Container Registries

A container registry is a collection of repositories designed to efficiently store and distribute container images. SCE integrates with the most popular container registries, allowing you to use your existing build pipelines to create and manage your container images.

When a Container Group is created, Salad will automatically pull the image from your registry into a private container registry that is managed by Salad, allowing us to generate 1-time access tokens that are only distributed to specific machines that are designated to run your application.

Salad supports both Public and Private Registries, many providers offer both options depending on your specific requirements. A private registry allows users to store and distribute container images without making them publicly accessible. This allows for better control over the distribution of images, as well as the ability to keep proprietary or sensitive information secure.

Specifying the Container Image Source

When configuring a Container Group for deployment, you'll need to specify the source of the container image. If your image is hosted on the Docker Hub Registry, you don't need to include the registry name. If your image is hosted on another registry, such as GitHub Container Registry, you'll need to include the registry path. This path is similar to a URL, but doesn't contain a protocol specifier (e.g. https://). You may optionally append a tag, as well. Note that if no tag is supplied, the :latest tag will be used by default.

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Supported Image Manifest Specs

Only Docker v2 image manifest specs are currently supported. OCI image manifests are not yet supported, though we will be adding support for OCI soon. On Docker, you can check the image spec using the following command: 

docker manifest inspect $REMOTEIMAGESOURCE

If you're building using Docker, you can specify the output manifest spec using buildx:

docker buildx build \
-t $LOCALIMAGESOURCE \
--provenance=false \
--output type=docker \
.

Examples

  • Image hosted on Docker Hub, with the tag v1 -
    • Full URL: docker.io/myname/imagename:v1
    • Shortened URL: myname/myimagename:v1
  • Image hosted on GHCR, latest version - ghcr.io/myorg/imagename

Supported Registries

Details of using a Private Container Registry with SaladCloud will vary depending on the private registry used. Guides for supported registries are linked here:

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Missing a Registry?

We're working to expand the supported registries on SaladCloud. If you're using a registry not listed here, please get in touch!

Requirements

To use a registry, an image must first be pushed to the registry. This can be done using the docker push command, specifying the registry URL and the image name. Once the image is in the registry, it can be pulled and used to create a new Container Group through the Portal or the Public API.

  • Salad requires authentication details to pull images, but authentication details are only stored long enough to pull the image and place it into encrypted storage for distribution to the Salad Network.
  • When we distribute a workload to a node, we generate a 1 time access token, allowing only specific node(s) to download and run the container image
  • There currently a max image size of 20 GB (note: subject to change)
  • We pull and store images at moment of container group creation, so if the image is modified you will have to create a new container group

View Status When Creating a Container Group

  • While the image is being pulled and stored, the container group status will be "pending"
  • Once the image is ready, the container group status will change to stopped, and the container group can be started.

Failures

A few unique failures can occur when pulling an image from a registry

  • Failure to authenticate: This will occur if we are unable to authenticate to the private registry with the credentials provided. Double check the credentials are correct and try again.
  • Failure to store: This will occur if we are unable to store the container image. This should be a temporary condition so try again.
  • Image too large: This will occur if the container image is too large. You will need to use a smaller container image.

If issues persist, please contact support here.

Updated 4 months ago

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