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How to Set Up a Private

Docker Registry on Linux
31 minute read Updated: July 19, 2023

Hitesh Jethva

Table of Contents

This article outlines the key steps to setting up a Docker registry. Earthly
precisely optimizes Docker image build processes. Learn how.

If you’re working with Docker images in an enterprise environment where security

is a concern, a private Docker registry is a great solution. While public registries
like Docker Hub allow anyone to push and pull images, they have limitations on
the number of image pull requests per six hours and limited control over the
registry security.

On the other hand, a private registry provides central image management, cost-
saving, scanning capabilities, access control, support for external storage, and
more security features. With a private registry, you can define your own storage
location for all your images and set your own policies to prevent deploying
images that don’t meet your policy standard.

You have some choices when it comes to setting up a private registry. You could
use a third party service like Amazon ECR, or you can set up your own registry,
which is surprising easy to do.

In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to set up your own private Docker
registry on Linux. But first, let’s take a closer look at Docker registries and the
difference between public and private registries.

Prerequisites

To follow this guide, you will need the following:

Two Ubuntu 22.04 servers. One for the Docker registry, and one to use as a
client machine where you will push and pull images.

Installing Docker and Docker Compose

First, you will need to install Docker and Docker Compose packages on both
servers.

The Docker package is already included in the Ubuntu default repository.

However, it is a good idea to install the latest Docker version from their official
repository.
Let’s start by updating the existing package index.

apt update -y >_

Next, you’ll need to grab some dependencies to get packages over the secure
HTTPS connection.

apt install curl apt-transport-https ca-certificates -y >_

Next, import the GPG key for Docker to install only authenticate package and add
Docker’s official repository to APT sources.

echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) \ >_

signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/[Link]] \
[Link] $(lsb_release -cs) stable" \
| tee /etc/apt/[Link].d/[Link]

Since we’ve added a new software repository to apt, we’ll need to update again.

apt update -y >_

Finally, install the latest Docker and Docker Compose packages:

apt install docker-ce docker-compose -y >_

This command will install both Docker and Docker Compose packages to your
server, start the Docker service and enable it to start after the system reboot. You
can verify the Docker installation by executing the command given below.

docker --version >_

This will show you the Docker version.

 Verify Docker Installation

Remember, you’ll need to run all of the above commands on both servers before moving
on to the next step.

Setting Up the Private Docker Registry

In this section, we will learn how to:

1. Create a Docker Compose file that will be used to configure the private
registry.

2. Configure and secure NGINX to serve the registry server.

3. Set up basic authentication to ensure that only authorized users can access
the registry server.

Creating the Docker Compose File for the Docker Registry

We’ll use Docker Compose to define all the components required for setting up a
private registry. Docker Compose makes it easy to define all the services we’ll
need as well as allow us to spin them all up with a single command.

Let’s start by creating a directory to store all configurations for the private registry.

mkdir ~/private-registry >_

 mkdir ~/private-registry/registry-data

Next, change the directory to the private-registry directory and create a

[Link] file.

cd ~/private-registry >_
nano [Link]

Add the following section to define the registry service and set the registry
image using the latest tag. The image directive downloads the latest version of

the registry Docker image from the Docker Hub public registry.

[Link] Copy

version: '3'

services:
registry:
image: registry:latest

The Docker registry image is an official Docker image. It is essentially a server-

side application that stores and distributes Docker images. It’s going to do a lot of
the heavy lifting for us.

Next, add the port section to map the host machine port 5000 to the container
port 5000 .

[Link] Copy

ports:
- "5000:5000"

Then, add the environment section where we will set up some environment
variable related to some basic authentication.

Docker private registry supports several authentication methods, including, HTTP,

OAuth, LDAP, and Active Directory authentication. Here, we will use basic HTTP
authentication because it is simple and easy to implement. Specifically, we’ll be
using htpasswd, which is a utility that creates and manages user authentication
credentials for basic HTTP authentication. We need to tell the Docker Registry to
use htpasswd by setting the REGISTRY_AUTH variable.

We also need to set the REGISTRY_AUTH_HTPASSWD_REALM variable. Here we are

setting it to Registry, but you can actually set it to whatever you want your users
to use. When a user attempts to access a protected resource, such as our private
Docker registry, their web client (e.g., a browser or a Docker client) will receive an
authentication request from the server. This request includes the realm
information. The realm serves as a prompt to inform the user which specific
protected area they are trying to access and helps them understand why they
need to provide credentials.

The last two variables we need to set up, REGISTRY_AUTH_HTPASSWD_PATH and

REGISTRY_STORAGE_FILESYSTEM_ROOTDIRECTORY will tell our registry where to store
passwords and where to store the actual images and image data.

[Link] Copy

environment:
REGISTRY_AUTH: htpasswd
REGISTRY_AUTH_HTPASSWD_REALM: Registry
REGISTRY_AUTH_HTPASSWD_PATH: /auth/[Link]
REGISTRY_STORAGE_FILESYSTEM_ROOTDIRECTORY: /registry-data

Next, add the volumes section to bind the /auth and /registry-data directories
on the host file system to the container file system.

Docker volumes play an important role to persist data in Docker containers and
services. The registry-data volume will store all Docker images and registry
configuration information while the auth volume will store and persist all user’s
passwords. Later, we’ll also set up an HTTP authentication to ensure that only
authenticated users can access the registry.

[Link] Copy

volumes:
- ./auth:/auth
- ./registry-data:/registry-data
When you are finished, your final configuration file will look something like this:

[Link] Copy

version: '3'

services:
registry:
image: registry:latest
ports:
- "5000:5000"
environment:
REGISTRY_AUTH: htpasswd
REGISTRY_AUTH_HTPASSWD_REALM: Registry
REGISTRY_AUTH_HTPASSWD_PATH: /auth/[Link]
REGISTRY_STORAGE_FILESYSTEM_ROOTDIRECTORY: /registry-data
volumes:
- ./auth:/auth
- ./registry-data:/registry-data

Save the file when you are finished.

Installing and Configuring NGINX for Docker Registry

NGINX is open-source and the most popular software that you can use as a web
server and reverse proxy. The Docker registry container is accessible only from
the local host. So we will need to install and configure NGINX to forward traffic
from the remote machine to the registry container running on port 5000 .

Let’s start by installing the nginx and apache2-utils packages on your server.
The apache2-utils package will download the htpasswd utility needed to set up
basic HTTP authentication.

apt install nginx apache2-utils -y >_

Now, create an NGINX virtual server block to serve the Docker registry. Basically,
this is where we will define how NGINX should handle requests.
 nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/[Link] >_

First, add the listen directive to specify the NGINX listening port. Next, define
the server_name with your domain name. Finally, add the error and access log
path.

[Link] Copy

server {
listen 80;
server_name [Link];
access_log /var/log/nginx/[Link];
error_log /var/log/nginx/[Link];

Next, in the location / section, set the proxy_pass directive to forward all
incoming traffic on domain [Link] to the localhost on registry
container port 5000 .

[Link] Copy

location / {
if ($http_user_agent ~ "^(docker\/1\.(3|4|5(?!\.[0-9]-dev))|Go ).*$"
return 404;
}

proxy_pass [Link]
proxy_set_header Host $http_host; # required for docker client's sake
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr; # pass on real client's IP
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
proxy_read_timeout 900;
}
}

Your final NGINX configuration file will look something like this:

[Link] Copy

server {
 listen 80;
server_name [Link];
access_log /var/log/nginx/[Link];
error_log /var/log/nginx/[Link];

location / {
if ($http_user_agent ~ "^(docker\/1\.(3|4|5(?!\.[0-9]-dev))|Go ).*$"
return 404;
}

proxy_pass [Link]
proxy_set_header Host $http_host; # required for docker client's sake
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr; # pass on real client's IP
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
proxy_read_timeout 900;
}
}

Save the file when you are done.

Next, we’ll need to define two more settings for NGINX.

client_max_body_size : Sets the upload limit per file. By default, NGINX has

an upload limit of 1 MB per file. To allow larger image upload to the Docker
registry, you will need to define this value as per your requirement.

server_names_hash_bucket_size : This directive is aligned to a size that is a

multiple of the processor’s cache line size. The default value of
server_names_hash_bucket_size is 32 in NGINX. When you define a large

server name then you will get the error could not build the
server_names_hash, you should increase server_names_hash_bucket_size:
32

To update these, edit the NGINX main configuration file.

nano /etc/nginx/[Link] >_

Define both directives below the line http { :

 [Link] Copy

client_max_body_size 4000m;
server_names_hash_bucket_size 64;

Restart the NGINX service to reload the changes.

systemctl restart nginx >_

Run the following command to verify the NGINX running status.

systemctl status nginx >_

You should see the NGINX running status in the below screenshot.

Verify NGINX status

At this point, the NGINX web server is installed and configured to forward traffic
to the private registry server.

Setting Up SSL to Secure Docker Registry

SSL is an encryption security protocol that encrypts the sensitive information sent
across the Internet. So adding an SSL certificate is necessary when hosting a
registry server on the Internet to keep your images safe and secure. Let’s Encrypt
SSL is an open certificate authority that provides free SSL/TLS certificates to
secure your registry server. The main reasons for using a Let’s Encrypt SSL
certificate are, it’s free, automated, and provides an easier way to install and
manage certificates.

First, install the Certbot Let’s Encrypt client package to install and manage the
SSL certificate.

snap install --classic certbot >_

Next, copy the snap binary to the system path.

ln -s /snap/bin/certbot /usr/bin/certbot

Then, run the certbot command followed by your domain name to download the
SSL certificates, and configure NGINX to use the downloaded certificates for your
domain.

certbot --nginx -d [Link] >_

You will be asked to provide your real email address and accept the term of
service to finish the SSL installation.

Install SSL on registry domain

At this point, Let’s Encrypt SSL is installed and configured for

[Link] domain.

Setting Up Authentication on Private Registry

Security is crucial if you are going to set up a private Docker registry for an
enterprise environment. You can use HTTP authentication to secure your Docker
registry and allow only eligible users to access it.

First, create an auth directory to store the password file.

mkdir ~/private-registry/auth >_

Next, navigate to the auth directory and use the htpasswd command to create a
[Link] file. The htpasswd is a utility used to create a file to store
username and password information for Apache basic authentication.

cd ~/private-registry/auth >_
htpasswd -Bc [Link] adminuser

You should be prompted to define a password as shown below.

Create a registry user

At this point, password-based authentication is configured on the registry. We

already defined this auth file when we set up the REGISTRY_AUTH in the docker
compose. Now, only authenticated users can access the registry.

Launching Docker Registry Container

Now that we have set up NGINX to route remote traffic to our registry over the
secure SSL connection, and implemented authentication using htpasswd, we are
finally ready to spin up the Docker registry container.

Let’s run the below command to launch the registry container.

 cd ~/private-registry >_
docker compose up -d

This command will download the registry docker container image and start the
container as shown below.

Launch registry container

Run the following command to check the Docker registry container status.

docker-compose ps >_

This will show you the active status of the registry container.

Verify registry container

At this point, your private registry server is started and running.

Creating a Custom Docker Image To Push To Our

New Registry

Now, let’s test our new registry by creating a custom docker image on the client
server and pushing it to our newly created private registry. For demonstration, we
will create a custom Ubuntu image with the NGINX server installed on it.

First, pull the latest Ubuntu image from the Docker Hub registry.
 docker pull ubuntu:latest >_

Then, run the container using the downloaded image.

docker run -t -i ubuntu:latest /bin/bash >_

This will start the image and put you into the Ubuntu shell as shown below.

Run Ubuntu Container

Next, update the Ubuntu repository and install the NGINX package inside the
container.

apt update -y >_

apt install nginx -y

Next, verify the NGINX version.

nginx -v >_

You should see the NGINX version in the following output.

nginx version: nginx/1.18.0 (Ubuntu) >_

Then, exit from the Ubuntu container.

exit >_

Next, create a new image from the running Ubuntu container.

 docker commit $(docker ps -lq) ubuntu22-image >_

This will create a new custom image named ubuntu22-image on your client
server.

You can verify the created image using the following command.

docker images >_

You should see your newly created image in the following screenshot.

Verify the custom image

At this point, you have created a custom image called ubuntu22-image on the
client server.

Publishing a Custom Docker Image to the Private

Docker Registry

Now, you will need to upload this image from the client server to your private
docker registry so that users can download and reuse it.

First, use the docker login command on the client server to log in to your private
registry.

docker login [Link] >_

We will need credentials that we set up on the registry server to authenticate the
registry. After successfully authenticating to the registry. You should see the
following screen.
 Login to registry server

Next, tag your custom Ubuntu image that matches your registry server domain
name.

docker tag ubuntu22-image [Link]/ubuntu22-image >_

Next, verify the tagged image using the following command.

docker images >_

Verify tagged image

Finally, run the docker push command to upload your custom Ubuntu image to
the private Docker Registry.

docker push [Link]/ubuntu22-image >_

This will upload your custom image to the private registry server as shown below.

Upload image to registry server

At this point, you have uploaded the custom Ubuntu image to your private registry
server.

Pulling a Docker Image from the Private Docker

Registry

Now let’s test out pulling images from the registry.

Again, make sure you log into your private registry using the docker login
command.

docker login [Link] >_

Next, pull the Ubuntu image from the private registry to your client server.

docker pull [Link]/ubuntu22-image >_

After the successful download, you should see the following screen.

Download image from registry server

Now, run the docker run command to create a container from the downloaded
image.

docker run -it [Link]/ubuntu22-image /bin/bash >_

This will start the container and put you into the container shell like before.
 Run custom ubuntu image

Now, verify the NGINX which you installed earlier.

nginx -v >_

This will show you the NGINX version.

nginx version: nginx/1.18.0 (Ubuntu) >_

Now, log out from the running container using the exit command.

exit >_

Conclusion

In this guide, we’ve covered how to establish a private Docker registry server on
Linux, including setting up basic authentication, enabling SSL, creating a custom
image, and verifying the registry server. Docker registry is crucial for secure
image storage and management in modern software development.

With the knowledge you’ve gained today, you’re now prepared to implement
security best practices for Docker containers and images in an enterprise setting.

If you’ve enjoyed setting up your own Docker registry and are interested in further
boosting your container build processes, take a peek at Earthly. It’s a tool that
can help optimize your builds with its unique features like reproducible, portable,
and parallel builds.

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 Hitesh Hitesh Jethva
Jethva % Hitesh Jethva is a Linux system administrator and technical writer with
over 15 years of experience in Linux, DevOps, and Kubernetes. He’s
an active blogger and technical writer who loves Linux, Docker,
DevOps, and the cloud.

Updated: July 19, 2023

Published: June 13, 2023

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