We are thrilled to announce the technical preview of a Docker Machine driver built specifically for Skytap. Docker Machine is an essential part of the Docker Toolbox. It is used to remotely provision and manage Docker hosts. Utilizing a driver model, Docker Machine can be used with a number of different local virtual providers such as Virtualbox, VMWare, and many cloud providers. Each provider supports a set of options specific to their platform and Skytap is no different.
The Skytap driver utilizes a new Go wrapper (available on Github) for the Skytap RESTful API to provision the VM and control it. The Skytap driver supports all of the standard Docker Machine commands and, as expected, with key Skytap functionality such as suspending VMs.
Along with the driver and Go wrapper, we’ve made available a template with an Ubuntu 14.04 Server VM pre-configured for use with Docker Machine. Because Docker Machine requires password-less sudo privileges, this VM includes a new user named “docker” that is appropriately configured. This user, along with its password, is saved as a credential set with the VM.
We’ve created a quick walkthrough to help you to get your hands around the Docker Machine driver for Skytap, and we’d love to get your feedback after you’ve had a chance to try it out for yourself!
In this video, I’m running Docker Machine from my laptop. It can also be run from a VM within a Skytap environment. Running from my local laptop requires a VPN connection between my corporate network and the environment where the Docker host is provisioned. The Skytap driver takes care of attaching and connecting the VPN to the environment. If you choose to run Docker Machine within Skytap, you can only provision Docker hosts in the same environment as the Docker Machine VM, as cross-environment provisioning is not yet supported.
We invite you to watch the walkthrough, and then try out the new Skytap driver for Docker Machine. And if you’re not a current customer, you can still use Skytap for free for 30 days with no commitment or credit card required!
