Microsoft Rolls Out Kubernetes Support And The Docker Steamroller Keeps Moving

Docker: the open source initiative that takes Linux applications and wraps them up in a nice tight package that means that those applications can be scaled and deployed quickly and easily. Azure: Microsoft’s attempt to deliver a compelling cloud computing infrastructure platform to the world. At first glance one would imagine that there wasn’t much in common between those two things – one open source and based on the Linux operating system, the other well… Microsoft . But times have changed and a month ago Microsoft announced that it would support Kubernetes, the Docker orchestration tool that was built by Google. Yes, strange bedfellows indeed.

But Microsoft has changed markedly from the days when it called Linux a “cancer”. The company has been supporting a bunch of different open source technologies in a bid to appeal to a broader base of customers than simply those who use the Microsoft stack and it is this new, more open Microsoft that has jumped onto Kubernetes.

This week only a month after its intentions were announced, Microsoft confirmed that Kubeenetes can be used to manage Docker containers sited on Azure. Not only this but the company is actively launching its own open source initiative, releasing an open source visualizer tool that developers can use to deploy an existing cluster of virtual machines running Docker. Available on GitHub, the tool has been tested spinning up as many as 200 pods. Said Microsoft in a related blog post:

The applications user interface provides helpful visual representations of what is happening on your cluster. Furthermore, users can edit the automatically generated files and watch as Kubernetes updates the cluster configuration. The Kubernetes visualizer allows you to create pods by assigning it a name and specifying how many copies of that pod you would like created. Upon clicking the “Create!” button users can update a JSON “Pod Template.” This template defines what containers should be associated with the pod, what images should be running in each container, and any port mappings so that these services are available to the outside world

This news is interesting on several levels. It indicates a new, friendlier and more open Microsoft. It shows an interesting collaboration between two companies which are, frankly, active foes. And it, yet again, highlights the incredible momentum for the Docker project and the sub-projects that surround it – Kubernetes has broad support, in addition to Microsoft and Google , it is embraced by Red Hat , IBM and VMware.

Of course anyone who has watched the development of Docker will know that containers aren’t a new thing – they have a long storied past extending back many years. But that fact is kind of irrelevant – it’s Docker that has taken containers and captured the imagination of the world and, to borrow a term, to the victor go the spoils.

Notably missing in the list of those joining the Docker love-fest is Amazon Web Services. This isn’t a huge surprise as AWS has a tendency to not become involved in broader industry open source initiatives. Whether Kubernetes has gained too much momentum for AWS to ignore will be seen in the future but for now, things look ever more rosy for all in Docker-land.