Microsoft Corp. and Docker Inc. have just announced the public beta of Docker software containers for the software giant’s Azure cloud computing service.

Previously, Docker for Azure was only available as a private preview, having been announced at DockerCon 2016 in June. Docker is an open-source engine that’s designed to automate application deployment. It uses containers instead of virtual machines, enabling multiple applications to be run at the same time, on the same server.

With the new release, Microsoft says a number of improvements have been added to the original preview version. For one thing, the ability to find container logs has been improved. In addition, Microsoft has added a diagnostic tool that runs from the command line, which can be used to send log information to Docker when a stack or resource group encounters problems. Microsoft also claims better stability in the beta release when upgrading Docker for Azure.

The release might appeal to software developers needing to rapidly update software without conflicts, Microsoft said. Back in June, Microsoft said the main aim was to make it simple for developers to move apps to cloud-based data centers “without risk of incompatibilities or lock-in.”

According to the Docker for Azure release notes, the new release runs Docker Engine 1.13.0 RC2. “Docker for AWS and Azure currently only support Linux-based swarms of managers and workers. Windows Server worker support will come as Docker on Windows Server matures,” Docker’s blog post says.

Docker for Azure is free to download and test, though users will still have to pay Azure’s fees. Testers will also need to have administrative privileges on Azure to test the software. Clusters can be configured using the Azure Portal or Azure’s command-line interface.

It has been possible to run Docker apps on Linux on Azure since July 2014, while the company has also forged a partnership to bring Docker support to Windows Server 2016.

Image courtesy of Docker, via Facebook