How do you log into a container to install software? Ah \u2026 you don\u2019t actually log into a container because a container is not a virtual machine. Confusing? Slightly!<\/p>\n
What you actually do is remotely execute commands inside of a container; this is actually something like PowerShell Direct, a new feature in Windows Server 2016 (WS2016).<\/p>\n
There are two ways to run commands inside of a container.<\/p>\n
In Technical Preview 3 (TPv3), the methods we will use to execute commands inside of a container don\u2019t use the name of the container; instead they use a unique container ID. This is because containers can have duplicate names \u2013 I really don\u2019t like that!<\/p>\n
So, if you want to know which container you\u2019re targeting then do something along the lines of the following to store the container ID. The first creates a new container and stores the resulting container\u2019s metadata in a variable object called $container.<\/p>\n
$Container = New-Container -Name TestContainer -ContainerImageName WindowsServerCore<\/p>\n
Note that I didn\u2019t connect this container to a virtual switch!<\/em><\/p>\n The following example retrieves a container, assuming that it has a unique name.<\/p>\n $Container = Get-Container TestContainer<\/p>\n If you want to fire a single command into a container then Invoke-Command is the cmdlet to use. This method sends a single instruction into a virtual machine. This can be a command or a script block. Here\u2019s a script block example:<\/p>\n Invoke-Command -ContainerID $Container.ContainerId -RunAsAdministrator -ScriptBlock { New-Item -Path C:\\RemoteTest -ItemType Directory }<\/p>\n Note how I\u2019m using the ContainerID attribute of $Container to identify the container.<\/p>\n The nice thing about Invoke-Command is that it is not interactive; the command remotely runs the script block without an interactive login. That makes Invoke-Command perfect for scripting; you write a script that deploys a container, starts it, does some stuff inside of the container, and then configures networking in the VM host. Lots of nice automation, there!<\/p>\n If you want an interactive session with a container then Enter-PSSession is the way to go. Using this cmdlet you get a PowerShell session in the container where you can run commands and see the results. This is great for once-off stuff and troubleshooting, but it\u2019s no good for automation\/scripting.<\/p>\n Enter-PSSession -ContainerID $Container.ContainerId \u2013RunAsAdministrator<\/p>\n Warning – In TPv3 we’ve seen that rushing into running this cmdlet after creating your new container can lead to an error<\/a>. Wait a few seconds before trying to connect to the VM.<\/p>\n These methods are using something PowerShell Direct, a new feature in WS2016 – it’s actually PowerShell via a named pipe. The above example deliberately created a VM that has no networking. I can still run commands inside of the container or get an interactive PowerShell session inside of the container without connectivity – I just need to be able to get onto the VM host.<\/p>\n How do you log into a container to install software? Ah \u2026 you don\u2019t actually log into a container because a container is not a virtual machine. Confusing? Slightly! What you actually do is remotely execute commands inside of a container; this is actually something like PowerShell Direct, a new feature in Windows Server 2016 … Continue reading “Logging Into Windows Server Containers”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[143,181,87,195,137],"class_list":["post-18915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hyper-v","tag-containers","tag-hyper-v","tag-powershell","tag-virtualisation","tag-windows-server-2016"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\tInvoke-Command<\/h2>\n
Enter-PSSession<\/h2>\n
No Network Required!<\/h2>\n