Private Docker Registries - Comparison

So you’ve decided to use containers. It’ll be fun they said.

Once committed to using a container service, an overhead becomes apparent: image storage.

While not completely necessary for a small, localized team; a distributed team will likely want the convenience of access over the Internet and fine grained access control.

If you’re going all in, you’ll be after a large number of repositories too.

I’ve been assessing SaaS solutions, so I thought I’d write about a few different options I’ve come across.

• Azure Container Registry (preview)
• Google Container Registry
• Amazon EC2 Container Registry
• Docker Hub

Comparison

Each option has packaged up a registry server for you such that you don’t need to manage the hardware side of things. However they do differ on features, capacity and cost.

Pricing

NB: prices in US dollars, charge rates as at Dec 2016

As a scenario to compare the variably priced providers with, let’s assume storage of 1TB and that much again each month in egress costs:

This is a simplistic comparison, your own team will want to extrapolate their real world needs in a similar fashion

Why Docker Hub?

Docker Hub may appear expensive at the big end; if you anticipate usage of up to 250 repositories, you’ll be paying $250 a month.

However it has some compelling features:

• Vulnerability scanning
• Github integration (e.g git push triggers a build)
• Web front end to show readme files and tags etc.
• Fixed monthly cost

For most teams, Docker hub is an excellent fixed cost solution with the most comprehensive set of features. Plans range from $0 - $250 a month depending on how many repositories you need.

Azure Container Service

Since I work primarily with Microsoft tech, I’m drawn to a solution that integrates with Active Directory.

Also, the Azure CR seems to strike a good balance on price of storage and bandwidth usage.

Integration with other Azure resources

Azure does align itself in terms of features fairly well with the AWS EC2 based solution, focusing on Microsoft stack integration:

• Azure Active Directory Integration
• Role based registry access
• Azure Container Service integration
• Visual Studio Team Services CI integration

One feature that sets it apart is a REST API - I couldn’t find a similar feature on the other providers, and this opens up automation possibilities not possible on other platforms.

As with other Azure resources it is really easy to setup

please use more sensible names than I did

Before you push your first image - you need to grab your connection details from the portal

Pushing up to your new private registry

1. With your credentials in tow, you can login to your registry with the docker CLI

Instructions here for setting up ACR to use AD principals

docker login fubar786123-on.azurecr.io -u fubar786123 -p xxxxxxx

This credential is then cached by docker, and can be refreshed either with the Azure CLI or on the Azure portal.

2. register the image on your registry, using a folder to keep things tidy

docker tag hello-world fubar786123-on.azurecr.io/samples/hello-world

3. now push it up for others to use

docker push fubar786123-on.azurecr.io/samples/hello-world

* prices fall after first TB uploaded (based on East US price, not avail. in Australia region)

** prices fall after first TB egressed (based on Australia price)

§ First 500MB per month for the first year free

† Depending on plan (max. 250 containers / builds)