Microsoft Corp. is further its move toward open-source integration with the release of a new tool to manage Docker containers inside its Windows Server operating system.

The new Docker Command Line Interface for Windows comes just weeks after Microsoft teamed up with Docker to bring the container technology to Windows and the Azure cloud.

Microsoft says it’s found a way to merge Docker with Windows code so administrators will be able to manage Docker containers running on Linux via a Windows client. The implementation isn’t a full Docker integration because it doesn’t allow Windows apps to run inside containers, though Microsoft is believed to be working on delivering this capability in the next edition of Windows Server.

Still it’s an important development because until now there’s been no standard way to get Docker running on Windows. Writing in a blog post, Microsoft’s Khalid Mouss explained that previously developers have had to come up with their own workarounds, like using the boot2docker application or a Linux-based client CLI to setup a customized virtual machine on Windows that contains a Docker daemon. Now, Microsoft has given them a more seamless method in which to get Docker up and running.

Microsoft’s decision to build a Docker client came about following a pull request in the GitHub repository for the Docker project. The fact that Microsoft used GitHub to share the code is further evidence of Redmond’s new-found commitment to working with open-source technologies.

A second blog post by Microsoft’s Ahment Alp Balkan goes into more detail about how to get going with Docker in Windows.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has made a Docker image for ASP.NET available on the Docker Hub, which will allow developers to create “ASP.NET-ready containers from the base image.”

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