Container Registries

Store, manage, and distribute container images across cloud and self-hosted registries.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

•Pushing and pulling container images
•Configuring registry authentication
•Setting up image retention policies
•Managing private container registries
•Implementing image scanning and security

Prerequisites

•Docker or Podman installed
•Cloud CLI tools (AWS CLI, az, gcloud) for respective registries
•Appropriate IAM permissions

Docker Hub

Authentication

bash

# Login
docker login

# Login with token
echo "$DOCKER_TOKEN" | docker login -u username --password-stdin

Push/Pull Images

bash

# Tag image
docker tag myapp:latest username/myapp:latest

# Push
docker push username/myapp:latest

# Pull
docker pull username/myapp:latest

Automated Builds

Configure in Docker Hub UI:

•Connect GitHub/Bitbucket repository
•Set build rules (branch → tag mapping)
•Configure build context and Dockerfile path

Amazon ECR

Setup

bash

# Create repository
aws ecr create-repository \
  --repository-name myapp \
  --image-scanning-configuration scanOnPush=true \
  --encryption-configuration encryptionType=AES256

# Get registry URI
REGISTRY=$(aws ecr describe-repositories \
  --repository-names myapp \
  --query 'repositories[0].repositoryUri' \
  --output text | cut -d'/' -f1)

Authentication

bash

# Login (Docker)
aws ecr get-login-password --region us-east-1 | \
  docker login --username AWS --password-stdin $REGISTRY

# Login with credential helper
# Add to ~/.docker/config.json:
{
  "credHelpers": {
    "123456789.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com": "ecr-login"
  }
}

Push/Pull

bash

# Tag and push
docker tag myapp:latest $REGISTRY/myapp:latest
docker push $REGISTRY/myapp:latest

# Pull
docker pull $REGISTRY/myapp:latest

Lifecycle Policy

bash

# Create lifecycle policy
aws ecr put-lifecycle-policy \
  --repository-name myapp \
  --lifecycle-policy-text '{
    "rules": [
      {
        "rulePriority": 1,
        "description": "Keep last 10 images",
        "selection": {
          "tagStatus": "any",
          "countType": "imageCountMoreThan",
          "countNumber": 10
        },
        "action": {
          "type": "expire"
        }
      }
    ]
  }'

Repository Policy

bash

# Allow cross-account access
aws ecr set-repository-policy \
  --repository-name myapp \
  --policy-text '{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
      {
        "Sid": "CrossAccountPull",
        "Effect": "Allow",
        "Principal": {
          "AWS": "arn:aws:iam::OTHER_ACCOUNT:root"
        },
        "Action": [
          "ecr:GetDownloadUrlForLayer",
          "ecr:BatchGetImage"
        ]
      }
    ]
  }'

Azure Container Registry (ACR)

Setup

bash

# Create registry
az acr create \
  --resource-group mygroup \
  --name myregistry \
  --sku Standard \
  --admin-enabled false

# Get login server
az acr show --name myregistry --query loginServer -o tsv

Authentication

bash

# Login with Azure CLI
az acr login --name myregistry

# Login with service principal
docker login myregistry.azurecr.io \
  -u $SP_APP_ID \
  -p $SP_PASSWORD

# Get access token
az acr login --name myregistry --expose-token

Push/Pull

bash

# Tag and push
docker tag myapp:latest myregistry.azurecr.io/myapp:latest
docker push myregistry.azurecr.io/myapp:latest

# ACR Build (build in cloud)
az acr build \
  --registry myregistry \
  --image myapp:latest \
  --file Dockerfile .

Retention Policy

bash

# Enable retention policy
az acr config retention update \
  --registry myregistry \
  --status enabled \
  --days 30 \
  --type UntaggedManifests

Geo-Replication

bash

# Enable replication
az acr replication create \
  --registry myregistry \
  --location westeurope

# List replications
az acr replication list --registry myregistry

Google Container Registry (GCR) / Artifact Registry

Setup (Artifact Registry)

bash

# Create repository
gcloud artifacts repositories create myrepo \
  --repository-format=docker \
  --location=us-central1 \
  --description="Docker repository"

Authentication

bash

# Configure Docker auth
gcloud auth configure-docker us-central1-docker.pkg.dev

# Or use credential helper
gcloud auth print-access-token | \
  docker login -u oauth2accesstoken --password-stdin \
  https://us-central1-docker.pkg.dev

Push/Pull

bash

# Tag for Artifact Registry
docker tag myapp:latest \
  us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/PROJECT_ID/myrepo/myapp:latest

# Push
docker push us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/PROJECT_ID/myrepo/myapp:latest

# Pull
docker pull us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/PROJECT_ID/myrepo/myapp:latest

Cleanup Policy

bash

# Create cleanup policy
gcloud artifacts repositories set-cleanup-policies myrepo \
  --location=us-central1 \
  --policy=policy.json

# policy.json
{
  "name": "delete-old",
  "action": {"type": "Delete"},
  "condition": {
    "olderThan": "30d",
    "tagState": "untagged"
  }
}

GitHub Container Registry (GHCR)

Authentication

bash

# Login with PAT
echo "$GITHUB_TOKEN" | docker login ghcr.io -u USERNAME --password-stdin

Push/Pull

bash

# Tag
docker tag myapp:latest ghcr.io/OWNER/myapp:latest

# Push
docker push ghcr.io/OWNER/myapp:latest

# Pull
docker pull ghcr.io/OWNER/myapp:latest

Visibility Settings

Configure in GitHub:

•Go to package settings
•Change visibility (public/private)
•Manage access for teams/users

Self-Hosted Registry

Deploy with Docker

bash

# Run registry
docker run -d -p 5000:5000 \
  --name registry \
  -v registry-data:/var/lib/registry \
  registry:2

# Configure TLS
docker run -d -p 443:5000 \
  --name registry \
  -v /certs:/certs \
  -v registry-data:/var/lib/registry \
  -e REGISTRY_HTTP_TLS_CERTIFICATE=/certs/domain.crt \
  -e REGISTRY_HTTP_TLS_KEY=/certs/domain.key \
  registry:2

Harbor Registry

bash

# Download Harbor
wget https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/releases/download/v2.9.0/harbor-online-installer-v2.9.0.tgz
tar xzvf harbor-online-installer-v2.9.0.tgz

# Configure harbor.yml
# Set hostname, https certificate, admin password

# Install
./install.sh --with-trivy --with-chartmuseum

Image Security

Vulnerability Scanning

bash

# ECR - Enable scan on push
aws ecr put-image-scanning-configuration \
  --repository-name myapp \
  --image-scanning-configuration scanOnPush=true

# Get scan results
aws ecr describe-image-scan-findings \
  --repository-name myapp \
  --image-id imageTag=latest

# ACR - Scan with Defender
az acr task create \
  --registry myregistry \
  --name scan-images \
  --cmd "mcr.microsoft.com/azure-cli az acr run-scan"

Image Signing

bash

# Enable content trust
export DOCKER_CONTENT_TRUST=1

# Sign image on push
docker push myregistry/myapp:latest

# Verify signature
docker trust inspect myregistry/myapp:latest

Common Issues

Issue: Authentication Expired

Problem: Push/pull fails with auth error Solution: Re-run login command, check credential helper

Issue: Image Not Found

Problem: Pull fails with manifest unknown Solution: Verify tag exists, check registry URL

Issue: Push Permission Denied

Problem: Cannot push to repository Solution: Check IAM permissions, verify repository exists

Issue: Rate Limiting (Docker Hub)

Problem: Too many requests error Solution: Authenticate for higher limits, use pull-through cache

Best Practices

•Enable vulnerability scanning on all repositories
•Implement lifecycle policies to manage storage costs
•Use immutable tags for production images
•Configure cross-region replication for availability
•Use service accounts/principals for CI/CD authentication
•Enable audit logging for compliance
•Implement image signing for supply chain security
•Use pull-through cache to avoid rate limits

Related Skills

•docker-management - Building images
•container-scanning - Security scanning
•aws-iam - AWS permissions