Docker in a GKE sandbox

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Docker is a platform designed to help developers build, share, and run container applications.

In gVisor, all basic docker commands should function as expected. The host network driver and the bridge network driver are tested and supported.

How to run Docker in a GKE Sandbox

First, install a GKE cluster (1.29.0 or higher) and deploy a node pool with gVisor enabled. You can view the full documentation here.

Prepare a container image with pre-installed Docker:

$ docker build -t docker-in-gvisor images/basic/docker
$ docker push {registry_url}/docker-in-gvisor:latest

Create a Kubernetes pod YAML file (docker.yaml) with the following content:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: docker-in-gvisor
spec:
  runtimeClassName: gvisor
  containers:
  - name: docker-in-gvisor
    image: {registry_url}/docker-in-gvisor:latest
    securityContext:
      capabilities:
        add: ["all"]
    volumeMounts:
      - name: docker
        mountPath: /var/lib/docker
  volumes:
  - name: docker
    emptyDir: {}

This YAML file defines a Kubernetes Pod named docker-in-gvisor that will run a single container from the avagin/docker-in-gvisor:0.1 image.

Apply the pod YAML to your GKE cluster using the kubectl apply command:

$ kubectl apply -f docker.yaml

Verify that the docker-in-gvisor pid is running successfully: shell $ kubectl get pods | grep docker-in-gvisor

You can access the container by executing a shell inside it. Use the following command:

kubectl exec -it docker-in-gvisor -- bash

Now, we can build and run Docker containers.

$ mkdir whalesay && cd whalesay
$ cat > Dockerfile <<EOF
FROM ubuntu

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y cowsay curl
RUN mkdir -p /usr/share/cowsay/cows/
RUN curl -o /usr/share/cowsay/cows/docker.cow https://raw.githubusercontent.com/docker/whalesay/master/docker.cow
ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/games/cowsay", "-f", "docker.cow"]
EOF
$ docker build -t whalesay .
....
Successfully tagged whalesay:latest
$ docker run -it --rm whalesay "Containers do not contain, but gVisor-s do!"
 _________________________________________
/ Containers do not contain, but gVisor-s \
\ do!                                     /
 -----------------------------------------
   \               ##         .
    \        ## ## ##        ==
          ## ## ## ##       ===
       /""""""""""""""""\___/ ===
  ~~~ {~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~ ~ /  ===- ~~~
       \______ o          __/
         \    \        __/
          \____\______/