Update 2021/2/10: Microsoft stopped creating images for Docker in the summer of 2020. We now publish artifacts, which can be used to spin up containers and BcContainerHelper has replaced NavContainerHelper. This blog post reflects the old way of using NAV/BC on Docker and references NavContainerHelper, which is outdated.

Update: After writing this blog post, Docker Desktop has a feature called Reset To Factory defaults…  I use this function now and then (instead of the DockerCiZap) to cleanup everything in my Docker environment. Right Click the Whale icon, select Settings -> Reset.

Docker is an amazing tool.

As Dynamics 365 Business Central or Microsoft Dynamics NAV developers we can spin up any version of the platform and app in minutes and use our favourite tools to work with it.

Using the layering techniques from Docker, these images will be stored on disc as efficient as possible and every time I start up a new container, it reuses the disc space and your running container just becomes another layer on top of your image.

Really really smart, but it does take up some disc space and it isn’t very good at cleaning up. Continue reading →