We are happy to announce that VMware has joined Docker Certification Program and vSphere Docker Volume Service (vDVS) plugin is now available on Docker Store!
VMware’s inclusion into the program indicates that vSphere Docker Volume Service has been tested and verified by Docker, confirming to customers that the vSphere Docker Volume plugin has been evaluated for security and is supported and built according to best practices.
Simplified installation workflow with a managed plugin
Docker introduced Managed Plugin System in 1.13 which makes extending Docker capabilities extraordinarily easy. No more systemd tricks! Please note that you need to use Docker 1.13/17.03 and above.
Let’s quickly take a look at how easy it is to install and configure vSphere Docker Volume Service once it’s available as a managed plugin.
Here are the setup requirements for the following demonstration –
- Docker Host (VM) running Docker 1.13/17.03 and above
- vSphere ESXi 6.0+
- vSphere Storage (VSAN, VMFS or NFS) for ESXi host
Step 1 – Log into Docker Host(VM) and install the plugin from Docker store by specifying “–grant-all-permissions” option. This option can be omitted to choose permissions interactively. You can customize the plugin name using “–alias” option.
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# docker plugin install --grant-all-permissions --alias vsphere store/vmware/docker-volume-vsphere:0.12 0.12: Pulling from store/vmware/docker-volume-vsphere 27de4a000433: Download complete Digest: sha256:696017e620fe8d29c883f36b5676135eaa2c2b3c3810f82931efb8027369a186 Status: Downloaded newer image for store/vmware/docker-volume-vsphere:0.12 Installed plugin store/vmware/docker-volume-vsphere:0.12 |
Let’s verify the plugin is installed correctly and ready for use.
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# docker plugin ls ID NAME DESCRIPTION ENABLED 2f833dcd59bc vsphere:latest VMWare vSphere Docker Volume plugin true |
Step 2 – Log into ESXi host and download the latest release of vDVS driver VIB on ESXi and initiate the install by specifying the full path to the VIB.
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# esxcli software vib install -v /tmp/vmware-esx-vmdkops-0.12.ccfc38f.vib --no-sig-check Installation Result Message: Operation finished successfully. Reboot Required: false VIBs Installed: VMWare_bootbank_esx-vmdkops-service_0.12.ccfc38f-0.0.1 VIBs Removed: VIBs Skipped: |
Step 3 – On Docker Host(VM), let’s create a volume with default values i.e. default volume size = 100MB.
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# docker volume create --driver=vsphere --name=MyVolume1 MyVolume1 # docker volume ls DRIVER VOLUME NAME vsphere:latest MyVolume1@TestDatastore # docker volume inspect MyVolume1 [ { "Driver": "vsphere:latest", "Labels": {}, "Mountpoint": "/mnt/vmdk/MyVolume1", "Name": "MyVolume1", "Options": {}, "Scope": "global", "Status": { "access": "read-write", "attach-as": "independent_persistent", "capacity": { "allocated": "13MB", "size": "100MB" }, "clone-from": "None", "created": "Fri Mar 24 07:46:36 2017", "created by VM": "ubuntu1", "datastore": "TestDatastore", "diskformat": "thin", "fstype": "ext4", "status": "detached" } } ] |
Step 4 – On ESXi host, the administrator can manage volumes available in the system effectively using the admin CLI.
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# /usr/lib/vmware/vmdkops/bin/vmdkops_admin.py ls Volume Datastore VM-Group Capacity Used Filesystem Policy Disk Format Attached-to Access Attach-as Created By Created Date --------- ------------- -------- -------- ---- ---------- ------ ----------- ----------- ---------- ---------------------- ---------- ------------------------ MyVolume1 TestDatastore _DEFAULT 100MB 13MB ext4 N/A thin detached read-write independent_persistent ubuntu1 Fri Mar 24 07:46:36 2017 |
What’s next in vSphere Docker Volume Service?
After announcing the beta of vSphere Docker Volume Service in DockerCon 2016, we have been steadily releasing new features and addressing customer feedback in the existing features at a monthly release cadence. It offers the following benefits to IT administrators and application developers –
- Proven Persistent Shared Storage: You can now use any VMware supported enterprise class storage backed by vSAN, VMFS and NFS
- Multitenancy, Security and Access Control: vSphere administrators can effortlessly set access permissions for shared storage across hosts, datastores and VMs from a single location
- Operational Consistency & Simplicity: Zero Configuration, zero credential management. It is easy to deploy and manage
- Self Service Operations: Use Docker APIs to manage volume lifecycle while maintaining administrator control over consumption
- 100% Docker Compatible and supports high availability with Docker Swarm
- Supports Storage Policy Based Management for Containers
In future blogs, we will dig deeper into some of the features mentioned above. Stay tuned!
If you are interested in contributing code or have any questions or feedback, you can reach us at
