UPDATED 06:02 EDT / MARCH 22 2016

NEWS

Microsoft intros new cloud storage plugin for Docker on Azure

Microsoft has made it easier to migrate containers between hosts on its Azure Cloud platform with the release of its new Docker Volume Plugin for Azure File Storage, which allows Docker containers to have data volumes separate from their host.

Azure File Storage is a cloud-based file sharing service based on the SMB 3.0 protocol that was introduced on Azure late last year.

The Docker Volume Plugin for Azure File Storage allows containers to have data volumes stored outside of the virtual machine they’re hosted on, which allows for containers to be easily migrated to new hosts while preserving their current state.

“A standard Docker container volume is normally a directory stored on the Docker host machine,” wrote Microsoft’s Ahmet Alp Balkan, software engineer for Azure Linux. “This makes the container dependent on the files on a particular host and thus makes it hard to migrate and scale out easily.”

However, with the Azure File Storage plugin it’s now possible to mount Azure File Storage shares as directories on the host’s file system and make them available to Docker containers, which can make use of the entire Docker volume via the plugin.

The main benefit of this is that Docker containers can now access a data volume which can be shared among multiple containers, even if those containers have different host. In addition, containers can also access persistent file storage that’s independent of the host machine.

Docker Volume Plugin for Azure File Storage is currently only supported on hosts running Ubuntu Server 14.04 and above, with the source code and documentation now available on GitHub.

Today’s move is just the latest in Microsoft’s embrace of all things Linux, and comes in the wake of last week’s shocker that saw the company announce it would soon make its SQL Server database available on Linux.

Image credit: Docker Inc.

A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.

One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.  

Join our community on YouTube

Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.

“TheCUBE is an important partner to the industry. You guys really are a part of our events and we really appreciate you coming and I know people appreciate the content you create as well” – Andy Jassy

THANK YOU