You heard about it at DockerCon Europe and now it is here: we are proud to announce that Docker for Mac with beta Kubernetes support is now publicly available as part of the Edge release channel. We hope you are as excited as we are!
With this release you can now run a single node Kubernetes cluster right on your Mac and use both kubectl commands and docker commands to control your containers.
First, a few things to keep in mind:
- Docker for Mac required
Kubernetes features are only accessible on macOS for now; Docker for Windows and Docker Enterprise Edition betas will follow at a later date. If you need to install a new copy of Docker for Mac you can download it from the Docker Store. - Edge channel required
Kubernetes support is still considered experimental with this release, so to enable the download and use of Kubernetes components you must be on the Edge channel. The Docker for Mac version should be 17.12.0-ce-mac45 or later after updating. - Already using other Kubernetes tools?
If you are already running a version of kubectl pointed at another environment, for example minikube, you will want to follow the activation instructions to change contexts to docker-for-desktop.
What You Can Do
Docker for Mac and Windows are the most popular way to configure a Docker dev environment and are used everyday by hundreds of thousands of developers to build, test and debug containerized apps. Developers building both docker-compose and Swarm-based apps, and apps destined for deployment on Kubernetes can now get a simple-to-use development system that takes optimal advantage of their laptop or workstation. All container tasks – build, run and push – will run on the same Docker instance with a shared set of images, volumes and containers. Docker for Mac is simple to install, so you can have Docker containers running on your Mac in just a few minutes. And Docker for Mac auto-updates so you continue getting the latest Docker product revisions.
With experimental Kubernetes support in Docker CE for Mac, Docker can provide users an end-to-end suite of container-management software and services that span from developer workstations running Docker for Mac or Windows, through test and CI/CD, through to production systems on-premises or in the cloud running Docker Enterprise Edition (EE).
The beauty of building with Docker for Mac or Windows is that you can deploy the exact same set of Docker container images on your desktop as you do with Docker Enterprise Edition (EE) on your production systems. Docker for Mac or Windows is a single node system for building, testing and preparing to ship applications; Docker EE provides the security, control, and scale needed to manage your production applications. You eliminate the “it worked on my machine” problem because you have the same Docker containers running on the same Docker engines, and the same Docker Swarm and Kubernetes orchestrators (coming soon to EE).
Things To Try
If you are new to Kubernetes and looking for some introductory exercises to try, here are a few resources:
- The Docker for Mac Kubernetes page has instructions for getting an example app up and running
- Follow along with Docker Developer Advocate Elton Stoneman during his short video, demonstrating activating Kubernetes and deploying an application using both Docker compose and a Kubernetes manifest.
Send Us Your Feedback
Send us your feedback, ideas for improvement, bugs, complaints and more so we can make Docker Desktop better. You can use the Docker community forums for general discussions and you can also directly file technical issues on Github.
Call to Action
- Get Docker for Mac
- Activate experimental Kubernetes support in Docker for Mac
- Watch our DockerCon Europe 2017 Kubernetes Announcement