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Category: Containers

Migrating SQL Server Container Images to GitHub

Published 2020-11-02 by Kevin Feasel

Andrew Pruski has moved some images around:

A couple of months ago Docker announced that they would be implementing a 6 month retention policy for unused images in the Docker Hub.

This was due to kick in on the 1st of November but has now been pushed back until mid 2021.

I’ve had multiple Windows SQL Server container images up on the Docker Hub for years now. It’s been a great platform and I’m very thankful to them for hosting my images.

That being said, I want to make sure that the images that I’ve built are always going to be available for the community so I have pushed my SQL Server images to the Github Container Registry.

I guess I should do the same.

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Looking at BDC in Kubernetes with Lens

Published 2020-10-14 by Kevin Feasel

Mohammad Darab shows off a tool to monitor the Kubernetes cluster driving a Big Data Cluster:

I don’t recall how I came across this Kubernetes IDE called Lens, but all I know is it’s cool as hec! It connects to a Kubernetes cluster (using the kube config file) and gives you an in depth view of all the different Kubernetes objects, their associated yaml files, health/metrics, etc. In this blog post I will show you how we can look into a Big Data Cluster’s Kubernetes infrastructure using Lens.

Click through for instructions on installation, as well as how to use the product.

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Tips for Monitoring Kubernetes

Published 2020-10-09 by Kevin Feasel

Michael Sorens walks us through some tips for monitoring Kubernetes:

The world begins, of course, with kubectl, the command-line interface to Kubernetes. The commands you start using early on help you examine your Kubernetes resources.

kubectl get . . .

With that command, you can examine your deployments, which rollout your replica sets, which create pods. Then you need services, which are logical sets of pods that provide an interface for external access. What can you examine with kubectl get ?

Use kubectl api-resources to see the list. At the time of this writing, there are 66 different resource types! That number will likely only grow over time. 

Read on for more, including the setup of the Kubernetes UI and third-party tooling.

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Stopping and Starting an Azure Kubernetes Service Cluster

Published 2020-10-07 by Kevin Feasel

Mohammad Darab wants to save some cash (or at least Azure credits):

I remember when I first started deploying Big Data Clusters, they were on Azure Kubernetes Service utilizing the $200 credit for first time sign ups. By the time I got around to figuring out how to deploy the BDC, not only was my $200 credit gone, but I started to incur cost out of pocket.

If only there was a feature that would allow me to stop the VMs in AKS whenever I wasn’t using them. Well, I’m excited to share that Microsoft AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service) came out with a neat feature (currently in preview at the time of the publishing of this post) that allows you to stop and start your AKS cluster by running a simple command. Of course I had to try it out on BDCs and to my surprise it worked. Well, sort of. Let me explain…

Read on for more information, as well as current limitations.

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Azure Arc Deployment Options for SQL Server

Published 2020-10-01 by Kevin Feasel

Sasha Nosov takes us through Azure Arc deployment options for SQL Server:

As you can see, both on-Azure and off-Azure options offer you a choice between IaaS and PaaS. The IaaS category targets the applications that cannot be changed because of the SQL version dependency, ISV certification or simply because the lack of in-house expertise to modernize. The PaaS category targets the applications that will benefit from modernization by leveraging the latest SQL features, gaining a better SLA and reducing the management complexity.

Click through for a graphic, as well as further clarification on each item.

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The SQL Server and Containers Guide

Published 2020-10-01 by Kevin Feasel

Andrew Pruski has a guide:

I’ve been blogging about running SQL Server in Docker containers for a while now and, to be honest, my blogs are scattered over a few years and some need to be archived as they’re out of date.

So what I wanted to do was have one place where I could collate all the blogs I’ve written about running SQL Server in a container. This would make it easy for people to access information and make it easy for me to keep it all up-to-date as well.

So introducing, The SQL Server and Containers Guide!

Go check it out.

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VirtualBox Network Configuration for Kubernetes

Published 2020-09-21 by Kevin Feasel

Praveen Sripati looks at some VirtualBox network settings:

From the feature matrix and the required features, the only options left around the VirtualBox networking are NAT Network and Bridged Networking. The problem with the Bridged networking is that as mentioned above, it always requires connection to the network and switching to a different network changes the IP of the K8S master and breaks down the entire setup. The certificates during the K8S setup are tied to a specific IP and need to generated again each time the IP address of the master changes (1). This is not impossible, but is tedious every time we change the network and the IP address of the master changes. So, the only optimal option left is to use the NAT Network.

Read on for more advice.

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Containerizing an IIS-Based Web App

Published 2020-09-16 by Kevin Feasel

Jamie Wick walks us through containerizing a web application which runs in IIS on Windows:

The basic application documentation provided included a zip file containing the website files along with information that the website was running on a Windows IIS server with passthrough (Active Directory) authentication.

For a Windows Server container to use Active Directory authentication, a Group Managed Service Account (gMSA) must be installed on each server that will be hosting the container. The container’s application must then be configured to run as a Network Service. The last step is to use a Credential File in the docker run command to link the container’s Network Service account to a gMSA on the host.

Note: If you are not familiar with Windows Server containers, Dockerfiles, and the Docker Build process, please refer to this post on Getting started with Windows containers & SQL Server.

Read on as Jamie takes us through the process.

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Error Logs with Windows Containers Running SQL Server

Published 2020-09-01 by Kevin Feasel

Jamie Wick walks us through several locations for error logs when you’re running SQL Server on a Windows container:

So far this series has covered: installing Docker for Windows, the basic commands for managing images and containers, and creating a new image. This post will cover troubleshooting containers & the Docker application using the various log files that are available.

Depending on the type of process being run in a container (interactive or non-interactive), event and error information may be collected by the host logs, application logs, or by the Docker logs (or by all 3, in the case of SQL Server and IIS for Windows).

Read on, as it’s not just “The same places as you’d see on SQL Servers outside of containers.”

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