Virtual Container Host Compute Capacity

When you deploy a virtual container host (VCH), you must select the compute resource in your virtual infrastructure in which to deploy the VCH. You can optionally configure resource usage limits on the VCH.

Options

The sections in this topic each correspond to an entry in the Compute Capacity page of the Create Virtual Container Host wizard and to the corresponding vic-machine create options.

Compute Resource

The host, cluster, or resource pool in which to deploy the VCH.

NOTE: You cannot deploy a VCH to a specific host in a cluster. You deploy the VCH to the cluster, and DRS manages the placement of the VCH on a host.

Create VCH Wizard

Selecting a compute resource is mandatory.

  1. Expand the Compute resource inventory hierarchy.
  2. Select a standalone host, cluster, or resource pool to which to deploy the VCH.

vic-machine Option

--compute-resource, -r

If the vCenter Server instance on which you are deploying a VCH only includes a single instance of a standalone host or cluster, vic-machine create automatically detects and uses those resources. In this case, you do not need to specify a compute resource when you run vic-machine create. If you are deploying the VCH directly to an ESXi host and you do not use --compute-resource to specify a resource pool, vic-machine create automatically uses the default resource pool.

You specify the --compute-resource option in the following circumstances:

  • A vCenter Server instance includes multiple instances of standalone hosts or clusters, or a mixture of standalone hosts and clusters.
  • You want to deploy the VCH to a specific resource pool in your environment.

If you do not specify the --compute-resource option and multiple possible resources exist, or if you specify an invalid resource name, vic-machine create fails and suggests valid targets for --compute-resource in the failure message.

To deploy to a specific resource pool on an ESXi host that is not managed by vCenter Server, specify the name of the resource pool: 

--compute-resource  resource_pool_name

To deploy to a vCenter Server instance that has multiple standalone hosts that are not part of a cluster, specify the IPv4 address or fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the target host:

--compute-resource host_address

To deploy to a vCenter Server with multiple clusters, specify the name of the target cluster: 

--compute-resource cluster_name

To deploy to a specific resource pool on a standalone host that is managed by vCenter Server, or to a specific resource pool in a cluster, if the resource pool name is unique across all hosts and clusters, specify the name of the resource pool:

--compute-resource resource_pool_name

To deploy to a specific resource pool on a standalone host that is managed by vCenter Server, if the resource pool name is not unique across all hosts, specify the IPv4 address or FQDN of the target host and name of the resource pool:

--compute-resource host_name/resource_pool_name

To deploy to a specific resource pool in a cluster, if the resource pool name is not unique across all clusters, specify the full path to the resource pool:

--compute-resource cluster_name/Resources/resource_pool_name

CPU

Limit the amount of CPU capacity that is available for use by the VCH resource pool. This limit also applies to the container VMs that run in the VCH resource pool. Specify the CPU capacity in MHz.

Create VCH Wizard

In the CPU text box, leave the default value of Unlimited, or optionally enter a limit of between the minimum and maximum shown.

vic-machine Option

--cpu, no short name

Specify a CPU limit value in MHz. If not specified, vic-machine create sets the limit to 0 (unlimited).

--cpu 1024

Memory

Limit the amount of memory that is available for use by the VCH resource pool. This limit also applies to the container VMs that run in the VCH resource pool. Specify the memory limit value in MB.

Create VCH Wizard

In the Memory text box, leave the default value of Unlimited, or optionally enter a limit of between the minimum and maximum shown.

vic-machine Option

--memory, --mem

Specify a limit in MB. If not specified, vic-machine create sets the limit to 0 (unlimited).

--memory 1024

Advanced Options

When using the Create Virtual Container Host wizard, if you change any of the advanced options, leave the Advanced view open when you click Next to proceed to the next page.

If you are using vic-machine, the options in this section are exposed in the vic-machine create help if you run vic-machine create --extended-help, or vic-machine create -x.

For information about vSphere memory and CPU shares and reservations, see Allocate Memory Resources, and Allocate CPU Resources in the vSphere documentation.

CPU Reservation

Reserve a quantity of CPU capacity for use by the VCH resource pool. This limit also applies to the container VMs that run in the VCH resource pool. Specify the CPU reservation value in MHz.

Create VCH Wizard

  1. Expand Advanced.
  2. In the CPU reservation text box, leave the default value of 1, or optionally enter a limit of between the minimum and maximum shown.

vic-machine Option

--cpu-reservation, --cpur

Specify a limit in MHz. If not specified, vic-machine create sets the reservation to 1.

--cpu-reservation 1024

CPU Shares

Set CPU shares on the VCH resource pool. This limit also applies to the container VMs that run in the VCH resource pool.

Create VCH Wizard

  1. Expand Advanced.
  2. In the CPU shares text box, leave the default value of Normal, or select Low or High.

vic-machine Option

--cpu-shares, --cpus

Specify the share value as a level or a number, for example high, normal, low, or 163840. If not specified, vic-machine create sets the share to normal.

--cpu-shares low

Memory Reservation

Reserve a quantity of memory for use by the VCH resource pool. This limit also applies to the container VMs that run in the VCH resource pool. Specify the memory reservation value in MB.

Create VCH Wizard

  1. Expand Advanced.
  2. In the Memory reservation text box, leave the default value of 1, or optionally enter a limit of between the minimum and maximum shown.

vic-machine Option

--memory-reservation, --memr

Specify a limit in MB. If not specified, vic-machine create sets the reservation to 1.

--memory-reservation 1024

Memory Shares

Set memory shares on the VCH resource pool. This limit also applies to the container VMs that run in the VCH resource pool.

Create VCH Wizard

  1. Expand Advanced.
  2. In the Memory shares text box, leave the default value of Normal or select Low or High.

vic-machine Option

--memory-shares, --mems

Specify the share value as a level or a number, for example high, normal, low, or 163840. If not specified, vic-machine create sets the share to normal.

--memory-shares low

Endpoint VM CPUs

The number of virtual CPUs for the VCH endpoint VM. The default is 1. Set this option to increase the number of CPUs in the VCH endpoint VM.

NOTE: In most cases, increase the overall CPU capacity of the VCH resource pool, rather than increasing the number of CPUs on the VCH endpoint VM. This option is mainly intended for use by VMware Support.

Create VCH Wizard

  1. Expand Advanced.
  2. In the CPUs text box, leave the default value of 1 or enter a higher number of CPUs.

vic-machine Option

Specify a value of greater than 1. If not specified, vic-machine create sets the number of CPUs to 1.

--endpoint-cpu, no short name

--endpoint-cpu number_of_CPUs

Endpoint VM Memory

The amount of memory for the VCH endpoint VM. Set this option to increase the amount of memory in the VCH endpoint VM if the VCH will pull large container images.

NOTE With the exception of VCHs that pull large container images, increase the overall amount of memory for the VCH resource pool, rather than the amount of memory of the VCH endpoint VM. Use docker create -m to set the memory on container VMs. This option is mainly intended for use by VMware Support.

Create VCH Wizard

  1. Expand Advanced.
  2. In the Memory text box, leave the default value of 2048 MB, or optionally enter a limit of between the minimum and maximum shown.

vic-machine Option

--endpoint-memory, no short name

Specify a value in MB. If not specified, vic-machine create sets memory to 2048 MB.

--endpoint-memory amount_of_memory

What to Do Next

If you are using the Create Virtual Container Host wizard, click Next to go to the Storage Capacity settings.

Example vic-machine Commmands

The following examples show vic-machine create commands that use the options described in this topic. For simplicity, the examples all use the --no-tlsverify option to automatically generate server certificates but disable client authentication. The examples use an existing port group named vch1-bridge for the bridge network and designate datastore1 as the image store.

Deploy to a vCenter Server Cluster with Multiple Datacenters and Datastores

This example vic-machine create command deploys a VCH named vch1 to the cluster cluster1 in datacenter dc1. 

vic-machine-operating_system create
--target 'Administrator@vsphere.local':password@vcenter_server_address/dc1
--compute-resource cluster1
--image-store datastore1
--bridge-network vch1-bridge
--name vch1
--thumbprint certificate_thumbprint
--no-tlsverify

Deploy to a Specific Standalone Host in vCenter Server

This example vic-machine create command deploys a VCH on the ESXi host with the FQDN esxihost1.organization.company.com.

vic-machine-operating_system create
--target 'Administrator@vsphere.local':password@vcenter_server_address/dc1
--bridge-network vch1-bridge
--image-store datastore1
--compute-resource esxihost1.organization.company.com
--name vch1
--thumbprint certificate_thumbprint
--no-tlsverify

Deploy to a Resource Pool on an ESXi Host

This example vic-machine create command deploys a VCH into a resource pool named rp 1. The resource pool name is wrapped in quotes, because it contains a space. It does not specify an image store, assuming that the host in this example only has one datastore.

vic-machine-operating_system create
--target root:password@esxi_host_address
--compute-resource 'rp 1'
--name vch1
--thumbprint certificate_thumbprint
--no-tlsverify

Deploy to a Resource Pool in a vCenter Server Cluster

This example vic-machine create command deploys a VCH into a resource pool named rp 1. In this example, the resource pool name rp 1 is unique across all hosts and clusters, so it only specifies the resource pool name.

vic-machine-operating_system create
--target 'Administrator@vsphere.local':password@vcenter_server_address/dc1
--compute-resource 'rp 1'
--image-store datastore1
--bridge-network vch1-bridge
--name vch1
--thumbprint certificate_thumbprint
--no-tlsverify

If the name of the resource pool is not unique across all clusters, for example if two clusters each contain a resource pool named rp 1, you must specify the full path to the resource pool in the compute-resource option, in the format cluster_name/Resources/resource_pool_name.

vic-machine-operating_system create
--target 'Administrator@vsphere.local':password@vcenter_server_address/dc1
--compute-resource 'cluster 1'/Resources/'rp 1'
--image-store datastore1
--bridge-network vch1-bridge
--name vch1
--thumbprint certificate_thumbprint
--no-tlsverify

Set Limits on Resource Use

This example vic-machine create command sets resource limits on the VCH by imposing memory and CPU reservations, limits, and shares.

vic-machine-operating_system create
--target 'Administrator@vsphere.local':password@vcenter_server_address/dc1
--compute-resource cluster1
--image-store datastore1
--bridge-network vch1-bridge
--memory 1024
--memory-reservation 1024
--memory-shares low
--cpu 1024
--cpu-reservation 1024
--cpu-shares low
--name vch1
--thumbprint certificate_thumbprint
--no-tlsverify

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