Share and learn in the Docker community.
I am searching high and low for this information but cannot find a clear cut answer:
I would like to run RHEL / Centos containers on a windows docker host.
I read that the host system must be the same OS as the container OS, but then also again that docker provides a Linux VM as a basis on a Windows host.
Is it possible or not?
Hi,
Short: Yes, it should be possible if you meet some requirements.
Long: ---------
IMO there’s some confusion going on, since several different things are called: “Docker for/on Windows”
You can install “Docker for Windows” as described at the [1] Getting Started page from docker.com … There are some requirements you’ll need. Windows 10 Pro or higher, with Hyper-V support enabled.
The following will happen:
docker version you should see something like this (I’m using the beta channel here):> docker version
Client:
Version: 1.13.0-rc3
API version: 1.25
Go version: go1.7.3
Git commit: 4d92237
Built: Tue Dec 6 01:15:44 2016
OS/Arch: windows/amd64
Server:
Version: 1.13.0-rc3
API version: 1.25 (minimum version 1.12)
Go version: go1.7.3
Git commit: 4d92237
Built: Tue Dec 6 01:15:44 2016
OS/Arch: linux/amd64
Experimental: true
docker run -it --rm centos bashMicrosoft supports the “container mechanism” natively with their latest OSes. See [2] and [3]. They refer to it as “Docker on Windows”, which imo is a bit confusing since there isn’t enough difference to “Docker for Windows” described above. That’s not what you want. It’s for native windows server / nanoserver stuff.
To make the confusion perfect there is Docker Toolbox, that provides you with a VirtualBox based system, if you don’t have the possibility to use Hyper-V. Have a look at the Docker Docs [4] for more info about this one.
hope that helps
have fun!
[1] Getting Started: https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-windows/
[2] Additional Info from MS: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscontainers/about/index
[3] “Docker on Windows” https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscontainers/docker/configure_docker_daemon
[4] Docker Toolbox: https://docs.docker.com/toolbox/overview/
[5] https://hub.docker.com/_/centos/
Thank you Mario, your help is appreciated!
Thanks. I also spent plenty of time to clear up the confusion.
Hi @pmario, I’m in the same situation as @tdreher. I want to use docker for windows to run Linux. However the app I’m developing has some graphical dependencies, getting access to the container’s terminal isn’t enough. Can docker run a GUI of the container? I’ve looked at the “run” command docs but I couldn’t find anything about it.
Hi,
I think, that’s not what docker is designed for. … Containers should be micro-services, that you can start / stop and throw away, at will. …
There are several experiments out there, that make GUI apps work in containers. But most of them use the same OS. … So eg: linux host-OS with linux container that runs Chrome or FireFox or a Terminal. …
The communication between the host-OS X-window system and the container uses system sockets. Since everything is native, it’s high performance.
Using Docker for Windows the communication would look like this:
windows host -> hyper-v VM -> mobiLinux -> your app-container + X-window-container/services -> windows-host-> x-window-client-app that connects with eg: RDP and shows the GUI …
I would say that’s “doing it by the most complicated means possible”.
I personally would use the existing Hyper-V VM + tools and use a stripped down Linux-System with, just enough stuff, to run the app and the UI.
But anyway:
There’s an other thread: Does it possible to run GUI base desktop application on Dockers
which mentions this project: https://github.com/deskor/xrdp
have fun!
Yeah i was also surprised that one of the most used crashplan docker containers uses this method to connect to the linux interface.
You basically get a x11 session inside your browser, ugly but actually works well, except for the clunky copy&paste method and some resolution problems.