Running Docker containers on Azure using docker-py

Question

I can find all of the ingredients for what I want to do, but I'm not sure if I can put them together.

Ultimately, I want a Python process to be able to create and manage Docker instances running on Azure.

This link shows that you can use the Docker API to fire up instances on Azure: https://docs.docker.com/engine/context/aci-integration/. It's Beta, but I've been able to run my own container on Azure after logging in, using something like this:

docker --context myacicontext run hello-world

The second half of my problem is to call this from docker-py. The vanilla usage of docker-py is nice and striaght-forward, but I can't find any reference to the flag "--context" in the docker-py docs (https://docker-py.readthedocs.io/en/stable/).

Is there a way for configuring docker-py such that it provides a --context?

EDIT:

Thanks to @CharlesXu pointing me in the right direction, I have now found that the following docker-py command does have an effect:

docker.context.ContextAPI.set_current_context("myacicontext")

This changes the default context used by the docker cmd line interface, so

C:\Users\MikeSadler>docker ps -a

will subsequently list the containers running in Azure, and not locally.

However, the docker.from_env().containers.list(all=all) command stubbornly continues to return the local containers. This is true even if you restart the Python session and create a new client from a completely fresh start.

CONCLUSION:

Having spoken with the Docker developers, as of October 2020 docker-py officially does not support Cloud connections. They are currently using GRPC protocols to manage Cloud runs, and this may be incorporated into docker-py in the future.

It seems like the context is set while building the image: docker-py.readthedocs.io/en/1.6.0/api — Casper Dijkstra
– Casper Dijkstra, Commented Oct 26, 2020 at 17:16
@CasperDijkstra I believe that is where the Docker daemon that you are speaking with is, rather than what is given to that daemon as the --context. I am already running this Python within a container, and the Python is using the host container's daemon to run docker. I need to provide that daemon with this context... — Mike Sadler
– Mike Sadler, Commented Oct 26, 2020 at 17:33

Charles Xu · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-27 08:21:35Z

1

I'm afraid there is no way to do things like the command docker --context myacicontext run hello-world does. And there is also no parameter like --context in the SDK. As I know, you can set the current context use the SDK like this:

import docker
docker.context.config.write_context_name_to_docker_config('context_name')

But when you use the code:

client = docker.from_env()
client.containers.run('xxx')

Then it will set the context into default. It means you cannot run the containers into ACI. I think it may be a bug that needs to be fixed. I'm not very very sure, but that's it right now.

answered Oct 27, 2020 at 8:21

Charles Xu

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11 Comments

Mike Sadler Over a year ago

Thanks - I hadn't found the write_context_name_to_docker_config function yet. Have you reported it as a bug? The fact that they have a context at all suggests that they intend to support it...

Charles Xu Over a year ago

@MikeSadler I didn't report it as a bug because I'm not very sure. You still don't find the function?

Mike Sadler Over a year ago

Thanks, Charles. There's definitely something there. docker.context.ContextAPI.get_context("azure_context") returns an object which knows it is an "aci" context, so it looks like there is some real functionality there. I will experiment...

Mike Sadler Over a year ago

docker.context.ContextAPI.set_current_context("hhhoih") also returns an error (i.e. if the context does not exist). However, docker.from_env() is still ignoring it...

Charles Xu Over a year ago

@MikeSadler That's the issue I found and told you in the answer. So I think it may be a bug.

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