Deploy a VCH to an ESXi Host with No vCenter Server

This topic provides instructions for deploying a virtual container host (VCH) to an ESXi host that is not managed by vCenter Server. This is the most straightforward way to deploy a VCH, and is ideal for testing.

Prerequisites

• Download and unpack the vSphere Integrated Containers Engine bundle. For information about where to obtain vSphere Integrated Containers Engine, see Download vSphere Integrated Containers.
• Create or obtain an ESXi host with the following configuration:
  • One datastore
  • The VM Network is present
  • You can use a nested ESXi host for this example
• Verify that the ESXi host meets the requirements in Environment Prerequisites for vSphere Integrated Containers Engine Installation.
• Familiarize yourself with the vSphere Integrated Containers Engine binaries, as described in Contents of the vSphere Integrated Containers Engine Binaries.
• Familiarize yourself with the options of the vic-machine create command described in VCH Deployment Options.

Procedure

1. Open a terminal on the system on which you downloaded and unpacked the vSphere Integrated Containers Engine binary bundle.
2. Navigate to the directory that contains the vic-machine utility:

3. Run the vic-machine create command.

   Wrap any option arguments that include spaces or special characters in quotes. Use single quotes if you are using vic-machine on a Linux or Mac OS system and double quotes on a Windows system. In these examples, the password is wrapped in quotes because it contains @.

   • Linux OS:

     $ vic-machine-linux create
     --target esxi_host_address
     --user root
     --password 'esxi_host_p@ssword'
     --no-tlsverify
     --force
     

   • Windows:

     $ vic-machine-windows create
     --target esxi_host_address
     --user root
     --password "esxi_host_p@ssword"
     --no-tlsverify
     --force
     

   • Mac OS:

     $ vic-machine-darwin create
     --target esxi_host_address
     --user root
     --password 'esxi_host_p@ssword'
     --no-tlsverify
     --force
     

The vic-machine create command in this example specifies the minimum information required to deploy a VCH to an ESXi host:

• The address of the ESXi host on which to deploy the VCH, in the --target option.
• The ESXi host root user and password in the --user and --password options.
• Disables the verification of clients that connect to this VCH by specifying the --no-tlsverify option.
• Disables the verification of the ESXi host certificate by specifying the --force option.

Because the ESXi host only has only one datastore and uses the VM Network network, vic-machine create automatically detects and uses those resources.

When deploying to an ESXi host, vic-machine create creates a standard virtual switch and a port group for use as the container bridge network, so you do not need to specify any network options if you do not have specific network requirements.

This example deploys a VCH with the default name virtual-container-host.

Result

At the end of a successful installation, vic-machine displays information about the new VCH:

Initialization of appliance successful
VCH Admin Portal:
https://vch_address:2378
Published ports can be reached at:
vch_address
Docker environment variables:
DOCKER_HOST=vch_address:2376
Environment saved in virtual-container-host/virtual-container-host.env
Connect to docker:
docker -H vch_address:2376 --tls info
Installer completed successfully

What to Do Next

To test your VCH, see Verify the Deployment of a VCH.

For examples of commands to deploy a VCH in various other vSphere configurations, see Advanced Examples of Deploying a VCH.