Setting up a remote Docker host computer

You must set up a computer to host the remote Docker host. You can set up the remote host with a non-secure mode of connection with IBM® Rational® Test Automation Server.

Before you begin

You must have identified a remote computer or VM that has a minimum of 16 GB RAM. You must have installed Ubuntu V18.04 or later, on the remote computer.

You must have installed Docker Enterprise Edition for a non-secure mode of connection with IBM® Rational® Test Automation Server on the remote Docker host computer. Refer to Get Docker Engine.

You must have the entitlement key that is required for you to connect to the IBM Docker images library to be able to pull in the software image to the remote Docker host.

About this task

You must set up a remote computer or a Virtual Machine (VM) on which you want to set up the remote Docker host. You must be a system administrator or get the remote Docker host set up by a system administrator. You must ensure that the system administrator completes the following actions:

Enables SSH.
Creates user credentials for you with root permissions.
Provides the name of the Docker container.
Provides the IP address of the remote Docker host computer.

Procedure

As a system administrator of the remote system, specify a port to access the Docker daemon in the docker.service file located in the directory /lib/systemd/system. You must add the configured port at the line in the file:

ExecStart=/usr/bin/dockerd -H fd:// -H tcp://0.0.0.0:PORT

For example, if the port configured is 4342, then the line must read as:

ExecStart=/usr/bin/dockerd -H fd:// -H tcp://0.0.0.0:4342
Restart the Docker service by using the following commands:

$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload

$ sudo systemctl restart docker
Perform the following steps as a user with root permissions or ask the system administrator to complete the following steps:
1. Open a terminal and connect to the remote Docker host by using an SSH tool by running the following command:
  
  ssh root@<IP_address_of_remote_host>
2. Log in to IBM Docker images library by running the following command:
  sudo docker login cp.icr.io -u <username> -p <password>
  Note: You must provide the following username and password in the command to log in to the registry:
  
  Username as cp
  
  Password as <entitlement_key>
3. Run the following commands to pull the product images from the registry on to the remote Docker host computer:
  Note: You must pull in the images with the version which is the same as the version of IBM® Rational® Test Automation Server that you use to run the tests.
  - sudo docker pull cp.icr.io/cp/<ibm-rtw_docker_image>
  - sudo docker pull cp.icr.io/cp/<ibm-rtvs_docker_image>

Results

You have set up the remote Docker host computer that can be accessed in a non-secure mode.

What to do next

You can set up a secure remote Docker host computer optionally, that enables a secure connection with Rational® Test Automation Server. See Setting up a secure remote Docker host computer.

You can register the remote Docker host on Rational® Test Automation Server. See Registering a remote Docker host.