Forum Discussion

Copper Contributor

Dec 05, 2017

Solved

AMA: Host vs container version compatibility

Hi, What are the plans for host and container version compatibility. Having to rebuild the container because a host patch needs installing seems a bit to strict causing too much management in a...

AMA

Craig Wilhite
Dec 05, 2017
Ah, understood. In the release of WS2016, our recommendation was to have matching host/container build and revision numbers. For example, consider a build with the value 10.0.14393.1944 (major/minor/build/revision). 14393 in this case is the build number for WS2016.

In 1709 we've relaxed this recommendation a little bit. Just so long as the host/container build numbers are the same (14393, 16299, etc), the revision numbers can differ. So in this case, for a host running 10.0.16299.125, it's ok to run a container with version 10.0.16299.19. Notice how the build number matches, but the revision number does not. 16299 in this case is the build number for Windows Server ver. 1709

Although, it is still best practice to have containers built with the latest image available.

Ulf Axelsson

Copper Contributor

Dec 05, 2017

No, I did not refer to the rebuilding against a different base image, and spinning up new container versions. I meant 1709 containers on 1709 host but different patch levels. Like containers built on the rtm 1709 image running on 1709 ”january rollup” hosts.

Craig Wilhite

Former Employee

Dec 05, 2017

Ah, understood. In the release of WS2016, our recommendation was to have matching host/container build and revision numbers. For example, consider a build with the value 10.0.14393.1944 (major/minor/build/revision). 14393 in this case is the build number for WS2016.

In 1709 we've relaxed this recommendation a little bit. Just so long as the host/container build numbers are the same (14393, 16299, etc), the revision numbers can differ. So in this case, for a host running 10.0.16299.125, it's ok to run a container with version 10.0.16299.19. Notice how the build number matches, but the revision number does not. 16299 in this case is the build number for Windows Server ver. 1709

Although, it is still best practice to have containers built with the latest image available.

Ulf Axelsson
Copper Contributor
Dec 05, 2017
Great, thank you!