Verify the Deployment of a VCH

After you have deployed a virtual container host (VCH), you can verify the deployment by connecting a Docker client to the VCH and running Docker operations. You can check the results in the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client.

IMPORTANT: Do not use the vSphere Client to perform operations on virtual container hosts or container VMs. Specifically, using the vSphere Client to power off, power on, or delete the VCH vApp or VCH endpoint VM can cause vSphere Integrated Containers Engine to not function correctly. Always use vic-machine to perform operations on VCHs. The vSphere Client does not allow you to delete container VMs, but do not use the vSphere Client to power container VMs on or off. Always use Docker commands to perform operations on containers.

Prerequisites

• You deployed a VCH in one of the following ways:

  • You followed the instructions in Deploy a Demo VCH to deploy a basic VCH with no security.
  • You followed the instructions in Deploy a VCH to an ESXi Host with No vCenter Server or Deploy a VCH to a Basic vCenter Server Cluster, specifying the --no-tlsverify option.
• You have installed a Docker client.
• If you deployed the VCH to vCenter Server, connect a vSphere Client to that vCenter Server instance.
• If you deployed the VCH to an ESXi host, connect a vSphere Client to that host.

Procedure

1. View the VCH appliance in the vSphere Client or vSphere Client.

   • vCenter Server: Go to Hosts and Clusters in the vSphere Client and select the cluster or host on which you deployed the VCH. You should see a vApp with the name that you set for the VCH.

   • ESXi host: Go to Inventory in the vSphere Client and select the host on which you deployed the VCH. You should see a resource pool with the name that you set for the VCH.

     The vApp or resource pool contains the VCH endpoint VM.

2. Run the docker info command to confirm that you can connect to the VCH.

   • Demo VCH:

     docker -H vch_address:2376 info

   • Deployment with vic-machine create:

     docker -H vch_address:2376 --tls info

     You should see confirmation that the Storage Driver is vSphere Integrated Containers Backend Engine.

3. Pull a Docker container image into the VCH, for example, the BusyBox container.

   • Demo VCH:

     docker -H vch_address:2376 pull busybox

   • Deployment with vic-machine create:

     docker -H vch_address:2376 --tls pull busybox

4. View the container image files in the vSphere Web Client or vSphere Client.

   • vCenter Server: Go to Storage, right-click the datastore that you designated as the image store, and select Browse Files.

   • ESXi host: Click the Summary tab for the ESXi host, right-click the datastore that you designated as the image store, and select Browse Datastore.

     vSphere Integrated Containers Engine creates a folder that has the same name as the VCH, that contains a folder named VIC in which to store container image files.

5. Expand the VIC folder to navigate to the images folder. The images folder contains a folder for every container image that you pull into the VCH. The folders contain the container image files.

6. In your Docker client, run the Docker container that you pulled into the VCH.

   • Demo VCH:

     docker -H vch_address:2376 run --name test busybox

   • Deployment with vic-machine create:

     docker -H vch_address:2376 --tls run --name test busybox

7. View the container VMs in the vSphere Client.

   • vCenter Server: Go to Hosts and Clusters and expand the VCH vApp.

   • ESXi host: Go to Inventory and expand the VCH resource pool.

     You should see a VM for every container that you run, including a VM named test-container_id.

8. View the container VM files in the vSphere Client.

   • vCenter Server: Go to Storage and select the datastore that you designated as the image store.

   • ESXi host: Click the Summary tab for the ESXi host, right-click the datastore that you designated as the image store, and select Browse Datastore.

     At the top-level of the datastore, you should see a folder for every container that you run. The folders contain the container VM files.