Deploy VMware vSphere Integrated Containers 1.5

In this post i’m going to demonstrate how to get started with being able to host containers in vSphere 6.7. VMware’s vSphere Integrated Containers feature allows for Admins to host and manage their VMware workloads within vSphere. With vSphere integrated Containers, you get the benefits of ESXi such as DRS, HA and vMotion with your containers.

Installing the vSphere Integrated Container Server

Firstly we need to download the VIC, after the download right click on vCenter and select Deploy OVF Template and after select the location of the OVF you downloaded. Then select Next:

Select the datacenter and ESXi host to deploy the OVF, also type in the name of the VM. I chose “VIC-DIY” short for vSphere Integrated Containers. Select Next:

Select the storage:

Select the virtual networking:

Input the root password for the appliance:

Input the static IP Address information that you would like to assign the VM:

Select Next and Finish. Wait some minutes for Appliance is started.

When the deployment completes, power on the appliance VM. In a browser, go to the vSphere Integrated Containers appliance welcome page.

Enter the connection details for the vCenter Server instance on which you deployed the appliance. If vCenter Server is managed by an embedded Platform Services Controller, leave the External PSC text boxes empty.

Note: The vSphere Integrated Containers plug-in only for the HTML5 vSphere Client.

Click in continue:

Verify that the certificate thumbprint for vCenter Server is valid, and click Continue to complete the installation of the appliance.

Deploy Virtual Container Hosts in the vSphere Client

Log in to the HTML5 vSphere Client with a vSphere administrator account, and click the vSphere Client logo in the top left corner. Under Inventories, click vSphere Integrated Containers.

Click New Virtual Container Host. Enter a name for the VCH and click Next.

Then select the compute cluster that we want to run this VCH on and click Next:

We need to configure the storage options for our VCH. Select the datastore. Volume Datstores are used for containers that need to create a volume datastore. Click Next:

It is recommended to run one bridge network per VCH and to have your bridge networks separate from your VM network:

I’m going to not require clients to authenticate with certificates, click Next:

In Registry Access click Next. More information about click here.

Input provide a user account for VCH to use for interacting with vSphere.

Click finish and wait for the VCH to be created.

We have the ability to host containers in our vSphere environment, the Docker API Endpoint is over to the docker container developers, they will use that to create and manage their containers on this VCH.