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Table of contents
1.
Introduction
2.
What is Docker Registry?
2.1.
Types of Container Registry
3.
Docker Hub
4.
Features of Docker Registry
5.
Basic commands for Docker Registry
5.1.
Starting Docker Registry
5.2.
Pulling an Image from Docker Hub
5.3.
Tagging the Pulled Image for Registry
5.4.
Pushing the Image to Local Registry
5.5.
Pulling the Image Back from Local Registry
5.6.
Stopping the Registry Container
5.7.
Stopping and Removing the Registry Container with Data
6.
Common Operation Using Docker Hub
6.1.
Searching Images on Docker Hub
6.2.
Pulling Images from Docker Hub
6.3.
Tagging Images in Docker Hub
7.
Why Do We Use Docker Registry?
8.
Frequently Asked Questions
8.1.
Can I set access control rules for specific images in the Docker Registry?
8.2.
How can I monitor and manage my Docker Registry?
8.3.
How do I push an image to a Docker Registry?
9.
Conclusion
Last Updated: Mar 27, 2024
Easy

Docker Registry

Introduction

Docker provides a registry service. The registry acts as a central image repository that allows users to publish their images and make them accessible to others. To run a specific software component, users only need to “pull” the required image from the registry into local storage. 

Various Docker registry deployments exist, such as Docker Hub, IBM Cloud container registry, or Artifactory. The registry is a data-intensive application. As the number of stored images and concurrent client requests increases, the registry becomes a performance bottleneck in the lifecycle of a container. 

Docker Registry

Our estimates show that the widely-used public container registry, Docker Hub, stores at least hundreds of terabytes of data and grows by about new public repositories daily, which excludes numerous private repositories and image updates. In this article, we will learn about Docker Registry.

What is Docker Registry?

The registry is a storage and content delivery system holding Docker images. Some popular Docker registries are Docker Hub, Quay.io, Artifactory, Google Container Registry, and IBM Cloud container registry. Users can create repositories in the registry, which hold images for a particular application or system, such as Redis, WordPress, or Ubuntu. 

Images in such repositories are often used for building other application images. Images can have different versions, known as tags. Combining user name, repository name, and tag uniquely identifies an image. Users add new images or update existing ones by pushing to the registry and retrieve images by pulling from the registry. 

Types of Container Registry

The following are the types of container registry:
 

  • ECR(AWS Elastic Container Registry): It is simple to store, manage, and deploy Docker container images using the AWS Elastic Container Registry (ECR), a fully managed Docker container registry.
     
  • ACR( Azure Container Registry): Developers can store, manage, and deploy Docker container images in Azure using the fully managed registry service known as Azure Container Registry (ACR).
     
  • GCR(Google Container Registry): Developers can store, manage, and deploy Docker container images in the Google Cloud Platform using the fully managed container registry service known as Google Container Registry (GCR).

Docker Hub

Docker Hub is the world’s largest registry of container images. Images on Docker Hub are organized into repositories, which can be divided into official repositories and community repositories. For each image in a Docker Hub repository, besides the image itself, meta-information is also available to the users, such as repository description and history, Dockerfile, the number of stars and pulls of each repository, and developer information. 

Features of Docker Registry

The following are the features of the docker registry:

  • Docker Registry is made to effectively and securely store Docker images.
     
  • Versioning of Docker images is supported, making tracking and rolling back simple.
     
  • Performance optimization enhances the distribution and retrieval of images for quicker deployments.
     
  • Supports offline environments by downloading and locally storing images in advance.
     
  • To ensure image availability in production environments, high availability is essential.

Basic commands for Docker Registry

Starting Docker Registry

docker run -d -p 5000:5000 --restart=always --name registry registry:2


This command starts a Docker registry container named "registry" in detached mode (-d). It ensures that the registry restarts automatically if it stops unexpectedly (--restart=always) and maps port 5000 from the container to local port 5000.

Pulling an Image from Docker Hub

docker pull ubuntu:latest


From Docker Hub, this command retrieves the most recent Ubuntu image.

Tagging the Pulled Image for Registry

docker image tag ubuntu:latest localhost:5000/codingninjas-image


You tag the Ubuntu image after downloading it to let your local registry know it belongs there.

Pushing the Image to Local Registry

docker push localhost:5000/codingninjas-image


This command pushes the "codingninjas-image" tag to the "localhost:5000" local registry.

Pulling the Image Back from Local Registry

docker pull localhost:5000/codingninjas-image


The image you pushed to your local registry can be retrieved and re-used in your Docker environment.

Stopping the Registry Container

docker container stop registry


This command terminates the "registry" Docker registry container.

Stopping and Removing the Registry Container with Data

docker container stop registry && docker container rm -v registry


This command stops and deletes the "registry" Docker registry container and the related data volumes (-v).

Common Operation Using Docker Hub

Searching Images on Docker Hub

docker search <search_term>

Pulling Images from Docker Hub

docker pull <image_name>

Tagging Images in Docker Hub

docker tag <source_image_name> <new_image_name>

Why Do We Use Docker Registry?

To manage container images effectively, a Docker Registry is necessary. Developers can easily store, share, and distribute containerized applications using it as a central repository for Docker images. Making use of the Docker Registry
 

  • It makes it possible to distribute container images among various systems and environments, ensuring deployment consistency.
     
  • Version control and simple rollback to earlier versions are made possible by Docker images' ability to have multiple versions.
     
  • By providing mechanisms for access control, the Docker Registry helps to increase security by ensuring that authorized users can view and edit images.
     
  • Improved image retrieval techniques and caching reduced bandwidth usage and download times.
     
  • Businesses can create private registries to store confidential or proprietary images safely.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I set access control rules for specific images in the Docker Registry?

Only teams or users with permission can access and modify specific images thanks to the ability to configure access control rules in the Docker Registry.

How can I monitor and manage my Docker Registry?

You can effectively monitor and manage your registry with the help of third-party tools and solutions since Docker Registry offers tools and APIs for these purposes.

How do I push an image to a Docker Registry?

If the registry is not the default Docker Hub, to push the image to the Docker Registry, use the docker push command followed by the image name and registry URL.

Conclusion

The Docker registry plays a critical role in providing containerized services. However, due to the individual components, registries are hard to scale and benefit from optimizations as caching is limited. It makes different registry nodes aware of each other and improves the client-to-registry mapping by using a hash function to take advantage of how the Docker clients address layers.

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