Run an init container for setup tasks in a container group
Azure Container Instances supports init containers in a container group. Init containers run to completion before the application container or containers start. Similar to Kubernetes init containers, use one or more init containers to perform initialization logic for your app containers, such as setting accounts, running setup scripts, or configuring databases.
This article shows how to use an Azure Resource Manager template to configure a container group with an init container.
Things to know
API version - You need at least Azure Container Instances API version 2019-12-01 to deploy init containers. Deploy using an
initContainersproperty in a YAML file or a Resource Manager template.Order of execution - Init containers are executed in the order specified in the template, and before other containers. By default, you can specify a maximum of 59 init containers per container group. At least one non-init container must be in the group.
Host environment - Init containers run on the same hardware as the rest of the containers in the group.
Resources - You don't specify resources for init containers. They're granted the total resources such as CPUs and memory available to the container group. While an init container runs, no other containers run in the group.
Supported properties - Init containers can use some group properties such as volumes and secrets. However, they can't use ports, IP address and managed identities if configured for the container group.
Restart policy - Each init container must exit successfully before the next container in the group starts. If an init container doesn't exit successfully, its restart action depends on the restart policy configured for the group:
Policy in group Policy in init Always OnFailure OnFailure OnFailure Never Never Charges - The container group incurs charges from the first deployment of an init container.
Resource Manager template example
Start by copying the following JSON into a new file named azuredeploy.json. The template sets up a container group with one init container and two application containers:
- The init1 container runs the busybox image. It sleeps for 60 seconds and then writes a command-line string to a file in an emptyDir volume.
- Both application containers run the Microsoft
aci-wordcountcontainer image:- The hamlet container runs the wordcount app in its default configuration, counting word frequencies in Shakespeare's play Hamlet.
- The juliet app container reads the command-line string from the emptDir volume to run the wordcount app instead on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
For more information and examples using the aci-wordcount image, see Set environment variables in container instances.
{
"$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
"parameters": {
"containerGroupName": {
"type": "string",
"defaultValue": "myContainerGroup",
"metadata": {
"description": "Container Group name."
}
}
},
"resources": [
{
"name": "[parameters('containerGroupName')]",
"type": "Microsoft.ContainerInstance/containerGroups",
"apiVersion": "2019-12-01",
"location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
"properties": {
"sku": "Standard",
"initContainers": [
{
"name": "init1",
"properties": {
"image": "mcr.microsoft.com/aks/e2e/library-busybox:master.210714.1",
"environmentVariables": [],
"volumeMounts": [
{
"name": "emptydir1",
"mountPath": "/mnt/emptydir"
}
],
"command": [
"/bin/sh",
"-c",
"sleep 60; echo python wordcount.py http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/full.html > /mnt/emptydir/command_line.txt"
]
}
}
],
"containers": [
{
"name": "hamlet",
"properties": {
"image": "mcr.microsoft.com/azuredocs/aci-wordcount",
"volumeMounts": [
{
"name": "emptydir1",
"mountPath": "/mnt/emptydir"
}
],
"environmentVariables": [
{
"name": "NumWords",
"value": "3"
},
{ "name": "MinLength",
"value": "5"
}
],
"resources": {
"requests": {
"memoryInGB": 1.0,
"cpu": 1
}
}
}
},
{
"name": "juliet",
"properties": {
"image": "mcr.microsoft.com/azuredocs/aci-wordcount",
"volumeMounts": [
{
"name": "emptydir1",
"mountPath": "/mnt/emptydir"
}
],
"command": [
"/bin/sh",
"-c",
"$(cat /mnt/emptydir/command_line.txt)"
],
"environmentVariables": [
{
"name": "NumWords",
"value": "3"
},
{ "name": "MinLength",
"value": "5"
}
],
"resources": {
"requests": {
"memoryInGB": 1.0,
"cpu": 1
}
}
}
}
],
"restartPolicy": "OnFailure",
"osType": "Linux",
"volumes": [
{
"name": "emptydir1",
"emptyDir": {}
}
]
},
"tags": {}
}
]
}
Deploy the template
Create a resource group with the az group create command.
az group create --name myResourceGroup --location eastus
Deploy the template with the az deployment group create command.
az deployment group create \
--resource-group myResourceGroup \
--template-file azuredeploy.json
In a group with an init container, the deployment time is increased because of the time it takes for the init container or containers to complete.
View container logs
To verify the init container ran successfully, view the log output of the app containers using the az container logs command. The --container-name argument specifies the container from which to pull logs. In this example, pull the logs for the hamlet and juliet containers, which show different command output:
az container logs \
--resource-group myResourceGroup \
--name myContainerGroup \
--container-name hamlet
Output:
[('HAMLET', 386), ('HORATIO', 127), ('CLAUDIUS', 120)]
az container logs \
--resource-group myResourceGroup \
--name myContainerGroup \
--container-name juliet
Output:
[('ROMEO', 177), ('JULIET', 134), ('CAPULET', 119)]
Next steps
Init containers help you perform setup and initialization tasks for your application containers. For more information about running task-based containers, see Run containerized tasks with restart policies.
Azure Container Instances provides other options to modify the behavior of application containers. Examples include: