Tag: Container

Aug012019August 1, 2019August 4, 201913 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

Run Linux Containers with Docker Desktop and WSL 2

Posted in Containers, Docker, Microsoft, PowerShell, Virtualization, Windows, Windows 10, Windows Server

Today, Docker launched the first Tech Preview of the Docker Desktop WSL 2. This means you can now use Docker Desktop and the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2) which is using the hypervisor in the background to run Linux containers on Windows 10. With the significant changes to the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2, you can now take advantage of these improvements with your Docker Desktop client.

Docker Desktop WSL 2 is currently in Tech Preview, and it also requires the Windows 10 Insider Preview builds. That means you should only use for not production environments.

WSL 2 introduces a significant architectural change as it is a full Linux kernel built by Microsoft, allowing Linux containers to run natively without emulation. With Docker Desktop WSL 2 Tech Preview, users can access Linux workspaces without having to maintain both Linux and Windows build scripts.
Docker Desktop also leverages the dynamic memory allocation feature in WSL 2 to greatly improve the resource consumption. This means, Docker Desktop only uses the required amount of CPU and memory resources, enabling CPU and memory-intensive tasks such as building a container to run much faster.

You can find more information about the Tech Preview here.

Prerequisites

To run the Docker Desktop WSL 2 Tech Preview, you will need to set up the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2) first. You can do that using the following guide, or follow these steps:

Install Windows 10 Insider Preview build 18932 or later.

Install the Windows WSL feature and the Windows Virtual Machine Platform feature running the following commands:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux
 
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName VirtualMachinePlatform

Download WSL Linux distribution based on Ubuntu 18.04 from the Microsoft Store. You can read more about Linux on Windows 10 here. The distribution needs to be set as the default WSL distro.

Enable Virtual Machine Platform

Make sure that the WSL distro is running in WSL 2 mode. You can check the list of distros installed on your Windows 10 machine, with the following PowerShell command:

wsl -l -v

To set the distro to WSL 2, you can run the following command. Change the name of the distro:

wsl --set-version DistroName 2

Install WSL 2

To find out more about installing WSL 2, check out the Microsoft Docs page.

How to set up Docker and WSL 2

First, you will need to download the Docker Desktop WSL 2 Tech Preview here. Make sure you already configured all the WSL 2 steps described in the prerequisites, before you install the Docker WSL 2 Tech preview. If you are prompted if you want to use Linux containers or Windows containers during the installation, select Windows containers. If you choose Linux containers, you will have the classic Docker experience with a Hyper-V VM.

Docker Desktop WSL 2 Tech Preview Menu

Run the installation wizard, and after a successful installation, the Docker Desktop menu displays the WSL 2 Tech Preview option. You can select WSL 2 Tech Preview from that menu to start and configure the daemon running WSL 2.

Docker Desktop WSL 2 Tech Preview

You can switch between the classic daemon or the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 with the following commands:

# Switch to classic deamon
 
docker context use default
 
# Switch to WSL 2
 
docker context use wsl

Linux Containers on Windows 10

You can now also do crazy things like run SQL Server on Linux in a Docker container on Windows 10.

SQL Server on Linux Docker Container Windows 10 WSL 2

I hope this gives you a good overview of how you will be able to run Linux containers on Windows in the future. Again this is still a Tech Preview, and we might see many changes to that feature. If you want to know more, read the full blog post on the Docker page. Also, check out the current Linux Container on Windows documentation. If you any questions, feel free to leave a comment.

Jul302019July 30, 2019July 30, 20190 Commentby Thomas Maurer

How to Install Azure CLI on Windows (one-liner)

Posted in Cloud, Containers, Docker, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, PowerShell, Virtualization, Windows, Windows 10, Windows Server, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019

There are many ways you can manage Azure, for example, by using the Azure PowerShell, Cloud Shell, or many other tools. One of them is the Azure CLI, which is a command-line tool providing a management experience for Azure resources. In this blog post, I will show you how you can download, install, and update the Azure CLI on Windows with a simple PowerShell one-liner.

Installation

First, if you want to install the CLI, on Windows, Linux or other platforms, we have some excellent documentation on this on Microsoft Docs.

Install Azure CLI on Windows using a PowerShell One-liner

Install Azure CLI on Windows using PowerShell

Instead of downloading the MSI file manually and install it on your Windows 10 machine, you can run the following PowerShell one-liner to install the Azure CLI. Start PowerShell as administrator and run the following command:

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://aka.ms/installazurecliwindows -OutFile .\AzureCLI.msi; Start-Process msiexec.exe -Wait -ArgumentList '/I AzureCLI.msi /quiet'

This will download and install the latest version of the Azure CLI for Windows. If you already have a version installed, it will update the existing version. Reopen PowerShell or the command prompt to start using it, and just type:

az

If you are running behind a proxy, make sure you configure your proxy settings.

Run Azure CLI on Windows using a Docker Container

Run Azure CLI Docker Container on Windows 10

If you have Docker installed, you can also run the CLI in an isolated environment using the mcr.microsoft.com/azure-cli container image and run the following command:

docker run -it mcr.microsoft.com/azure-cli

You can also use the container image as a base for your custom container image. Little fun fact, the container image is based on Linux, and with Linux containers on Windows, it runs great on Windows 10. You can find more information about running the CLI in a Docker container, on Microsoft Docs.

Configuration

After the CLI is installed, you can also configure some default settings.

az configure

One of the settings which I really like to change is the default output from JSON to table. However, you can configure it the way you like it.

az configure

To manage your Azure resources you now need to log in using the login command.

az login

az login

After the login, you will run the commands in the context of the specific user, and start working with your Azure resources.

Azure PowerShell vs. Azure CLI

I often get asked by customers, which one should they use. The short answer is: it depends. I am a long-time PowerShell user, so PowerShell is more natural to me when it comes to scripting. But if someone is using different CLIs in the past, he might prefer the CLI experience. I personally love that PowerShell gives me objects and especially in scripts, this makes things much easier for me. However, when it commands to do something in a one-liner quickly, the Azure CLI experience often works better for me. So it really depends on what you prefer, Microsoft gives you a choice to use whatever works best for you. Yes, not all services are indeed available in both of them. Especially when the service is in preview, it can happen that you only have one of them available. However, the teams are working hard to bring services to both experiences.

By the way, you can always run the latest version in the Azure Cloud Shell. And you can see this runs great if in the newest preview of the new Windows Terminal.

I hope this helps you installing the Azure CLI on Windows if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment.

May092019May 9, 2019August 10, 201930 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

How to configure Windows Sandbox

Posted in Containers, Hyper-V, Microsoft, PowerShell, Virtualization, Windows, Windows 10, Work

With the latest release of Windows 10 (1903), Microsoft introduced a new feature called Windows Sandbox. Windows Sandbox is based on Hyper-V technology and allows you to spin up an isolated, temporary, desktop environment where you can run untrusted software. In this blog post, I will show you how you can set up and configure Windows Sandbox in Windows 10. I will also cover how you can do an advanced configuration of your Windows Sandbox using Windows Sandbox config files.

The sandbox is great for demos, troubleshooting or if you are dealing with malware. If you close the sandbox, all the software with all its files and state are permanently deleted. It is a Windows 10 virtual machines, with the advantage that it is built into Windows 10, so it leverages the existing OS, which gives you faster startup, less footprint, better efficiency, and easier handling, without losing security.

Source: Microsoft

Windows Sandbox is a lightweight virtual machine with an operating system. The significant advantage which makes it so small is the usage of existing files from the host, for data which cannot change. For the files which can change, it uses a dynamically generated image, which is only ~100MB in size.

There are much more exciting things happening with the Windows Sandbox like smart memory management, Integrated kernel scheduler, Snapshot and clone, Graphics virtualization and Battery pass-through. If you want to find out more about the Windows Sandbox, check out the official blog post.

Prerequisites

Windows Sandbox comes with a couple of requirements. How more powerful your machine is, the better the experience will be.

Windows 10 (1903) Pro or Enterprise build 18362 or later
64-bit architecture
Virtualization capabilities enabled in BIOS
At least 4GB of RAM (8GB recommended)
1GB of free disk space (SSD recommended)
2 CPU cores (4 cores with hyperthreading recommended)

Dec192018December 19, 2018May 8, 20192 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

Windows Sandbox – Isolated Windows Desktop

Posted in Cloud, Containers, Hyper-V, Microsoft, Windows 10

Today Microsoft announced a new feature called Windows Sandbox. Windows Sandbox is built based on Windows Container technology, which allows you to spin up an isolated, temporary, desktop environment where you can run untrusted software. The software you run and install in the Windows Sandbox does not affect the host. If you shut down the Windows Sandbox all changes and all software you installed in the Sandbox are gone again. This sounds very similar to the technology Windows Defender Application Guard already used to build a sandbox environment for Microsoft Edge.

Windows Sandbox Overview

Windows Sandbox has the following properties:

Part of Windows – everything required for this feature ships with Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise. No need to download a VHD!
Pristine – every time Windows Sandbox runs, it’s as clean as a brand-new installation of Windows
Disposable – nothing persists on the device; everything is discarded after you close the application
Secure – uses hardware-based virtualization for kernel isolation, which relies on the Microsoft’s hypervisor to run a separate kernel which isolates Windows Sandbox from the host
Efficient – uses integrated kernel scheduler, smart memory management, and virtual GPU

Windows Sandbox brings the advantages of Windows Containers and also adds a desktop. If you compare this to a Windows 10 Virtual Machine, the Windows Sandbox will consume much fewer resources, it starts up match faster and will be much more efficient with hardware resources. You can think of it like a lightweight virtual machine, which can share the same hardware but also the same kernel and memory as the host system (like a container).

Nov132018November 13, 2018January 28, 20191 Commentby Thomas Maurer

New Windows Server 2019 Container Images

Posted in Cloud, Containers, Docker, Hyper-V, Kubernetes, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Nano Server, Server Core, Virtualization, Windows, Windows 10, Windows Server, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Work

Microsoft today released the new Windows Server 2019 again. After they quickly released Windows Server 2019 during Microsoft Ignite, they removed the builds again, after some quality issues. However, today Microsoft made the Windows Server 2019 builds available again. Microsoft also released new Windows Server 2019 Container Images for Windows, Windows Server Core and Nano Server.

Download Windows Server 2019 Container Images

You can get them from the new Microsoft Container Registry (MCR).

Microsoft was hosting their container images on Docker Hub until they switch to MCR (Microsoft Container Registry). This is now the source for all Windows Container Images like Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016 and all the Semi-Annual Channel releases like Windows Server, version 1709 or Windows Server, version 1803.

Download the Windows Server 2019 Semi-Annual Channel Container Images (Windows Server, version 1809). This includes also the new Windows Container Image.

 
docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/windows/servercore:1809
docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/windows/nanoserver:1809
docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/windows:1809

The Windows Server Core Image is also available as a Long-Term Servicing Channel Image:

 
docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/windows/servercore:ltsc2019

However, if you want to browse through container images, Docker Hub continues to be the right place to discover container images. Steve Lasker wrote a blog post about how Microsoft syndicates the container catalog and why.

Download Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server SAC Container Images

Also the existing Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server, version 1803 and Windows Server 1709 container images moved to the Microsoft Container Registry (MCR).

 
# Here is the old string for pulling a container
 
# docker pull microsoft/windowsservercore:ltsc2016
 
# docker pull microsoft/nanoserver:1709
 
# Change the string to the new syntax and use the same tag
 
docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/windows/servercore:ltsc2016
 
docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/windows/nanoserver:1709

You should also make sure to update your Dockerfile references:

Old Windows Server Dockerfile reference

~~FROM microsoft/windowsservercore:ltsc2016~~

New Windows Server Dockerfile reference

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/windows/servercore:ltsc2016

Removing the “latest” tag from Windows Images

Starting 2019, Microsoft is also deprecating the “latest” tag for their container images.

We strongly encourage you to instead declare the specific container tag you’d like to run in production. The ‘latest’ tag is the opposite of specific; it doesn’t tell the user anything about what version the container actually is apart from the image name. You can read more about version compatibility and selecting the appropriate tag on our container docs.

Removing Container Images

If you want to remove existing container images from your PC, you can run docker rmi to remove a specific image. You can also remove all containers and container images with the following commands:

 
# Remove all containers
docker rm $(docker ps -a -q)
 
# Remove all container images
docker rmi $(docker images -q)

If you want to know more about Windows Containers and the Microsoft container eco system, visit the Microsoft container docs.

Oct022018October 2, 2018January 22, 20196 Commentsby Thomas Maurer

Windows Server 2019 released, get it now!

Posted in Cloud, Containers, Hyper-V, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Private Cloud, Virtualization, Windows, Windows 10, Windows Server, Windows Server 2019, Work

Microsoft announced Windows Server 2019 a while ago and also showed of a lot of new features and improvements at Microsoft Ignite last week. Today Microsoft announced the release of Windows Server 2019. Windows Server brings improvements in four key areas, such as Hybrid, Security, Application Platform and Hyper-converged Infrastructure (HCI). Together with Windows Admin Center, Windows Server 2019 becomes a powerful platform to run your workloads on-premise or in the cloud.

Update: Windows Server 2019 availability

On October 2, 2018, we announced the availability of Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server, version 1809. Later that week, we paused the rollout of these new releases to investigate isolated reports of users missing files after updating to the latest Windows 10 feature update. We take any case of data loss seriously, so we proactively removed all related media from our channels as we started investigation of the reports and have now fixed all known related issues.

In addition to extensive internal validation, we have taken time to closely monitor feedback and diagnostic data from our Windows Insiders and from millions of devices on the Windows 10 October 2018 Update. There is no further evidence of data loss. Based on this data, today we are beginning the re-release of Windows Server 2019, Windows Server, version 1809, and the related versions of Windows 10.

Customers with a valid license of Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server, version 1809 can download the media from the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC). Azure customers will see the Windows Server 2019 image available in the Azure Marketplace over the coming week. We are also working to make the Windows Server 2019 evaluation available on the Microsoft Eval Center. We will provide an update to this blog and our social channels once it’s available.

November 13, 2018 marks the revised start of the servicing timeline for both the Long-Term Servicing Channel and the Semi-Annual Channel. For more information please visit the Support Lifecycle page.

Source: Microsoft

You can also read more about Windows Server innovations on my blog:

I have some other blog post in the pipeline, covering new features in Windows Server 2019.

Download Windows Server 2019

You can download and get Windows Server 2019 form different Microsoft source:

Update: Windows Server 2019, is now available on the Azure Marketplace, MSDN and the Evaluation Center!

At Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft showed also some great Windows Server demos and I hope you check it out!

Aug222018August 22, 2018August 22, 20181 Commentby Thomas Maurer

Windows Server 2019 – What is coming Next

Posted in Cloud, Containers, Docker, Hyper-V, Kubernetes, Microsoft, Nano Server, Server Core, Virtualization, Windows, Windows Server, Windows Server 2019, Work

A while ago Microsoft announced the next key versions Windows Server 2019 and System Center 2019. And a couple of weeks ago, at the Windows Server Summit, Microsoft was taking more about what is new in Windows Server 2019. Microsoft also talked a lot about the positioning of Windows Server and what we can expect in the future. With the news finally released to the public, I can start talking and blogging about the new features and investments. I decided to create a series of blogs, to show the world the great new features. This blog post here, should give you a high level overview about how Microsoft is investing in Windows Server 2019.

Windows Server – The Power behind the Intelligent Cloud and the Intelligent Edge

Windows Server is not only powering the Intelligent Edge where you have a great Software-Defined Datacenter plaform running Hyper-V or Stroage Spaces Direct, or as application platform. It is also powering the Microsoft Azure Intelligent Cloud. Windows Server is running the foundation of the platform of Azure and also many many services running in Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Azure Stack. If the innovation happening in the Microsoft Public Cloud, we as customers also benefit from that.

Windows Server – Hybrid Cloud in the DNA

Windows Server is a great platform and it runs where ever you are. If you run on-premises in your Software-Defined Datacenter running in on physical hardware or in virtual machines or on Azure Stack, Windows Server is your platform. If you are running in the Public Cloud, Windows Server is not only the platform powering Azure. Windows Server is also a great platform for you to run application in Microsoft Azure or other cloud services providers.

Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server

The Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server is also a great option to run Windows Server workloads in the cloud. It allows customer to leverage the licensing they already have. This can bring down cost by a huge factor, and this together with Azure Reserved VM Instances up to 82%.

Windows Server 2019 – Innovation and Investments

If we have a look at the investments done in Windows Server 2019, we can see that we can categorize them in 4 categories.

Hybrid Datacenter Platform
Security
Application Innovation
Hyper-Converged Infrastructure

Unique hybrid datacenter platform

Windows Server 2019 brings new functionality and features to extend your datacenter to Azure to maximize existing investments and gain new hybrid capabilities. To achieve this Microsoft brings improvements to Windows Server 2019 like built-in Azure Active Directory integration, Azure Backup, Azure Site Recovery, Storage Migration Services and many more.

Enhanced security capabilities

One of the key factors in today’s IT landscape is security. Microsoft started the journey by bringing enhanced security features to Windows Server 2016. With Windows Server 2019 Microsoft improves these security features of their server operating system. Microsoft adds new capabilities like Shield Virtual Machines for Linux, Exploit Guard, Encrypted Virtual Networks and under a lot of others. My favorite, the integration of Windows Defender Advanced Thread Protection or Windows Defender ATP.

Faster innovation for applications

With the Semi-Annual Channel releases of Windows Server, Microsoft already released some great investments to enable developers and IT pros. These allow them to create cloud native apps or modernize their traditional apps using containers and micro-services. In Windows Server 2019, Microsoft goes one step further and releases the SAC Improvement s like Linux Containers on Windows Server and the Windows Subsystem for Linux on Windows Server to the LTSC release. Microsoft also invest heavily to improve the container experience on Windows Server, by optimizing the container images for Server Core and Nano Server, a new Windows Container Image and better integration into orchestrators like Kubernetes and Service Fabric.

Unprecedented Hyper-converged Infrastructure

Microsoft is also improving your software-defined datacenter experience to achieve greater efficiency and security. With Windows Admin Center, Microsoft introduced a new web-based management UI which will be a perfect solution to manage your Windows Server 2019 servers. However, Microsoft is also investing in more hardware support like Storage Class Memory support. But also, on adding scale, resilience and performance improvements to your Storage Spaces Direct deployments. This includes improvements like Cluster Sets, improved performance for Mirror-accelerated parity volumes and much more.

In the next couple of days and weeks I will release some blog posts. These will covering the new features and improvements in Windows Server 2019 with a little more technical depth. And I am sure we will even have more to share after Microsoft Ignite. So ,stay tuned and follow my blog :)

Tag: Container

Run Linux Containers with Docker Desktop and WSL 2

Prerequisites

How to set up Docker and WSL 2

How to configure Windows Sandbox

Prerequisites

Windows Sandbox – Isolated Windows Desktop

Windows Sandbox Overview

New Windows Server 2019 Container Images

Download Windows Server 2019 Container Images

Download Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server SAC Container Images

Removing the “latest” tag from Windows Images

Removing Container Images

Windows Server 2019 released, get it now!

Download Windows Server 2019

Windows Server 2019 – What is coming Next

Windows Server – The Power behind the Intelligent Cloud and the Intelligent Edge

Windows Server – Hybrid Cloud in the DNA

Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server

Windows Server 2019 – Innovation and Investments

Unique hybrid datacenter platform

Enhanced security capabilities

Faster innovation for applications

Unprecedented Hyper-converged Infrastructure

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