# GitLab Container Registry administration > **Notes:** - [Introduced][ce-4040] in GitLab 8.8. - Container Registry manifest `v1` support was added in GitLab 8.9 to support Docker versions earlier than 1.10. - This document is about the admin guide. To learn how to use GitLab Container Registry [user documentation](../user/project/container_registry.md). With the Container Registry integrated into GitLab, every project can have its own space to store its Docker images. You can read more about the Container Registry at https://docs.docker.com/registry/introduction/. ## Enable the Container Registry **Omnibus GitLab installations** All you have to do is configure the domain name under which the Container Registry will listen to. Read [#container-registry-domain-configuration](#container-registry-domain-configuration) and pick one of the two options that fits your case. >**Note:** The container registry works under HTTPS by default. Using HTTP is possible but not recommended and out of the scope of this document. Read the [insecure Registry documentation][docker-insecure] if you want to implement this. --- **Installations from source** If you have installed GitLab from source: 1. You will have to [install Registry][registry-deploy] by yourself. 1. After the installation is complete, you will have to configure the Registry's settings in `gitlab.yml` in order to enable it. 1. Use the sample NGINX configuration file that is found under [`lib/support/nginx/registry-ssl`][registry-ssl] and edit it to match the `host`, `port` and TLS certs paths. The contents of `gitlab.yml` are: ``` registry: enabled: true host: registry.gitlab.example.com port: 5005 api_url: http://localhost:5000/ key: config/registry.key path: shared/registry issuer: gitlab-issuer ``` where: | Parameter | Description | | --------- | ----------- | | `enabled` | `true` or `false`. Enables the Registry in GitLab. By default this is `false`. | | `host` | The host URL under which the Registry will run and the users will be able to use. | | `port` | The port under which the external Registry domain will listen on. | | `api_url` | The internal API URL under which the Registry is exposed to. It defaults to `http://localhost:5000`. | | `key` | The private key location that is a pair of Registry's `rootcertbundle`. Read the [token auth configuration documentation][token-config]. | | `path` | This should be the same directory like specified in Registry's `rootdirectory`. Read the [storage configuration documentation][storage-config]. This path needs to be readable by the GitLab user, the web-server user and the Registry user. Read more in [#container-registry-storage-path](#container-registry-storage-path). | | `issuer` | This should be the same value as configured in Registry's `issuer`. Read the [token auth configuration documentation][token-config]. | >**Note:** A Registry init file is not shipped with GitLab if you install it from source. Hence, [restarting GitLab][restart gitlab] will not restart the Registry should you modify its settings. Read the upstream documentation on how to achieve that. At the absolute minimum, make sure your [Registry configuration][registry-auth] has `container_registry` as the service and `https://gitlab.example.com/jwt/auth` as the realm: ``` auth: token: realm: https://gitlab.example.com/jwt/auth service: container_registry issuer: gitlab-issuer rootcertbundle: /root/certs/certbundle ``` ## Container Registry domain configuration There are two ways you can configure the Registry's external domain. - Either [use the existing GitLab domain][existing-domain] where in that case the Registry will have to listen on a port and reuse GitLab's TLS certificate, - or [use a completely separate domain][new-domain] with a new TLS certificate for that domain. Since the container Registry requires a TLS certificate, in the end it all boils down to how easy or pricey is to get a new one. Please take this into consideration before configuring the Container Registry for the first time. ### Configure Container Registry under an existing GitLab domain If the Registry is configured to use the existing GitLab domain, you can expose the Registry on a port so that you can reuse the existing GitLab TLS certificate. Assuming that the GitLab domain is `https://gitlab.example.com` and the port the Registry is exposed to the outside world is `4567`, here is what you need to set in `gitlab.rb` or `gitlab.yml` if you are using Omnibus GitLab or installed GitLab from source respectively. >**Note:** Be careful to choose a port different than the one that Registry listens to (`5000` by default), otherwise you will run into conflicts . --- **Omnibus GitLab installations** 1. Your `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` should contain the Registry URL as well as the path to the existing TLS certificate and key used by GitLab: ```ruby registry_external_url 'https://gitlab.example.com:4567' ``` Note how the `registry_external_url` is listening on HTTPS under the existing GitLab URL, but on a different port. If your TLS certificate is not in `/etc/gitlab/ssl/gitlab.example.com.crt` and key not in `/etc/gitlab/ssl/gitlab.example.com.key` uncomment the lines below: ```ruby registry_nginx['ssl_certificate'] = "/path/to/certificate.pem" registry_nginx['ssl_certificate_key'] = "/path/to/certificate.key" ``` 1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab][] for the changes to take effect. --- **Installations from source** 1. Open `/home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml`, find the `registry` entry and configure it with the following settings: ``` registry: enabled: true host: gitlab.example.com port: 4567 ``` 1. Save the file and [restart GitLab][] for the changes to take effect. 1. Make the relevant changes in NGINX as well (domain, port, TLS certificates path). --- Users should now be able to login to the Container Registry with their GitLab credentials using: ```bash docker login gitlab.example.com:4567 ``` ### Configure Container Registry under its own domain If the Registry is configured to use its own domain, you will need a TLS certificate for that specific domain (e.g., `registry.example.com`) or maybe a wildcard certificate if hosted under a subdomain of your existing GitLab domain (e.g., `registry.gitlab.example.com`). Let's assume that you want the container Registry to be accessible at `https://registry.gitlab.example.com`. --- **Omnibus GitLab installations** 1. Place your TLS certificate and key in `/etc/gitlab/ssl/registry.gitlab.example.com.crt` and `/etc/gitlab/ssl/registry.gitlab.example.com.key` and make sure they have correct permissions: ```bash chmod 600 /etc/gitlab/ssl/registry.gitlab.example.com.* ``` 1. Once the TLS certificate is in place, edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` with: ```ruby registry_external_url 'https://registry.gitlab.example.com' ``` Note how the `registry_external_url` is listening on HTTPS. 1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab][] for the changes to take effect. > **Note:** If you have a [wildcard certificate][], you need to specify the path to the certificate in addition to the URL, in this case `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` will look like: > ```ruby registry_nginx['ssl_certificate'] = "/etc/gitlab/ssl/certificate.pem" registry_nginx['ssl_certificate_key'] = "/etc/gitlab/ssl/certificate.key" ``` --- **Installations from source** 1. Open `/home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml`, find the `registry` entry and configure it with the following settings: ``` registry: enabled: true host: registry.gitlab.example.com ``` 1. Save the file and [restart GitLab][] for the changes to take effect. 1. Make the relevant changes in NGINX as well (domain, port, TLS certificates path). --- Users should now be able to login to the Container Registry using their GitLab credentials: ```bash docker login registry.gitlab.example.com ``` ## Disable Container Registry site-wide >**Note:** Disabling the Registry in the Rails GitLab application as set by the following steps, will not remove any existing Docker images. This is handled by the Registry application itself. **Omnibus GitLab** 1. Open `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` and set `registry['enable']` to `false`: ```ruby registry['enable'] = false ``` 1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab][] for the changes to take effect. --- **Installations from source** 1. Open `/home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml`, find the `registry` entry and set `enabled` to `false`: ``` registry: enabled: false ``` 1. Save the file and [restart GitLab][] for the changes to take effect. ## Disable Container Registry for new projects site-wide If the Container Registry is enabled, then it will be available on all new projects. To disable this function and let the owners of a project to enable the Container Registry by themselves, follow the steps below. --- **Omnibus GitLab installations** 1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` and add the following line: ```ruby gitlab_rails['gitlab_default_projects_features_container_registry'] = false ``` 1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab][] for the changes to take effect. --- **Installations from source** 1. Open `/home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml`, find the `default_projects_features` entry and configure it so that `container_registry` is set to `false`: ``` ## Default project features settings default_projects_features: issues: true merge_requests: true wiki: true snippets: false builds: true container_registry: false ``` 1. Save the file and [restart GitLab][] for the changes to take effect. ## Container Registry storage path >**Note:** For configuring storage in the cloud instead of the filesystem, see the [storage driver configuration](#container-registry-storage-driver). If you want to store your images on the filesystem, you can change the storage path for the Container Registry, follow the steps below. This path is accessible to: - the user running the Container Registry daemon, - the user running GitLab > **Warning** You should confirm that all GitLab, Registry and web server users have access to this directory. --- **Omnibus GitLab installations** The default location where images are stored in Omnibus, is `/var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/shared/registry`. To change it: 1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`: ```ruby gitlab_rails['registry_path'] = "/path/to/registry/storage" ``` 1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab][] for the changes to take effect. --- **Installations from source** The default location where images are stored in source installations, is `/home/git/gitlab/shared/registry`. To change it: 1. Open `/home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml`, find the `registry` entry and change the `path` setting: ``` registry: path: shared/registry ``` 1. Save the file and [restart GitLab][] for the changes to take effect. ## Container Registry storage driver You can configure the Container Registry to use a different storage backend by configuring a different storage driver. By default the GitLab Container Registry is configured to use the filesystem driver, which makes use of [storage path](#container-registry-storage-path) configuration. The different supported drivers are: | Driver | Description | |------------|-------------------------------------| | filesystem | Uses a path on the local filesystem | | azure | Microsoft Azure Blob Storage | | gcs | Google Cloud Storage | | s3 | Amazon Simple Storage Service | | swift | OpenStack Swift Object Storage | | oss | Aliyun OSS | Read more about the individual driver's config options in the [Docker Registry docs][storage-config]. > **Warning** GitLab will not backup Docker images that are not stored on the filesystem. Remember to enable backups with your object storage provider if desired. > **Important** Enabling storage driver other than `filesystem` would mean that your Docker client needs to be able to access the storage backend directly. So you must use an address that resolves and is accessible outside GitLab server. --- **Omnibus GitLab installations** To configure the storage driver in Omnibus: 1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`: ```ruby registry['storage'] = { 's3' => { 'accesskey' => 's3-access-key', 'secretkey' => 's3-secret-key-for-access-key', 'bucket' => 'your-s3-bucket', 'region' => 'your-s3-region' } } ``` 1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab][] for the changes to take effect. --- **Installations from source** Configuring the storage driver is done in your registry config YML file created when you [deployed your docker registry][registry-deploy]. Example: ``` storage: s3: accesskey: 'AKIAKIAKI' secretkey: 'secret123' bucket: 'gitlab-registry-bucket-AKIAKIAKI' region: 'your-s3-region' cache: blobdescriptor: inmemory delete: enabled: true ``` ## Change the registry's internal port > **Note:** This is not to be confused with the port that GitLab itself uses to expose the Registry to the world. The Registry server listens on localhost at port `5000` by default, which is the address for which the Registry server should accept connections. In the examples below we set the Registry's port to `5001`. **Omnibus GitLab** 1. Open `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` and set `registry['registry_http_addr']`: ```ruby registry['registry_http_addr'] = "localhost:5001" ``` 1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab][] for the changes to take effect. --- **Installations from source** 1. Open the configuration file of your Registry server and edit the [`http:addr`][registry-http-config] value: ``` http addr: localhost:5001 ``` 1. Save the file and restart the Registry server. ## Disable Container Registry per project If Registry is enabled in your GitLab instance, but you don't need it for your project, you can disable it from your project's settings. Read the user guide on how to achieve that. ## Disable Container Registry but use GitLab as an auth endpoint You can disable the embedded Container Registry to use an external one, but still use GitLab as an auth endpoint. **Omnibus GitLab** 1. Open `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` and set necessary configurations: ```ruby registry['enable'] = false gitlab_rails['registry_enabled'] = true gitlab_rails['registry_host'] = "registry.gitlab.example.com" gitlab_rails['registry_port'] = "5005" gitlab_rails['registry_api_url'] = "http://localhost:5000" gitlab_rails['registry_key_path'] = "/var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/certificate.key" gitlab_rails['registry_path'] = "/var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/shared/registry" gitlab_rails['registry_issuer'] = "omnibus-gitlab-issuer" ``` 1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab][] for the changes to take effect. **Installations from source** 1. Open `/home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml`, and edit the configuration settings under `registry`: ``` ## Container Registry registry: enabled: true host: "registry.gitlab.example.com" port: "5005" api_url: "http://localhost:5000" path: /var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/shared/registry key: /var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/certificate.key issuer: omnibus-gitlab-issuer ``` 1. Save the file and [restart GitLab][] for the changes to take effect. ## Storage limitations Currently, there is no storage limitation, which means a user can upload an infinite amount of Docker images with arbitrary sizes. This setting will be configurable in future releases. ## Configure Container Registry notifications You can configure the Container Registry to send webhook notifications in response to events happening within the registry. Read more about the Container Registry notifications config options in the [Docker Registry notifications documentation][notifications-config]. >**Note:** Multiple endpoints can be configured for the Container Registry. **Omnibus GitLab installations** To configure a notification endpoint in Omnibus: 1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`: ```ruby registry['notifications'] = [ { 'name' => 'test_endpoint', 'url' => 'https://gitlab.example.com/notify', 'timeout' => '500ms', 'threshold' => 5, 'backoff' => '1s', 'headers' => { "Authorization" => ["AUTHORIZATION_EXAMPLE_TOKEN"] } } ] ``` 1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab][] for the changes to take effect. --- **Installations from source** Configuring the notification endpoint is done in your registry config YML file created when you [deployed your docker registry][registry-deploy]. Example: ``` notifications: endpoints: - name: alistener disabled: false url: https://my.listener.com/event headers: <http.Header> timeout: 500 threshold: 5 backoff: 1000 ``` ## Using self-signed certificates with Container Registry If you're using a self-signed certificate with your Container Registry, you might encounter issues during the CI jobs like the following: ``` Error response from daemon: Get registry.example.com/v1/users/: x509: certificate signed by unknown authority ``` The Docker daemon running the command expects a cert signed by a recognized CA, thus the error above. While GitLab doesn't support using self-signed certificates with Container Registry out of the box, it is possible to make it work if you follow [Docker's documentation][docker-insecure]. You may find some additional information in [issue 18239][ce-18239]. [ce-18239]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/18239 [docker-insecure]: https://docs.docker.com/registry/insecure/#using-self-signed-certificates [reconfigure gitlab]: restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure [restart gitlab]: restart_gitlab.md#installations-from-source [wildcard certificate]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcard_certificate [ce-4040]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/merge_requests/4040 [docker-insecure]: https://docs.docker.com/registry/insecure/ [registry-deploy]: https://docs.docker.com/registry/deploying/ [storage-config]: https://docs.docker.com/registry/configuration/#storage [registry-http-config]: https://docs.docker.com/registry/configuration/#http [registry-auth]: https://docs.docker.com/registry/configuration/#auth [token-config]: https://docs.docker.com/registry/configuration/#token [8-8-docs]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/blob/8-8-stable/doc/administration/container_registry.md [registry-ssl]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/blob/master/lib/support/nginx/registry-ssl [existing-domain]: #configure-container-registry-under-an-existing-gitlab-domain [new-domain]: #configure-container-registry-under-its-own-domain [notifications-config]: https://docs.docker.com/registry/notifications/ [registry-notifications-config]: https://docs.docker.com/registry/configuration/#notifications