Deploy a VCH to a Basic vCenter Server Cluster

This topic provides instructions for deploying a virtual container host (VCH) in a very basic vCenter Server environment. This basic deployment allows you to test vSphere Integrated Containers Engine with vCenter Server before attempting a more complex deployment that corresponds to your real vSphere environment.

The vCenter Server instance to which you deploy the VCH must match the specifications listed in the prerequisites.

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 a vCenter Server instance with the following configuration:
  • One datacenter
  • One cluster with two ESXi hosts and DRS enabled. You can use nested ESXi hosts for this example.
  • A shared datastore, that is accessible by both of the ESXi hosts.
  • The VM Network is present
  • One distributed virtual switch with one port group named vic-bridge
• Verify that your vCenter Server instance and both of the ESXi hosts in the cluster meet 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 user name is wrapped in quotes because it contains @.

   • Linux OS:

     $ vic-machine-linux create
     --target vcenter_server_address
     --user 'Administrator@vsphere.local'
     --password vcenter_server_password
     --bridge-network vic-bridge
     --image-store shared_datastore_name
     --no-tlsverify
     --force
     

   • Windows:

     $ vic-machine-windows create
     --target vcenter_server_address
     --user "Administrator@vsphere.local"
     --password vcenter_server_password
     --bridge-network vic-bridge
     --image-store shared_datastore_name
     --no-tlsverify
     --force
     

   • Mac OS:

     $ vic-machine-darwin create
     --target vcenter_server_address
     --user 'Administrator@vsphere.local'
     --password vcenter_server_password
     --bridge-network vic-bridge
     --image-store shared_datastore_name
     --no-tlsverify
     --force
     

The vic-machine create command in this example specifies the minimum information required to deploy a VCH to vCenter Server:

• The address of the vCenter Server instance on which to deploy the VCH, in the --target option.
• The vCenter Single Sign-On user and password in the --user and --password options.
• The port group named vic-bridge, for use as the container bridge network.
• The name of the shared datastore to use as the image store, in which to store container images.
• Disables the verification of clients that connect to this VCH by specifying the --no-tlsverify option.
• Disables the verification of the vCenter Server certificate by specifying the --force option.

Because the vCenter Server instance only has one datacenter and one cluster, and uses the VM Network network, vic-machine create automatically detects and uses these resources.

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.