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Docker On Windows, One Engineering System, Microsoft Uses DevOps To Reinvent Itself

While at DOES San Francisco 2016 last week I had a chance to sit down with two presenters who work at Microsoft. One is someone I have interviewed before at both DOES and here on devopsy.kinsta.cloud, Sam Guckenheimer, Product Owner of Microsoft Visual Studio Cloud Services. Joining Sam and I is Ed Blankenship, Product Manager at Microsoft for Visual Studio Team Services. We had a wide ranging discussion on Microsoft’s own DevOps journey including the move to one engineering system, to SaaS based systems, security and finally Docker on Windows.

Ed and Sam presented at DOES on Microsoft’s move to a single engineering system that now serves over 62,000 users within Microsoft alone! Sam also did a Lean Coffee session on security and compliance. All in all it was a great discussion with Sam and Ed. I know it is a bit long at 17+ minutes, but have a listen and enjoy.

Also if you are interested in Docker on Windows, please check out this free and easy hands on lab Microsoft has made available to our readers here. The lab allows you to install Docker on Windows 10 and more. You don’t need anything on your end it is all self-contained in a web browser.

You can see some of the other 50 videos we recorded from this years DOES San Francisco event on our YouTube channel, DevOpsTV.

— Alan Shimel

November 16, 2016
Docker On Windows, Are You Serious? Microsoft’s Hands-on Lab Show’s You How

You have probably heard or read about the availability of Docker on Windows and Azure. Both Docker and Microsoft have turned up the noise on their collaboration. But have you really looked into what these two are up to? If not, now is your chance. Microsoft has put up a great free hands on lab all about Docker, containers and Windows.

In this hands on lab there are modules that feature Docker on Windows Server, Windows Nano Server and managing them with Windows 10. You can use Microsoft’s HyperV or not. It really is a great way to learn about containers, Docker and the Windows platform. You can play with this hands on lab by clicking here or if you prefer to cut and paste here is the link: http://msftdevops.learnondemandsystems.com/?wt.mc_id=AID557152_QSG_BLOG_22879. (Editors note: pop up blockers may stop the lab from loading. If you have an issue try disabling the pop up blocker.)

Here is what the lab covers in a bit more detail:

I took the opportunity to play with the lab myself. While I am far from a developer or even an Ops person, I have to say Microsoft got this one right. Even I could complete it! The lab is supposed to take you 30 minutes but they give you 8 hours to complete. There is a great set of introduction videos that give you a full picture of what you are going to be doing. Here is an example in a still shot:

The lab is actually broken down into several modules that don’t have to be completed in one sitting. The lab requires no set up on your part at all. It runs right in your browser. The lab has you run two different Windows machines, one Win10 and one Windows Server. You can switch and log in right from the browser. The lab also has you log into PowerShell:

It literally gives you the CLI commands that you have to type, tells you when to switch between machines and guides you step by step through each of the several tasks. There is a great info bar on the bottom that has context sensitive instructions that walk you through the entire thing. There is also a sidebar which gives you a great oversight of the entire lab, where you are in the process and options to move around. All in all I thought they did a great job with the UX to make what could be a complex set of tasks easy.

The whole Docker and containers on Windows theme is one has been bubbling up for some time now. While many doubted that it could ever happen, the new Microsoft seems to have made Docker right at home.

From what I have been told there will be similar hands on labs offered for free on the Azure platform and more on containers. We will be working with Microsoft to dig in deeper here, so stay tuned for more soon!

— Alan Shimel

October 31, 2016
Native Docker for Windows Arrives: Are Containers Finally Serverless?
Is Docker finally ready for the age of serverless computing? That’s the message from the announcement this week of native Docker container support for Windows Server 2016.

If you’ve been following Docker for a while, you know that Docker containers originally supported only Linux operating systems. Then, Docker made its platform available for Windows users, too—but with the major caveat that Docker Engine ran inside a Linux-based virtual machine image on top. So, you could run Docker from Windows, but Linux was still the middleman.

Real Docker Containers

This week, that all changed. On Sept. 26, Docker announced the general availability of native Docker container support on Windows Server 2016. By “native,” Docker means that the containers run using new primitives—the equivalent of namespaces in Linux—that are built into the Windows kernel itself. There’s no more virtualization.

But that’s not all. The complete Docker tool set also now runs natively on Windows. The Docker CLI, Swarm orchestration, data volumes and all the other building blocks of a Dockerized infrastructure are officially compatible, as well as Docker containers themselves.

The support is the result of more than two years of collaboration between Docker and Microsoft, which is now a Top Five contributor to the Docker open-source project.

Caveats

Native support for Docker is a big accomplishment. But there are still some limitations, including:
- Docker containers can only run natively on Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10. Other versions won’t work with Docker because they lack the kernel enhancements necessary to support Docker containers, Scott Johnston, Docker COO, explained in an interview.
- Some advanced networking configuration features for Docker are not yet supported because the “plumbing” required to make those features work is not complete inside the kernel, Johnston said, adding Microsoft is working to change that.
- Most notably, Docker containers on Windows can only run Windows apps inside the containers. In other words, you can’t run an app compiled for Linux inside a Docker container running on Windows. You would need a Windows host to do that. (And the opposite holds true: You can’t run Windows apps inside Docker containers on a Linux host.) This is not something that will change, according to Johnston.
Docker Becomes Serverless

Docker the company is celebrating the support as an opportunity to expand the Docker ecosystem immensely. Support for Windows “doubles the potential market opportunity” for Docker partners, the company said in a presentation about the announcement. (By the way, Docker has good reason to want to keep its partners happy by giving them a larger ecosystem to work with. The integration of Swarm into Docker earlier this year undercut the value of some of Docker’s partners’ products. But I digress.)

The most interesting aspect of this news from a DevOps perspective, however, is that it means Docker is now much more serverless. A large part of the value of Docker containers is their ability to simplify application delivery. As long as you can package your app as a Docker container, you can deploy it on any server that has Docker running.

You don’t have to think about the underlying server hardware or configuration. In other words, Docker allows you to become serverless, because you no longer have to think very much about the server you are deploying to.

Previously, however, this flexibility was limited by the fact that you did have to think about the server OS. Now, with native Docker support for Windows, that’s no longer the case. It doesn’t matter whether your infrastructure is composed of Windows servers, Linux servers or both. As long as you install Docker on them, you can deploy to any server.

Of course, there is still the issue of having to make sure your app is compiled for the right operating system. But that is easy enough to manage in most cases during the build process.

— Chris Tozzi
September 27, 2016
Conjur Delivers Automated Access Management to Windows Platforms
Native .NET Libraries and Windows Remote Desktop Support Spans Microsoft Workloads in Cloud, Hybrid and PaaS Environments

WALTHAM, Mass. – April 5, 2016 – Conjur, Inc., provider of automated access management software, has released significant product enhancements for Microsoft^® Windows^® environments that addresses the growing customer requirements for building, managing and securing Windows workloads in cloud and hybrid cloud environments. Conjur’s Windows capabilities deliver a consolidated approach for access, control, authorization and audit for Windows resources and development environments.

Now, customers can seamlessly extend their on-premise datacenter operations to cloud services, leverage Microsoft Azure services and accelerate the .NET software development lifecycle while strengthening security practices.

Conjur’s new support for native Windows authentication and real-time application of authorization and permissions to dynamic virtual machines ensures an IT graceful migration.

“As we broaden our market adoption, the need for first class Microsoft Windows support is apparent, especially in hybrid and heterogeneous environments,” said Mitch Haile, Vice President of Products at Conjur. “We are excited to support both .NET native client APIs and Windows Remote Desktop Access Management for modern, highly automated IT environments.”

Conjur’s Window’s release incorporates support for:
- Windows Remote Desktop Connector: Integrate Windows authentication for user login to Windows instances operating in cloud environments
- Native .NET Client Library: Conjur’s new .NET client library is open source and available immediately.
“Conjur’s new native .NET libraries and Remote Desktop access to Microsoft Windows hosts in the cloud is a significant step forward in enabling automated infrastructure security,” says Dave Bechberger, Senior Architect atExpero Inc.

Through a centralized authorization service exposed through APIs, Conjur enables enterprises to apply a consistent set of policies for production, staging and test environment access throughout the entire software development cycle. These latest enhancements meet the requirements for the scalable, enterprise-grade secret management solution for organizations in highly regulated industries.

About Conjur

Conjur is preventive security for companies that are automating their IT systems, who need to control access, and need to demonstrate control. For enterprises that need to protect their infrastructure, Conjur is the only solution with comprehensive identity and authorization for every cloud, VM, container, service, job and user. Conjur helps companies such as Netflix, Box, and Puppet Labs solve critical operational, compliance, and security challenges that originate in modern automated infrastructure. Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, Conjur is funded by Avalon Partners and Amplify Partners. Visit www.conjur.net and follow @conjurinc on Twitter.

PRContact:

Tracy Wemett

BroadPR

+1-617-868-5031

tracy@broadpr.com
April 5, 2016
Chef and Microsoft Cooking Up Something Big

Chef and Microsoft today announced a major upgrade to their partnership. After twelve months of work integrating Chef, it is thoroughly integrated not only into the Azure stack, but into the Windows stack as well . This will empower enterprises to work in Azure/hybrid cloud environments using Chef’s best in class capabilities to collaborate on rapidly delivering high-quality software and services.

I had a chance to speak with Ken Cheney, VP of biz dev and Jay Wampold, VP of marketing at Chef. Both Ken and Jay are really pumped by this new chapter in the Chef-Microsoft relationship. Both companies are putting a lot of skin (and cash) into taking this combination to market.

Cheney tells me that Microsoft in what some may think of as very un-Microsoft like fashion has really opened up the code for Chef, allowing them to hook in to Windows, Azure and Linux on Azure in ways that are unlike anything else done before.

Microsoft sees Chef being a big driver in helping companies moving their computing to the Azure Cloud. “Microsoft is excited to extend our work with Chef to help customers rapidly move their workloads into the Azure cloud,” said Jason Zander, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Azure. “Through this collaboration, we are not only enabling faster time to innovation in the cloud, but we are also underscoring Microsoft’s commitment to providing a first-class cloud experience for our customers regardless of whether they are using Windows or Linux.”

Of course few organizations are up and moving their entire IT systems to the cloud. In the overwhelming majority of cases it is a hybrid cloud situation. But with Chef’s integration into Windows servers as well as Azure you can have one tool for both environments.

Besides the nuts and bolts of engineering work, the partnership is also dedicating significant resources to bringing this joint solution to market. From the press release:

Chef will deliver hundreds of hours of DevOps education in Microsoft’s expansive ecosystem across industry events, digital channels, and community meetups. Chef will work with Microsoft to enable their field sales organization to support customers embracing automation, DevOps practices, and Microsoft Azure. Microsoft users interested in Chef and DevOps can already access a wealth of content, new online training tutorial on the Windows platform and a webinar series on Automating Azure with Chef.

The first webinar in the series is 0n March 19^th with Microsoft’s Kundana Palagiri and Chef’s Steven Murawski. This webinar will demonstrate real-world use cases, providing attendees with a step-by-step guide to achieving the benefits of Chef within Microsoft environments. You can register here.

This clearly establishes Chef as the tool of choice for the Microsoft market. Interestingly, Cheney and Wampold shared with me a metric that something like 70% of AWS customers are using Chef as well. I haven’t verified this myself, but assuming they are correct, this and the Microsoft relationship would seem to give them a dominant position in the cloud.

As I discussed with Cheney, starting a partnership with Microsoft does not guarantee a successful relationship with Microsoft. Navigating a company with as complex an organization as Microsoft is not easy. However, the fact that Microsoft is devoting substantial resources in both cash and personnel bodes well for the future of this one. Also Microsoft under Satya Nadella is very focused on the cloud/Azure (as they should be). They are also very interested in fostering more DevOps patterns in the Microsoft world. The Chef partnership helps on both of these.

Chef is riding the wave of cloud, DevOps and automation. According to Wampold, they saw an almost 200% increase in revenue last year. ChefConf 2015 in Santa Clara also promises to be the biggest, best one yet. We will try to cover it live here on devopsy.kinsta.cloud.

February 23, 2015
Automated Windows User Management Leaps Forward with JumpCloud

JumpCloud™, the leading automated server management tool for DevOps and IT pros, today announced that its best-in-class user management functionality now supports the Windows server platform. JumpCloud’s automated server management solution provides user management, patch management, security, and compliance capabilities for cloud, virtual, and/or on-premises servers. With the addition of Windows support, DevOps and IT admins can now manage all of their users across all types of servers from one platform. Organizations can try JumpCloud for free for 30-days on an unlimited number of Linux or Windows servers.

JumpCloud now supports Windows Server® 2008 and 2012 through its user management functionality. Now, Windows-based cloud servers can be easily managed without the need for Active Directory®. Key functionality in its Linux version is now available for Windows including management of users, creation of server and user groups, password and key rotation, and enforcement of password complexity. JumpCloud seamlessly integrates into the Windows login flow and does not add steps or change the process.

JumpCloud’s user management process includes not only managing users, but ensuring that only the right people are accessing the system. JumpCloud alerts on first time access and access from different locations. JumpCloud also tracks brute force attempts against the Windows server to allow IT admins to ensure that devices have not been compromised. JumpCloud’s user management functionality ensures that the right people have the right access to your Linux and Windows servers.

“Windows servers represent a significant share of market, both on-premise and in the cloud, and for most organizations managing administrative accounts on cloud servers is a manual process,” said Derek Brink, vice president and research fellow for Aberdeen Group, A Harte Hanks Company. “Automating user management processes across both on-premise and cloud servers – regardless of operating system – is invaluable, and Windows shops can now leverage the JumpCloud service.”

“Windows support has been one of our most popular requests. Centrally managing administrative access across multiple platforms whether in the cloud or on-premises is a challenge as many DevOps and IT admins know,” said Rajat Bhargava, CEO, JumpCloud. “With our latest release, JumpCloud solves a significant problem for admins managing Windows, as well as mixed OS environments and servers. They can now manage users in one spot through a powerful tool.”

JumpCloud’s Windows support is available immediately. To try JumpCloud for free, sign-up at www.jumpcloud.com.

About JumpCloud

JumpCloud automates manual, tedious server management tasks from the cloud for DevOps and IT pros. Complementary to and integrated with Chef and Puppet, JumpCloud picks up where they leave off by automating management of users, patches, security, and compliance. JumpCloud returns days to DevOps and IT admins’ lives while increasing security. An automated SaaS-based offering, JumpCloud installs in seconds and deploys on physical, virtual, or cloud servers. For more information visit JumpCloud.com.

March 12, 2014