Docker Registry powered by the CNCF Distribution project 3.1 on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS by cloudimg. A private container image registry with a per VM credential generated on first boot (no anonymous access), TLS on port 443 with a self signed certificate you can replace, and image blobs on a dedicated Azure data disk. Apache 2.0 licensed. 24/7 expert support.
## Docker Registry (Distribution) 3.1 on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS by cloudimg
Docker Registry is powered by the CNCF Distribution project, the reference open source container image registry that Docker Hub and most private registries are built on. It is a stateless, highly scalable server application that stores and distributes OCI and Docker container images. The cloudimg image installs the official pinned Distribution v3.1.1 release binary at /opt/registry/registry, verified against a sha256 checksum, and runs it directly under systemd as a dedicated registry system user. Docker itself is not required to run the registry. Backed by 24/7 expert support.
No Anonymous Access
A registry with no authentication is an open push and pull surface. The registry binary binds to loopback only (127.0.0.1:5000) with no auth at that layer, and nginx is the sole network facing surface. On the first boot of every VM a random admin credential is generated into a bcrypt htpasswd file and a fresh self signed TLS certificate is regenerated with the VM public IP and hostname in its subject alternative names. Anonymous requests to the registry API return HTTP 401 with a Basic authentication challenge; only the per VM credential is accepted, and it is stored in a root only file.
Dedicated Data Disk
Image blobs live on a dedicated, independently resizable Azure data disk mounted at /var/lib/registry, separate from the OS disk and re provisioned with every VM. For larger deployments the storage backend can be switched to Azure Blob or S3.
What is Included
* Docker Registry powered by CNCF Distribution v3.1.1, the official pinned release binary, run under systemd
* The registry API bound to loopback only, fronted by nginx with TLS on port 443 and htpasswd Basic auth
* A per VM admin credential generated on first boot and stored in /root/registry-credentials.txt
* A self signed TLS certificate regenerated per VM on first boot, ready to replace with your own
* A dedicated Azure data disk at /var/lib/registry holding the image blobs
* registry.service and nginx.service as systemd units, enabled and active
Use Cases
A self hosted private registry for your own container images, a distribution point for CI and CD pipelines, an air gapped or on premises image store, and a fully controlled alternative to hosted registry services.
Docker Registry is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. All product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.