Microsoft just introduced a brand-new Azure service aimed at making it easier for developers to deploy containers for their applications. The new service is called Azure Container Instances (ACI). Here’s some more information about the new offering from Microsoft and how it could make certain functions easier for developers.
What are Azure Container Instances?
An Azure Container Instance is a single container that starts deploying in just seconds and is then billed by the second. By using ACI, developers gain access to highly versatile sizing options, allowing them to select the exact amount of memory separate from the exact count of vCPUs. This means that applications will fit perfectly on the infrastructure and your containers won’t be billed for any extra seconds beyond what is actually required or use any extra GBs.
How to use Azure Container Instances
Microsoft’s goal for ACI is to deliver a simple experience for those just getting started with containers in the cloud. Container instances are available now in public preview for Linux containers. Microsoft also announced that Windows support for containers will become available in the coming weeks. You can deploy the new tool using Azure CLI, a template, a public repository like DockerHub, or your own private repository using the Azure Container Registry.
ACI Connector for Kubernetes
In addition to the launch of ACI, Microsoft also announced a new ACI Connector for Kubernetes, an open source tool that enables Kubernetes clusters to deploy Azure Container Instances. What this does is it enables on-demand container compute orchestrated by Kubernetes almost instantaneously. And you don’t even need a VM infrastructure to manage or leverage the portable Kubernetes API. So you can utilize VMs and container instances at the same time and in the same K8s cluster, allowing you to work more efficiently.
Photo credit: Microsoft
