please reach out on #tanzu-network slack.

How can I preview a EULA before associating it with my release?

You can associate the target EULA with the product “Test Product – Admins only”. You can then visit the product page and download a file to see the EULA.

Token Problems

There are many reasons why your token is no longer working. The suggested token route is to use a refresh token. These tokens are retrieved via your profile screen in Tanzu Network UI. Try to generate a new refresh token and use that. It may solve your problem.

Downloading

What hosts should I whitelist for Tanzu Network Downloads?

If you are behind a firewall, whitelist the following domains:

Uploading

What size file can I upload?

In the browser (using Tanzu Network UI), there is a limit of 5 GB per file. If files are larger than this, please upload with Tanzu Network Concourse resource which has a limit of 20 GB.