Ask HN: Is Windows Server 2019 Serving Linux Containers Ready for Production?

#1

Post by portoal » Sun, Jan 31, 2021, 5:50 PM UTC

Windows Server 2019 Serving Windows Containers looks ready for Production,

but serving Linux Containers ? (through HyperV)

Our company only want Windows OS for Prod (not linux)

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscontainers/quick-start/set-up-environment?tabs=Windows-Server

Re: Ask HN: Is Windows Server 2019 Serving Linux Containers Ready for Production?

#2

Post by core-questions » Sun, Jan 31, 2021, 6:01 PM UTC

> Our company only want Windows OS for Prod (not linux)

This is a very strange decision. You pay a licensing cost to use Windows; the purpose of this is to be able to use Windows software and development tools. It's not going to be in any way better than using Linux directly if the goal is to host Linux containers.

I would heavily question this, if I was in an environment where my employment was safe to do so.

Otherwise - who gives a shit if it's "ready for production"? The decision has been made. Spend your employer's money and if they have made a bad choice (and they have), it's on them.

Re: Ask HN: Is Windows Server 2019 Serving Linux Containers Ready for Production?

#3

Post by speedgoose » Sun, Jan 31, 2021, 6:02 PM UTC

If your company only wants windows for production, why would Linux containers be approved? Is it a tentative to circumvent the rule?

Re: Ask HN: Is Windows Server 2019 Serving Linux Containers Ready for Production?

#4

Post by staticautomatic » Sun, Jan 31, 2021, 7:16 PM UTC

I’m in this same spot right now doing government contracting with only Windows server approved. On top of that open source software is only allowed if it’s “supported”. Between Anaconda Commercial and Windows, the universe of tooling is crazy small. All kinds of thing I’m used to are in this “runs on windows but isn’t officially supported and not a great choice for production” purgatory. I’m running flask through CGI on IIS. RQ/Dramatiq/Celery -> SQL Server + sqlalchemy + APScheduler. Its...annoying. At least I have Pandas.

Re: Ask HN: Is Windows Server 2019 Serving Linux Containers Ready for Production?

#5

Post by SBArbeit » Sun, Jan 31, 2021, 8:50 PM UTC

Well, Microsoft Azure is one huge, global system, the second-largest cloud on Planet Earth, with millions of servers, almost all of which run Windows Server 2019 as the host OS, with even more millions of VM's running on top, millions of which are Linux.

So, uh, yes, it's ready for production.

Re: Ask HN: Is Windows Server 2019 Serving Linux Containers Ready for Production?

#6

Post by getcrunk » Sun, Jan 31, 2021, 9:05 PM UTC

Hyper v works to serve Linux vms. You should always test your particular use case before committing. They have trial licenses.

Re: Ask HN: Is Windows Server 2019 Serving Linux Containers Ready for Production?

#7

Post by nwmcsween » Sun, Jan 31, 2021, 9:36 PM UTC

core-questions wrote: post #2

> Our company only want Windows OS for Prod (not linux) This is a very strange decision. You pay a licensing cost to use Windows; the purpose of this is to be able to use Windows software and development tools. It's not going to be in any way better than using Linux directly if the goal is to host Linux containers. I would heavily question this, if I was in an environment where my employment was safe to do so. Otherw…

But then some poor soul is hired x years down the road and gets to deal with the frankenstein mishmash. For example I wouldnt use samba as an AD simply due to the fact AD admins are generally going to know Windows systems and there are is loads of documentation, how-to's, etc for windows AD, the same argument can be applied to containers on Linux.

Re: Ask HN: Is Windows Server 2019 Serving Linux Containers Ready for Production?

#8

Post by throwawayboise » Sun, Jan 31, 2021, 9:39 PM UTC

speedgoose wrote: post #3

If your company only wants windows for production, why would Linux containers be approved? Is it a tentative to circumvent the rule?

I could imagine it is. If the company policy is "everything must run on Windows servers" well then you can argue that your linux container is running "on Windows"

Re: Ask HN: Is Windows Server 2019 Serving Linux Containers Ready for Production?

#9

Post by robbyt » Sun, Jan 31, 2021, 9:41 PM UTC

SBArbeit wrote: post #5

Well, Microsoft Azure is one huge, global system, the second-largest cloud on Planet Earth, with millions of servers, almost all of which run Windows Server 2019 as the host OS, with even more millions of VM's running on top, millions of which are Linux. So, uh, yes, it's ready for production.

All of this technology being propped up by massive teams of engineers who literally wrote that frankenstein OS. It might work great for MS, but that doesn't mean it will work well for normal people.

Re: Ask HN: Is Windows Server 2019 Serving Linux Containers Ready for Production?

#10

Post by whydid » Sun, Jan 31, 2021, 9:43 PM UTC

core-questions wrote: post #2

> Our company only want Windows OS for Prod (not linux) This is a very strange decision. You pay a licensing cost to use Windows; the purpose of this is to be able to use Windows software and development tools. It's not going to be in any way better than using Linux directly if the goal is to host Linux containers. I would heavily question this, if I was in an environment where my employment was safe to do so. Otherw…

Fear-driven boomer bosses thinking that Windows is easier than Linux, and that workers who know Windows are more fungible.

The reality is that a relative few people outside of Microsoft are actually experts, and that running Windows in large scale production is considerably more difficult than Linux.