Currently selenium HQ/docker-for-selenium is available for Linux os.
Here they are trying to implement selenium grid using docker, on Linux.
My main aim is achieving the same in windows. I am unaware what challenges I will face here.
So creating this thread to discuss the challenge while implementation.
For windows to support the IE in docker we need to understand two things.
1)Windows do not provide GUI capability inside the docker containers like XVBF in Linux.
2) No headless IE
Feel Free to explore this project in order to understand how they are enabling GUI in Linux containers.
Link to the project: https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/docker-selenium
UPDATES:
Still there is no official approach to run IE/EDGE inside docker as
"No Windows docker images have GUI, so we cannot test IE11, EDGE."
But,We can install virtual-box and make this happen.
This approach adds extra layer of virtualization[Nesting of virtualization] on the top of docker to make the IE/Edge execution happen and I think in near future it may leads to to performance issue for heavy testing.
If Selenium testing is what you are looking for and don't have heavy load , you can give a try to the approach mentioned in the link.
Youtube - Selenium Windows containers in Docker under Linux
Github - Windows Images
Blogpost - selenium-on-windows-docker-revolution
Related
I've been asked to research Docker. The question that I cannot get a definitive response to is "can you run Docker on Windows in production?".
I keep seeing "Docker image containers can run natively on Linux and Windows. However, Windows images can run
only on Windows hosts and Linux images can run only on Linux hosts, meaning a host server or a VM."
I'm not interested in running containerized windows applications (.net). We have Spring Boot (java) applications & are creating a microservices architecture. These containerized apps. don't need an OS running in the same container.
We also need an orchestration engine like Kubernetes and its unclear if this is something that can run in production on windows either.
I've been fighting the good fight trying to get deployment environments switched to Linux but that's a loosing battle at this point.
Citing the docs:
Welcome to Docker for Windows!
Docker is a full development platform for creating containerized apps,
and Docker for Windows is the best way to get started with Docker on
Windows systems.
Take this literally. It's meant by the vendor as a dev tool to develop your Docker environment on Windows, not a production environment. To run it in production, they expect a Linux host.
It's not clear if the OP is asking "Can I run Docker on Windows in production" (like from a licensing perspective), or "should I run it" (like from an experience perspective.) I have an answer that should address both points.
It's indeed interesting to note first that as I write this, all the answers and comments so far are from 2018 or (like the question) 2017.
Here's at least one 2019 post on the topic from Docker (including listing clients running in production, so it addresses both points):
https://www.docker.com/blog/5-reasons-to-containerize-production-windows-apps-on-docker-enterprise/
And while the title refers to Docker Enterprise, the article does say "Hundreds of enterprises now run Windows container nodes in production", without that Enterprise caveat.
Even so, folks who may "not want to pay to run Docker Enterprise" should note that Windows 2016 and 2019 include a license of Docker Enterprise, free. (As for the recent upheaval of Docker where the Enterprise product was sold to Mirantis, there's no indication yet that will change the included Windows licensing of it.)
Still, I realize that the OP and other readers may seek still more (documented) evidence of production Docker deployment on Windows. I'll leave that for others to elaborate. Just didn't think this should stand here without anything more recent than July 2018.
Check out this blog, it quotes "Windows Server 2016 is the where Docker Windows containers should be deployed for production".
First of all, I suspect this question is rather stale after 3 years. I don't know if you are still struggling with the problem, I would love to hear your experience and the route you had taken.
This is probably a biased answer but I will try to answer with my experience. Like you, we have also lost the good fight to persuade our client to use a Linux server. We have 2 metals and a small bunch of virtual machines running Windows Server 2019 - Server version 1809 (Which is not the cutting edge, but the most recent stable version) It was indeed an improvement on top of WS2016. However it still had some problems. The major problem was with the docker swarm. The overlay networking with routing mesh was not working properly. So we had to fall back to containers with docker-compose and manual service discovery, which kinda beats the purpose of docker.
That being said, the problem with the Swarm network could be because of the fact that we are using virtual machines and Hyper-v switches. On top of that, we had no direct access to host network and we had to jump through some bureaucratic hoops whenever we require changes in the network, which got super old super fast when we want to test stuff. Additionally, we did not have Active Directory because of our lack of confidence to network. I am still not sure if DCs would play with docker in a virtual environment. Still not having AD was manageable since we did not have many machines.
Another problem was that we did not have nested virtualization (i.e. cannot run moby) due to CPU issues, and WSL2 with support for Docker is not available on WS19 LTSC editions. So I had to write our own images for many stuff that we use. Like Jenkins, Redis, etc. You can find the dockerfiles here if interested But obviously keeping them up to date and tidy was a huge work and I did not have much time to invest.
Performance-wise, we seemed to have no issues but we did not really make a comparative analysis.
All in all, I love Docker, it is a great product. But after this project I am thinking not to touch Docker on windows in a production environment with a 10 foot pole. In fact, I don't know if I will ever use a Windows machine as production environment in the future. It is cool to have it in development though.
My understanding is that Containers on Windows Server should be fine for production while Containers on Windows Desktop should be only for dev and test, not production. I saw one post "MICROSOFT SOFTWARE SUPPLEMENTAL LICENSE FOR WINDOWS CONTAINER BASE IMAGE" https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscontainers/images-eula, not sure how this one is related to this question?
I can highly recommend not to use Docker Desktop for Windows in Production.
The host machines (Windows 10 Pro) where configured to restart everyday at a certain time and the Docker Container where Linux containers which as recommended where using the WSL2 based engine.
I was testing it on 20 devices for a over one year now and from 20 Pc's had at least 5 now the problem that Docker Desktop cannot be initialized. Which means that Docker Desktop is not starting anymore until you remove some folder(s) in %APPDATA% but when you do so it worked only 3 out of 5 times for me that Docker Desktop was able to start after that. One time needed to reinstall Docker Desktop the remaining One I needed to reload all the docker images and configure them again. Most of the issues seemed to have been a result of a power cut.
Most annoying are the updates from my perspective, because from one to the other version all images and running containers where gone and I needed to reconfigure them, happend with 2 Version in the past but not on all computer.
The Linux machines on the other hand no issues.
I am currently trying to understand and learn Docker. I have an app, .exe file, and I would like to run it on either Linux or OSX by creating a Docker. I've searched online but I can't find anything allowing one to do that, and I don't know Docker well enough to try and improvise something. Is this possible? Would I have to use Boot2Docker? Could you please point me in the right direction? Thank you in advance any help is appreciated.
Docker allows you to isolate applications running on a host, it does not provide a different OS to run those applications on (with the exception of a the client products that include a Linux VM since Docker was originally a Linux only tool). If the application runs on Linux, it can typically run inside a container. If the application cannot run on Linux, then it will not run inside a Linux container.
An exe is a windows binary format. This binary format incompatible with Linux (unless you run it inside of an emulator or VM). I'm not aware of any easy way to accomplish your goal. If you want to run this binary, then skip Docker on Linux and install a Windows VM on your host.
As other answers have said, Docker doesn't emulate the entire Windows OS that you would need in order to run an executable 'exe' file. However, there's another tool that may do something similar to what you want: "Wine" app from WineHQ. An abbreviated summary from their site:
Wine is a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications
on several operating systems, such as Linux and macOS.
Instead of simulating internal Windows logic like a virtual
machine or emulator, Wine translates Windows API calls
on-the-fly, eliminating the performance and memory penalties of
other methods and allowing you to cleanly integrate Windows
applications into your desktop.
(I don't work with nor for WineHQ, nor have I actually used it yet. I've only heard of it, and it seems like it might be a solution for running a Windows program inside of a light-weight container.)
My work laptop is running LinuxMint as the base OS, plus Virtualbox to run Windows 7 which is the actual work environment, usually plus an additional Virtualbox VM to run a different Windows installation in which I do my client project work (I have one VM per client, to avoid messing up my main OS).
But I'm wondering if it's feasible and beneficent to switch to using Docker for the client project stuff? That is, I'd like to keep LinuxMint (to preserve my sanity), and keep Windows ('cause I have to use some MS products), but then instead of that series of "client VM's" use Docker containers?
I'm not entirely clear on how containers are useful. Can I, for instance, have a container in which I've installed dotNET and MS SQL; and then another container where I've installed an Azure Powershell; and a third container where I've installed Java and Eclipse -- and then decide which of these "sets" of software is available on the same common base OS (Windows, with VPN and Outlook and Notepad++)?
This post makes me think I'm asking for a solution from the wrong tool?
Or should I perhaps attack the root problem from a different angle, and ask the following over at Workplace.SE: How to work as a consultant without "cluttering up" one's (Windows) OS with more or less temporary installations of all sorts of software necessary for client projects?
AFAIK there is no WindowsOS ready to be run INSIDE a docker container localy, but they are anounced. See www.docker.com/microsoft and msdn windowscontainers
What you can do is run Linux OSs in docker containers within Windows. But in your case you should run the docker engine in your Mint Linux
Not really an answer, more like several comments -- though it's too long to fit within a comment
First of all I would not run Mint, but that's off the question.
Then, it may probably worth to take a look at How is Docker different from a normal virtual machine?.
Also, as you linked, Docker does not aim (at all) to run several programs. Indeed, their policy is Caas: Container as a Service. So basically one program per container. Saying all that, you can probably run wine within container and run one application on each container (over wine).
Have fun!
I would like to use the Spark-graphX packages available to Neo4j through Mazerunner, however I am an analyst and not a software person. I am running Windows 7 on my laptop and Neo4j 2.3.0, and would like a step-by-step guide explaining how I can set-up Mazerunner for both Community & Enterprise. There's a lot of mention of dockers and containers, and I have no idea what these are, or how to set them up. Simple instructions would be of sooo much help! :)
Docker is primarily Operating System Level Visualization technology designed to run on Unix based systems (Linux,Mac,FreeBSD). Luckily Docker provides a Windows version that sort of does the same thing on Unix.
What happens is, after you have installed Docker, it allows you to run what they call containers which are basically virtual machines on top of your host (Windows 7 Running Docker). This allows you to run services like Neo4j in an isolated environment. Docker also allows you to download and install pre-configured, pre-compiled images of operating systems that usually provide some sort of service or have some software pre-installed.
In your case, I believe all you have to do is:
First install Docker
Use "Docker Compose" to download and install the images.
Continue Reading the Tutorial as you have now installed the required docker images
Note: Some of the operations, like the one in Step 2 will require command-line access and Also the creation of a "docker-compose.yml" so, be sure to visit all the links I have provided. Spend a little time going through them and you should be alright.
PS: great blog. definitely bookmarking it!
my question is little vague but I tried looking for the answer here and there but could not understand if I can leverage docker for my work. My requirements
I usually try different versions of java, python and other software like different versions of eclipse, Linux package and other tools. This at the end make my Ubuntu installation a complete mess and some time completely broken. Then I started using Vm it solve most of the problem but make my pc very slow for frequent switching.
So my question can I achieve my work using docker without affecting my os? Can I run gui application, install different package without affecting underlying OS.
Switch actively between different docker container and underlying os.
Clean/remove unused/broken install of docker instance (containers?) etc. Any pointer to similar use case or how to would be helpful.
Thanks.
Ps- if it doesn't fit for SO then please move it to where it is best fitted. Sorry for non programming question.
Can it be done?
yes, there are examples of docker images that run graphical application, but running those containers might be a bit tricky. See for instance Can you run GUI apps in a docker container?
Is Docker the right tool for your problem ?
Maybe a package manager such as Nix would be better suited, as graphical software installed with it won't have any issue. With Nix you can install side-by-side many versions of a single software without interference.