Running a standard .NET Console Application in docker container

Question

I am trying to run a very simple console application as a windows docker container. I have a docker file shown below using the "dotnet-framework:4.7.2-runtime-windowsservercore-1803" base image.

FROM microsoft/dotnet-framework:4.7.2-runtime-windowsservercore-1803
ARG source
WORKDIR /app
COPY ${source:-obj/Docker/publish} .
ENTRYPOINT "DockerConsoleApp.exe"

The console application just outputs "Hello World" to a log file every 5 seconds"

static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        while (true)
        {
            try
            {
                Thread.Sleep(5000);
                _logger.Info("Hello Wolrd");
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                //handle the exception 
                Console.Error.WriteLine(e);
            }
        }


    }

I am using the following docker compose file

version: '3.4'

services:
  dockerconsoleapp:
    image: dockerconsoleapp:dev
    build:
      context: .\
      args:
        source: obj\Docker\publish
    volumes:
      - C:\Users\user\source\repos\DockerConsoleApp\DockerConsoleApp:C:\app
      - C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Professional\Common7\IDE\Remote Debugger:C:\remote_debugger:ro
      - C:\Users\user\source\repos\DockerConsoleApp\VolumeTest:C:\app\logs

The problem is that as soon as I manually build or run "docker-compose up -d" The container is created and then immediately dies. I would expect that the container should stay up given that the application is being called in the entrypoint and the application should just keep going unless manually stopped.

Answer 1

Your container died most likely as a result of exception in your ENTRYPOINT or ENTRYPOINT itself not being valid. You can examine docker logs to find out a reason.

Answer 2

In the end, the fix was to change the ENTRYPOINT to a CMD in the dockerfile. See below.

FROM microsoft/dotnet-framework:4.7.2-runtime-windowsservercore-1803
ARG source
WORKDIR /app
COPY ${source:-obj/Docker/publish} .
CMD ["DockerConsoleApp.exe"]

I have let this run overnight and the container is now up 15 hours.