Difference between Docker from DockerProvider and DockerMsftProvider

Question

What is the difference between two methods to enable containers on Windows Server 2016. I found two sets of commands to do that. One using DockerProvider, and the other - DockerMsftProvider. First is from Docker Doc site, second - from Microsoft site.

Answer 1

DockerMSFTProvider looks active as of February 3rd, 2021, its index's latest version is 19.03.14 from 21st December 2020, slightly behind the 19.03.15 release made two days ago.

I was hoping to see a 20.10.x release on DockerMSFTProvider by now, but I guess they're not yet ready to ship them.

It looks like DockerProvider has stopped updates: the latest version in its index is 19.03.8-beta3 from 2nd April 2020.

I've raised a ticket to discover the fate and future of the DockerProvider as a source of pre-release builds.

Answer 2

They are basically equivalent, with the exception that DockerProvider can also install pre-release builds.

Docker and Microsoft have WiP to standardize on DockerMsftProvider for production builds, and DockerProvider (likely to be renamed) for pre-release builds.

So for now:

Production: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscontainers/quick-start/quick-start-windows-server

Pre-release: https://blog.docker.com/2017/09/docker-windows-server-1709/

The respective doc pages will be adjusted to match.