Technology · Ebook

Distribution: The Open-Source Container Registry

by Shriira Press

Distribution is the reference implementation of the OCI Distribution Specification: a stateless, scalable server that stores and serves container images and content-addressable artifacts. Born as the Docker Registry that powered Docker Hub and donated to the CNCF, it now underpins Docker Hub, GitHub and GitLab Container Registries, and the storage core of Harbor. This book explains what a registry really is and how this one works — the content-addressed model of blobs, manifests, and tags; the Registry HTTP API V2 every client speaks; pluggable storage drivers for filesystem, S3, GCS, and Azure; token-based authentication; garbage collection; and the configuration that ties it together, including pull-through caching and notifications. A closing chapter shows how Distribution is run in practice and where it fits in the cloud-native ecosystem.

Contents

1. 1Preface
2. 2Chapter 1 — What Distribution Is
3. 3Chapter 2 — Content Addressing: Blobs, Manifests, and Tags
4. 4Chapter 3 — The Registry HTTP API
5. 5Chapter 4 — Storage Drivers
6. 6Chapter 5 — Authentication and Token Services
7. 7Chapter 6 — Garbage Collection
8. 8Chapter 7 — Running and Configuring the Registry
9. 9Chapter 8 — Distribution in Practice