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Microsoft, Red Hat in cross-platform container and .Net cuddle
Redmond Hat will run each other's containers in each other's clouds
Red Hat and Microsoft have extended their partnership with a containerised cross-cloud cuddle.
The deal will see:
- Red Hat allow Windows Server containers to run on its Kubernetes-powered OpenShift container platform
- Microsoft’s Azure cloud run OpenShift Dedicated,
- The two team to get SQL Server running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and OpenShift
The joint announcement comes a day after Red Hat announced the availability of .NET Core 2.0 as a container in OpenShift. Which is kind of a big deal because it means .NET developers can now target Red Hat Linux, a distro popular with enterprise developers.
Microsoft's long enmity towards Linux means deals like this can still feel a little unreal. But this deal makes good sense because plenty of VMs in Azure run Linux, so Microsoft deepening its relationship with Red Hat means Azure customers can enjoy all that Red Hat has to offer.
Similar logic works for Red Hat, which knows as well as anyone that developers and the organisations that hire them nearly always enjoy having cross-platform options because it means they're less likely to find themselves stuffed into silos.
There's a way to go before this all becomes reality: Red Hat says we can expect Windows Server containers on Red Hat “as a Technology Preview in Spring 2018.” Microsoft's announcement says “Red Hat OpenShift Dedicated on Microsoft Azure is expected to be available in early 2018.”
The two companies say they'll offer “joint support” for the new services once they're up and running. We think we'll therefore call it “Redmond Hat”. ®