Score:-1

How to run Docker on an Azure Virtual Windows 10 machine

cn flag

I am provided a Azure Virtual Machine with GPU support (Standard NV6_Promo (6 vcpus, 56 GiB memory)). I want to run AutoML on this machine, which only runs on Linux. Their installation documentation suggests installing this on a Linux VM or via Docker. I tried using Docker on Windows but I'm running into problems using both the WSL2 backend and the Hyper-V backend.

This raised the question if it is even possible to run Docker on a virtualized machine in Azure. Some suggestions are given, for example here, but these do not seem to solve the problem for me. Therefore, before I continue troubleshooting the Docker installation further, I'm wondering if someone can tell me if this should even be theoretically possible.

I am unfortunately not liberty to change the Windows VM to a Linux VM.

joeqwerty avatar
cv flag
Wouldn't it be easier to just run a Linux VM?
Joep avatar
cn flag
Unfortunately, I am not able to change the VM type given current restrictions within the company. That's why I'm resorting to this idiotic construction running docker inside a VM.
Michael Hampton avatar
cz flag
I'm not sure you can do this at all with Windows, at least not if you want access to the GPU. I presume you do, based on the application you intend to run. It will likely be _significantly_ easier to work through the corporate politics to get a proper Linux VM.
user9517 avatar
cn flag
Ask whoever mandated this ridiculous frankenstack how to do it.
Score:1
ng flag

To run Docker on Windows in Azure you would need a VM type that supports nested virtualization, which I do not believe the NV6 do. As others have said, you also likely won't have access to the GPU even if you could make docker work, and the performance would be abysmal.

You need to talk to your IT team and get them to provision a machine that is suitable for the task, that is running Linx.

Joep avatar
cn flag
Thanks for the informative answer! I was indeed looking for the "nested virtualization" functionality but was not aware of its name. https://www.markou.me/2020/05/which-azure-vm-sizes-support-nested-virtualization/ indeed confirms that my VM type does NOT support nested virtualization.
mangohost

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.