gMSA and OpenShift

In previous articles, we have shown how you can manage Windows Containers in OpenShift using the Windows Machine Config Operator. By configuring this feature, we are able to deploy and manage Windows Container Images just like any other Container Image with OpenShift. This gives us additional paths to application modernization allowing app developers to move over things like .Net legacy apps to OpenShift without having to re-write large portions of code.

OpenShift has supported Windows Containers with the Windows Machine Config Operator for the past year, starting with OCP 4.6. Initial Windows Container support required running your platform in Azure or AWS. With the release of 4.7, the WMCO also supported hosting machines in VMWare. However, when deploying in a VMWare environment you had to spend time configuring a base Windows image, using tools such as sysprep and VMware templates. What if you wanted to use a bare metal host(s), or wanted to take advantage of existing Windows servers that you already manage. Or perhaps you just wanted to try out Windows Containers without going through all the steps of setting up a Windows template to deploy a single machine?