Check version of Docker on vCenter and if installed, is the service running

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Docker Community (CE) 24 showed up during a security scan and would like to verify if that is a legitimate version on vCenter

Environment

vCenter Server 8.0.x

Resolution

Steps

1) Verify the Docker installation:

Run the 

docker version 

command.

If Docker is installed and the daemon is running, this command will return both the client and server version information.

If Docker is not installed, you will receive a "command not found" error.

 

2) Check the Docker service status:

You can also check if the Docker service is enabled and running using systemctl:

systemctl status docker

This command will show if the service is "active (running)".

These commands will confirm the presence and status of the Docker service on your vCenter Server Appliance.

 

Example on vCenter 8.0U3H

root@localhost [ ~ ]# docker version
Client: Docker Engine - Community
 Version:           24.0.9
 API version:       1.43
 Go version:        go1.21.13
 Git commit:        ced0996
 Built:             Wed Aug 20 09:55:16 2025
 OS/Arch:           linux/amd64
 Context:           default
Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?
root@localhost [ ~ ]# systemctl status docker
● docker.service - Docker Application Container Engine
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/docker.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
     Active: inactive (dead)
TriggeredBy: ● docker.socket
       Docs: https://docs.docker.com
root@localhost [ ~ ]#