Test-Drive Docker 1.12 on first 64-bit ARM OpenSUSE running on Raspberry Pi 3

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B is the first 64 bit version and the third generation Pi box which runs on 1.2GHz 64 bit quad-core ARMv8 CPU.(Broadcom BCM2837 A53 ARM processor). Despite its processor upgrade, there wasn’t an official 64-bit OS available for it till the first week of Jan 2017. Kudos to SUSE Team, they came up providing first commercial enterprise Linux distribution optimized for ARM AARCH64 servers. This is definitely a BIG news. Reason –  To build a solution to meet specific market needs while maintaining a common code base. Enterprise vendors & customers demanding workload-optimized server platforms can now radically expand it for their modern data centers.

In the last couple of months, Docker enthusiasts have been working hard to get Docker running on ARM 32bit systems (like Raspberry Pi). With Docker Engine 1.12.1, a FIRST ARM Debian package was officially made available by Docker Inc. which happened late last year. This year, SUSE Team did a great job in bringing capabilities of SUSE Linux(a.k.a SLES for ARM) to the ARM AArch64 hardware platform. This is BIG news for Docker community too as more innovation and development is expected to grow building containers which will run across the  AARCH64 platform.

Under this blog, I am going to test drive Docker 1.12.3 on first 64-bit ARM Open SUSE distribution running on Raspberry Pi 3 box.

Hardware:

1. Raspberry Pi 3 ( You can order it from Amazon in case you are in India for $35)
2. Micro-SD card reader ( I got it from here )
3. Any Windows or Linux Desktop or Laptop
4. HDMI cable ( I used the HDMI cable of my plasma TV)
5. Internet Connectivity(WiFi/Broadband/Tethering using Mobile) – to download Docker 1.12.3 package
6. Keyboard & mouse connected to Pi’s USB ports

                                                                                            Source~http://www.rlocman.ru/i/Image/2016/02/29/RaspberryPi_3_1.jpg

Software:

1. SD-Formatter – to format microSD card
2. Rufus(in case you have Windows OS running on your laptop) – to burn OpenSUSE Leap 42.2 ARM XZ format directly into microSD card.(No need to extract XZ using any tool)

Steps:

1. Format the microSD card using SD Formatter as shown below:

2. Download OpenSUSE Leap 42.2 ARM  OS from here and use Win32 imager(in case you are on Windows OS  running on your laptop) to burn it on microSD card.

3. Insert the microSD card into your Pi box. Now connect the HDMI cable  from one end of Pi’s HDMI slot to your TV or display unit and mobile charger(recommended 5.1V@1.5A) as shown:

4.You will see the fancy GUI coming up on your display:

5. To enable VNC, run the below command:

linux:~ # zypper install xorg-x11-Xvnc

linux:~# vncserver

Installing Docker 1.12.3 on first 64-bit ARM OpenSUSE

6. Run the below command:

$curl -sSLk https://get.docker.com/ | sh

7. Verify the docker version:

8. Let us try searching for Docker images present in Dockerhub based on aarch64:

Please be aware that the usual Docker containers are not going to work for this architecture. You need to pick up AARCH64 bit Docker images to run containers.

linux:~ # docker run busybox
Unable to find image ‘busybox:latest’ locally
latest: Pulling from library/busybox

557a0c95bfcd: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:ae007bdb45fc0d56e3d705b97640ac24844bcc9ce4c8b8493f216a57ab6af0d5
Status: Downloaded newer image for busybox:latest
panic: standard_init_linux.go:175: exec user process caused “exec format error” [recovered]
panic: standard_init_linux.go:175: exec user process caused “exec format error”

goroutine 1 [running, locked to thread]:
panic(0x7bcaa0, 0x4820161ce0)

Installing Docker 1.13 on 64-bit ARM OS:

Docker doesn’t officially support AARCH64 system. You can’t use one-liner command to install Engine 1.13 as shown below:

If you really want to try 1.13, the easier way is downloading it from the below link:

Installing docker-compose

linux:~ # zypper install python-pip

linux:~ # pip install docker-compose

Tested docker-compose v2.0 functionality by bringing up microservices and it went fine.

Testing Swarm Mode:

linux:~/collabnix # docker service ls
ID            NAME        REPLICAS  IMAGE          COMMAND
0x7dlmr4pjm7  backend-db  1/1       aarch64/redis

linux:~/collabnix # docker service ps backend-db
ID                         NAME          IMAGE          NODE   DESIRED STATE  CURRENT STATE                 ERROR
7jmkwcbzq8wix3umfkcqc92rw  backend-db.1  aarch64/redis  linux  Running        Preparing about a minute ago