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The role of VMware Integrated Containers in real life scenario - PART 3

Virtual Container Host Deployment using the "vic-machine" Utility - VMware Integrated Containers


 In our previous posts, we saw the steps to deploy VIC appliance and deploying the VCH from vSphere client. In this post, we will see the steps to deploy the VCH using the "vic-machine" CLI Utility 

 Refernce: https://github.com/rdjagadeesh/vic_homelab/

 Once we deploy the vSphere Integrated Containers (VIC) appliance, access the VIC appliance IP from the browser and we land on the below page. From this page, we can download the vSphere Integrated Containers Engine bundle from the appliance and unpack it on the workstation/laptop/ jump host where we connect to our vSphere environment.


Unpack the downloaded bundle 
The bundle included the following contents and utilities  

The VIC bundle includes the vic-machine CLI utility. We use "vic-machine" to deploy and manage virtual container hosts (VCHs) at the command line.

Procedure: 


Open a terminal on the system on which we downloaded and unpacked the vSphere Integrated Containers Engine binary bundle.

Navigate to the directory that contains the vic-machine utility:

Run the vic-machine create command.

Syntax:

--target homelabvc01.vsphere.local/VIC_COMPUTE_CLUSTER  --user 'administrator@vsphere.local'  --password 'VMware@12345'  --no-tlsverify  --force  --bridge-network vxw-dvs-564-virtualwire-21-sid-2144-NSX-VIC-Bridge --bridge-network-range 192.168.125.0/12  --dns-server 10.126.193.47   --public-network vxw-dvs-564-virtualwire-21-sid-2144-NSX-public --container-network vxw-dvs-564-virtualwire-21-sid-2144-NSX-Container:public  --container-network-firewall vxw-dvs-564-virtualwire-21-sid-2144-NSX-Container:open  --compute-resource 'TEST_CLUSTER'  --image-store DATASTORE_VSAN  --timeout 20m  --endpoint-cpu 4   --memory 30000 --endpoint-memory 8192  --volume-store DATASTORE_VSAN/volumes:default  --thumbprint 09:21:29:EF:0G:DE:78:9D:FG:89:DF:8F:89:3S:89:0A:FF:67:ZX  --name MyFirstVCH

Example:  
C:\>documents\vic\vic-machine-windows.exe create --target "administrator@vsphere.local":VMware@12345@homelabvc01.vsphere.local/datacenter_name --compute-resource VIC_COMPUTE_CLUSTER --bridge-network "vxw-dvs-564-virtualwire-21-sid-2144-NSX-VIC-Bridge" --public-network "vxw-dvs-564-virtualwire-21-sid-2144-NSX-public" --image-store "DATASTORE_VSAN" --volume-store DATASTORE_VSAN/volumes:default --volume-store DATASTORE_VSAN/volumes:default --name MyFirstVCH --thumbprint 09:21:29:EF:0G:DE:78:9D:FG:89:DF:8F:89:3S:89:0A:FF:67:ZX --no-tlsverify --timeout 20m


Linux OS:

$ vic-machine-linux create--target esxi_host_address--user root--password 'esxi_host_password'--no-tlsverify--thumbprint esxi_certificate_thumbprint

Windows OS:

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

Mac OS:

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

Result


 At the end of a successful deployment, VIC-machine displays information about the new VCH:
Initialization of appliance successfulVCH ID: vch_idVCH Admin Portal:https://vch_address:2378Published ports can be reached at:vch_addressDocker environment variables:DOCKER_HOST=vch_address:2376Environment saved in virtual-container-host/virtual-container-host.envConnect to docker:docker -H vch_address:2376 --tls infoInstaller completed successfully

Test the Deployment of the VCH


 1. We can use a Docker client, run the docker info command to confirm that we can connect to the VCH.
docker -H vch_address:2376 --tls info

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

 3. In our Docker client, pull a Docker container image from Docker Hub into the VCH.

          For example, pull the BusyBox container image.
docker -H vch_address:2376 --tls pull busybox

 4. In the ESXi host/vcenter  UI, open the Datastore browser and select the datastore. We should see that vSphere Integrated Containers Engine has created a folder that has the same name as the VCH. This folder contains the VCH endpoint VM files and a folder named VIC, in which to store container image files.

 5. Expand the VIC folder to navigate to the images folder.

 6. The images folder contains folders for each container image that We pull into the VCH. The folders contain the container image files.

 7. In our Docker client, run the Docker container that We pulled into the VCH.
docker -H vch_address:2376 --tls run --name test busybox

 8. In the ESXi host UI, go to Virtual Machines. We should see a VM named test-container_id. This is the container VM that We created from the BusyBox image.
Download kit: https://github.com/rdjagadeesh/vic_homelab/

 Thanks for reading and in our next post we see an option to automate the deployment of VCH through vRealize Automation 

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