How to setup a docker registry

Docker Registry is an application that manages storing and delivering Docker container images. Registries centralize container images and reduce build times for developers. Docker images guarantee the same runtime environment through virtualization, but building an image can involve a significant time investment. For example, rather than installing dependencies and packages separately to use Docker, developers can download a compressed image from a registry that contains all of the necessary components. Furthermore, developers can automate pushing images to a registry using continuous integration tools, such as TravisCI, to seamlessly update images during production and development.

Docker also has a free public registry, Docker Hub, that can host your custom Docker images, but there are situations where you will not want your image to be publicly available. Images typically contain all the code necessary to run an application, so using a private registry is preferable when using proprietary software.

 

In this tutorial, you will set up and secure your own private Docker Registry. You will use Docker Compose to define configurations to run your Docker applications and Nginx to forward server traffic from HTTPS to the running Docker container. Once you’ve completed this tutorial, you will be able to push a custom Docker image to your private registry and pull the image securely from a remote server.