HNS Container Networking: Inter-Container Communication on Windows Server

HNS (Host Networking Service) Container Networking is a networking solution that provides container-to-container communication within a single Windows host or across multiple Windows hosts. It is a feature of Windows Server 2016 and higher versions that allows containers to communicate with each other through a virtual network interface.

HNS provides a network overlay that allows containers to be connected to each other through a virtual network interface, which is created when the container is started. The virtual interface is then connected to a virtual switch, which provides connectivity to other containers on the same host or across multiple hosts.

HNS supports both NAT (Network Address Translation) and routing modes, which allow containers to connect to the external network and communicate with other containers on different hosts. It also supports different network plugins, such as the built-in L2bridge and L2tunnel plugins, as well as third-party plugins that allow for more advanced networking configurations.

HNS Container Networking is an important feature for containerized applications that require inter-container communication, such as microservices architectures. It provides a seamless networking solution that simplifies the deployment and management of containerized applications on Windows Server environments.