Microsoft made a number of container-related announcements at DockerCon yesterday, saying its expanding support for the technology by integrating it more deeply with a number of its DevOps and enterprise tools.

Docker’s ecosystem and containers in general are something that Microsoft has been trying to break into for a while now. The company is planning to build Docker support into the next release of Windows Server, in addition to pursuing its own Hyper-V container software. And just yesterday, Microsoft teased how even the Linux version of SQL Server (due to be released next year) can also run Docker containers on Ubuntu. This would have raised more than a few eyebrows just a couple of years ago, but that’s no longer the case given Microsoft’s recent embrace of open-source technologies that began when Satya Nadella became CEO.

The biggest announcement yesterday however was that Docker Datacenter, the subscription-based commercial version of Docker’s container engine, has landed on the Azure Marketplace. As a result, anyone who wants to run a supported version of Docker on Azure can do so very easily. Microsoft showed it’s possible to run Docker Datacenter on both Azure and also the Azure Stack – the on-premises version of Azure that enterprises can host in their own data centers.

“Enterprises are increasingly adopting containers,” wrote Microsoft CTO Mark Russinovich in a blog post. “Our container strategy and our Azure strategy are both differentiated by deep commitment to open source technology, providing customers with the broadest range of choice to match their preferences and investments.”

Besides announcing Docker Datacenter, Microsoft said that its Operations Management Suite is now compatible with container technologies, which means it can be used to manage containers on Azure, Azure Stack, and also competing services like Amazon Web Services, OpenStack and VMware.

Last but not least, Microsoft announced a preview of the Azure Container Service with support for Windows Server containers. The Azure Container Service uses the Docker Swarm tool to deliver native clustering capabilities that can transform multiple Docker hosts into a single, virtual host. The Azure Container Service is based on several open-source technologies including Docker Swarm and others, letting users configure and deploy containers in just a few clicks.

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