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The Azure Linux Container Host for AKS is based on the Microsoft Azure Linux distribution, which supports thousands of packages. The container host contains a subset of those packages based on our customers' operating system and Kubernetes needs. This set of curated packages is among the most requested and necessary packages to run container workloads based on feedback from customers and the open-source community.

List of Azure Linux Container Host packages

The Azure Linux Container Host package list includes all the needed dependencies to run an Azure Linux VM and also pulls in any necessary Azure Kubernetes Service dependencies. A list of all the packages in the Azure Linux Container Host can be viewed here.

Whenever a new image is released by AKS, the AKSCBLMariner release notes folder is updated with a new latest.txt file, which details the most up-to-date package list. You can also view previous image package lists and the historical versions of each package in the most recent image release in the GitHub repository. For each prior image release, you can find a corresponding .txt file with the naming convention YYYY.MM.DD.txt, where YYYY.MM.DD is the date of each previous image release.

Note

Packages on a running Azure Linux Container Host cluster may have been automatically updated to their latest versions as new packages are released on packages.microsoft.com.

One of the key benefits of the Azure Linux Container Host package set is the kernel package. The Linux kernel package for the Azure Linux Container Host is patched and updated at least twice a month. This package is managed and owned by an entire Microsoft team, which ensures it's secure and contains all the latest updates for development.

Determining package versions in a cluster

If you have direct access to the container host, you can query packages from the host itself.

To list all the installed packages and their versions, run the following command:

rpm -qa

To determine when individual packages were installed, run the following command:

cat /var/log/dnf.log

If you don't have direct access to the container host, you can work backwards from the node image version date to determine the package versions in a cluster.

To determine the nodeImageVersion, run the following command:

az aks show -g <groupname> -n <clustername> | grep nodeImageVersion

Then, as described above, check the AKSCBLMariner release notes folder for the file that corresponds with the previously determined node image version date. In the file, the Installed Packages Begin section lists all the package versions in your cluster.

Next steps

This article covers some of the core Azure Linux Container Host components such as packages. For more information on the Azure Linux Container Host concepts, see the following articles: