• Prepare Docker image
  • Two modes to run Publishing Service
    • Run it as console app
    • Run it as IIS web site
• Service logging
• Utility scripts
• Examples to create containers passing differnt parameters
  • Run container using default configuration
  • Run container and configure connection strings
  • Run service as IIS web site
  • Reconfigure running service
• Gotchas
  • Copying files between host and container
  • localhost mapping
  • Installing windows hosting sometimes fails

The article describes how I managed to put Sitecore Publishing Service into a Docker Windows container. Docker image microsoft/windowsservercore was used to create an image with the Publishing Service.

To run Sitecore Publishing Service in a Docker container make sure you switch Docker host to use Windows Containers.

Image microsoft/nanoserver cannot be used as Publishing Service up to version 3.0 has a dependency on Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.TransientFaultHandling.Data.dll library which depends on full .NET Framework.

TL;TR Skip all the blabber and go straight to resources:

• Dockerfile
• scripts

The scripts provided in this article assume the following folder configuration structure for docker build directory:

• /build_dir
  • Dockerfile
  • /res - contains Publishing Service zip and dotnetcore windows hosting exe.
    • Sitecore Publishing Service 2.1.0 rev. 171009.zip
  • /scripts - contains necessary powershell scripts to build the container image and work with Publishing Service.

You may put dotnetcore_windowshosting_1_1_0.exe into /res directory to speed up image building process a bit.

Prepare Docker image

Before building an image make sure you provide valid database connection strings in Dockerfile. Dowonload one of Sitecore Publishing Service versions and move service zip into the /res dirctory. Downloaded scripts and move them into the /scripts directory. Using the Dockerfile and scripts run docker build . command to create an image with installed Publishing Service in it.

Two modes to run Publishing Service

The service can be started as a console app or as an IIS web site.

Run it as console app

When running the service as console app over Kestrel web server, there is no need to install Web-Server and Web-Asp-Net45 features. The script start-service.ps1 starts the service with 5001 port by default. Inspect the script to understand what parameters it accepts.

Provided Dockerfile uses start-service.ps1 script as default command to run the container instance.

Run it as IIS web site

When running the service as IIS web site, the Windows features Web-Server and Web-Asp-Net45 must be installed and the service must be configured in IIS. Use script install-iiswebsite.ps1 to install the features and configure the service in IIS. Inspect the script to understand what parameters it accepts.
In this mode you must insure that web site worker process starts as you run the container. Otherwise, the container will shut down promptly after you start it. There is get-status.ps1 script that pings the publishing service web site. You can use this script to make sure the IIS web site is started after container is created.

Service logging

Service command logging is stored in <serviceRoot>\logs directory. Default service root is set to c:\inetpub\wwwroot\sitecorepublishing folder. Publishing logs are stored in differnt places depending on the mode you choose to run the service in.
When you execute the service as a console app, the logs are stored in current working dirctory. It’s set to /scripts in the Dockerfile. However, when you run the service as IIS web site, publishing logs go into <serviceRoot>\logs directory alongside command logs.

Utility scripts

There are several scripts provided for this article.

• config-pubservice.ps1 - allows to configure connection strings for the publishing service and runs database upgrade command on them. You can overwrite default connection strings or configure connection strings for a different envioronment.
• get-status.ps1 - makes a web request to http://localhost:5001/api/publishing/operations/status service page. The output of the request is saved into the c:\res\status.txt file. In case of IIS web site, it starts up the publishing service web site.
• install-iiswebsite.ps1 - installs necessary resources and publishing service as IIS web site. The service is configured to be the default IIS web site running over port 5001.
• set-custom-connbehaviours.ps1 - provides an example how to configure custom connection behaviors and reconfigure connections to use these connection behaviours.
• set-custom-logging.ps1 - example how to set custom logging level for publishing service.
• start-service.ps1 - starts service using Kestrel web server.

Examples to create containers passing differnt parameters

Here are a few examples how you can create containers using input scripts.

Run container using default configuration

docker run --rm --name pubsvc pubservice21

Command creates a container named pubsvc from image pubservice21 and starts publishing service as console app over port 5001. It starts it because Docker file has instruction CMD ["powershell .\\start-service.ps1"].

Parameter --rm instructs docker host to remove container when it stops runnig.

Run container and configure connection strings

docker run --rm --name pubsvc pubservice21 powershell ".\\config-pubservice.ps1 -Core '<coreConnectionString>' -Master '<masterConnectionString>' -Web '<webConnectionString>'; .\\start-service.ps1"

Command creates a container and configures connection strings provided in the parameters. Then executes start-service.ps1 script to get the service runing as a console app.

Run service as IIS web site

docker run --rm --name pubsvc pubservice21 powershell ".\\install-iiswebsite.ps1; .\\get-status.ps1"

Command creates container with publishing service configured as IIS web site. Then invokes get-status.ps1 script to get web site running.

Reconfigure running service

You can execute scripts to re-configure the publishing service when you attach to already running container.

docker exec -it pubsvc powershell

Command attaches to container pubsvc and opens powershell console. From here you can navigate around container file system and execute scripts to re-configure the service if needed.

Gotchas

Some issues I ran into while building and testing the container.

Copying files between host and container

Several times I was not able to copy files into and out of the container until I stopped the container.

localhost mapping

Windows containers use different approach to configure container network than Linux containers. One outcome of this is that localhost does not map to Windows container by default. You can use either direct IP address of the container or utility DockerProxy. Get container IP address:

docker inspect --format='{{range .NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.IPAddress}}{{end}}' <containerId>

Installing windows hosting sometimes fails

Several times I got error message while .net core windows hosting was getting installed.

hcsshim::ImportLayer failed in Win32: The system cannot find the path specified. (0x3) layerId=\\?\C:\ProgramData\Docker\windowsfilter

There seems to be an issue related to the file system in Windows docker containers. Re-running image build command solved the problem.