Create Windows Server node pools with containerd in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

For Kubernetes version 1.20 and higher, you can specify containerd as the container runtime for Windows Server 2019 node pools. Starting with Kubernetes 1.23, containerd is the default and only container runtime for Windows.

In this article, you learn how to create Windows Server node pools with containerd in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).

Prerequisites

Limitations and considerations

When using Windows Server node pools with containerd, keep the following limitations and considerations in mind:

  • Both the control plane and Windows Server 2019 node pools must use Kubernetes version 1.20 or greater.
  • When you create or update a node pool to run Windows Server containers, the default value for --node-vm-size is Standard_D2s_v3, which was the minimum recommended size for Windows Server 2019 node pools up to Kubernetes version 1.20. The minimum recommended size for Windows Server 2019 node pools using containerd is Standard_D4s_v3. When setting the --node-vm-size parameter, check the list of restricted virtual machine (VM) sizes.
  • We recommend using taints or labels with your Windows Server 2019 node pools running containerd and tolerations or node selectors with your deployments to guarantee your workloads are scheduled correctly.

Add a Windows Server node pool with containerd

  • Add a Windows Server node pool with containerd into your existing cluster using the [az aks nodepool add][az-aks-nodepool-add].

    Note

    If you don't specify the WindowsContainerRuntime=containerd custom header, the node pool still uses containerd as the container runtime by default.

    az aks nodepool add \
    --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP \
    --cluster-name $CLUSTER_NAME \
    --os-type Windows \
    --name $CONTAINER_D_NODE_POOL_NAME \
    --node-vm-size Standard_D4s_v3 \
    --kubernetes-version 1.20.5 \
    --aks-custom-headers WindowsContainerRuntime=containerd \
    --node-count 1

Upgrade an existing Windows Server node pool to containerd

  • Upgrade a specific node pool from Docker to containerd using the [az aks nodepool upgrade][az-aks-nodepool-upgrade] command.

    export CONTAINER_D_NODE_POOL_NAME="mywindowsnodepool"

az aks nodepool upgrade \
    --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP \
    --cluster-name $CLUSTER_NAME \
    --name $CONTAINER_D_NODE_POOL_NAME \
    --kubernetes-version 1.20.7 \
    --aks-custom-headers WindowsContainerRuntime=containerd

Upgrade all existing Windows Server node pools to containerd

  • Upgrade all node pools from Docker to containerd using the [az aks nodepool upgrade][az-aks-nodepool-upgrade] command.

    az aks nodepool upgrade \
    --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP \
    --cluster-name $CLUSTER_NAME \
    --kubernetes-version 1.20.7 \
    --aks-custom-headers WindowsContainerRuntime=containerd

Next steps

For more information about node pools in AKS, see Manage node pools for a cluster in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).

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