Bringing Kubernetes to Windows Server apps(Google Cloud Platform)

Firstly, before we begin. For those that don't already know. What is Google Kubernetes Engine ?: GKE is an enterprise-grade platform for containerized applications, including stateful and stateless, AI and ML, Linux and Windows, complex and simple web apps, API, and backend services. Leverage industry-first features like four-way auto-scaling and no-stress management. Optimize GPU and TPU provisioning, use integrated developer tools, and get multi-cluster support from SREs.

Now that we know GKE, the purpose of this post is about running Windows Server apps as containers on Kubernetes, where you get many of the benefits that Linux applications have enjoyed for years. Running your Windows Server containers on GKE can also save you on licensing costs, as you can pack many Windows Server containers on each Windows node.

In the beta release of Windows Server container support in GKE (version 1.16.4), Windows and Linux containers can run side-by-side in the same cluster. This release also includes several other features aimed at helping you meet the security, scalability, integration and management needs of your Windows Server containers. Some highlights include:

Private clusters: a security and privacy feature that allows you to restrict access to a cluster's nodes and the master from the public internet your cluster's nodes can only be accessed from within a trusted Google Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).

Node Auto Upgrades: a feature that reduces the management overhead, provides ease of use and better security by automatically upgrading GKE nodes on your behalf. Make sure you build your container images using the Docker ‘multi-arch’ feature to avoid any version mismatch issues between the node OS version and the base container image.

Regional clusters: an availability and reliability feature that allows you to create a multi-master, highly-available Kubernetes cluster that spreads both the control plane and the nodes across multiple zones in the same region. This provides increased control plane uptime of 99.95% (up from 99.5%), and zero-downtime upgrades.

Support for Group Managed Service Accounts (gMSA): gMSA is a type of Active Directory account that provides automatic password management, simplified service principal name (SPN) management, etc. for multiple servers. gMSAs are supported by Google Cloud’s Managed Microsoft Active Directory Service for easier administration.

Choice of Microsoft Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) or Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) servicing channels, allowing you to choose the version that best fits your support and feature requirements.

Supported functionality and limitations:
There are some Kubernetes features that are not yet supported for Windows Server containers. In addition, some features are Linux-specific and do not work for Windows. For the complete list of supported and unsupported Kubernetes features, see the Kubernetes documentation.

With Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 reaching End of Support recently, you may be exploring ways to upgrade your legacy applications. This may be an opportune time to consider containerizing your applications and deploying them in GKE. In general, good candidates for containerization include custom-built .NET applications as well as batch and web applications.

Here for full details on 'Creating a cluster using Windows Server node pools'.

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