Containers Are Linux – But What About Windows?

Red Hat has had a strong message for much of 2017 that it has reiterated in talks and on t-shirts — the message is that Containers are Linux.

Yet that message begs the question — what about Windows? It’s a question newly-minted Red Hat CTO Chris Wright answered in a video interview with ServerWatch. While containers started off as Linux technology, in recent years Microsoft has worked with both Docker and Red Hat to help enable containers on Windows.

“It’s an operating system technology,” Wright said about containers.

As such, a Windows application can run on a Windows Server with Windows containers. The same is true for Linux applications. There is also an intersection between Linux and Windows containers as well.

Wright noted that it’s not likely organizations will run a Windows application container on a Linux operating system. It’s also not likely a Linux application will run on Windows containers, without some kind of Linux shim or unikernel interface.

That said, Wright explained it is possible to manage a hybrid Windows and Linux container deployment with Red Hat’s OpenShift and running applications in the right places.

Microsoft and Red Hat Working Together on Containers

Red Hat and Microsoft have not always been partners, but that has changed in recent years. There are now joint engineering efforts between the two companies to help enable Linux and Windows server systems.

“It’s so surprising coming from a Linux history, where we really were entrenched camps, were we viewed each other as evil, but it’s just not that way anymore,” Wright said.

Watch the video interview with Red Hat CTO Chris Wright below:

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at ServerWatch and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.