Run the CNCF Distribution registry as a registry:3 container on your VPS, give it a DNS name, protect the endpoint with a certificate trusted by your clients, and add authentication before exposing it to the internet. Store the registry data on durable VPS storage or an object-storage backend, then tag, push, and pull images using the registry hostname.
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What a private registry on a VPS actually does
A Docker registry is an HTTP service that stores image manifests and layer blobs and serves them back to clients. In a small self-hosted deployment, the registry is an instance of the CNCF Distribution software, normally started from the official registry:3 image. Your VPS supplies the network address, firewall, compute, and persistent storage; Distribution supplies the registry API.
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A typical request path looks like this:
Developer or CI client
|
| HTTPS on registry.example.com:443
v
TLS endpoint (Distribution itself or a reverse proxy)
|
v
registry:3 container
|
v
Persistent filesystem or object-storage backendClients address repositories by hostname, such as registry.example.com/team/api. The hostname is part of the image reference, so changing it later means retagging images and updating automation. Decide on a stable name before you distribute pull instructions.
Requirements and decisions before installation
| Requirement | What you need | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| VPS | A Linux host able to run Docker Engine, with enough disk, CPU, memory, and network capacity for your repository count, layer sizes, concurrent pushes and pulls, and backup window. | No authoritative source establishes a universal CPU, RAM, bandwidth, or image-capacity number. Measure your workload instead of choosing a supposed minimum. |
| DNS | A record such as registry.example.com pointing to the VPS address. |
Docker clients and certificate authorities must resolve the same public name. |
| Routing and firewall | Inbound TCP 443 for registry clients and a restricted administration path, normally SSH. Allow port 80 only when your certificate process requires HTTP validation. | The registry must be reachable externally while unrelated services remain closed. |
| TLS certificate | A certificate issued by a trusted certificate authority for the exact registry hostname. | Docker clients reject an untrusted HTTPS endpoint unless you deliberately install trust material or configure an insecure test registry. |
| Persistent storage | A durable VPS volume mounted into the container, or S3-, Microsoft Azure-, or Google Cloud Storage-compatible backend. | Container recreation must not delete image data. |
| Access policy | At least one authenticated account for a private registry; repository-scoped bearer-token authorization for larger teams or multiple repositories. | Authentication without an authorization design often gives every user more access than intended. |
Keep the registry on a host and network segment you can patch and monitor. Distribution documentation describes the default local POSIX filesystem driver as suitable for development or small deployments; object storage becomes attractive when you need independent storage durability or multiple registry instances.
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Before configuring DNS, certificates, or credentials, verify that Docker can start the image:
docker run -d -p 5000:5000 --restart=always --name registry registry:3This publishes the registry’s HTTP port on the VPS’s port 5000. It is a test configuration, not an internet-facing production setup: it has no TLS, no access control, and no durable volume. Use it on an isolated host or remove it after confirming that the container starts:
docker ps
docker logs registryThe official image’s local workflow uses localhost:5000 for testing. A client can tag and push a test image with that hostname, then pull it back to verify the registry API and local storage.
Production deployment: an ordered setup
1. Point DNS at the VPS
- Create an A or AAAA record for your chosen registry hostname.
- Wait until the name resolves from the networks where clients and certificate validation will run.
- Confirm that no other service is claiming the same public address and port.
Use the hostname in every later certificate, login command, image tag, and CI secret. Accessing the service by its IP address will produce a certificate-name mismatch when the certificate covers only the DNS name.
2. Set the firewall before opening the service
Allow inbound HTTPS (TCP 443) and your restricted administration port. Keep the registry’s internal listening port, commonly 5000, private when a reverse proxy handles public traffic. If Distribution itself binds to 443, do not also bind another process there. Restrict SSH to trusted source addresses where your VPS firewall supports it.
3. Create a durable data location
Choose a host directory or mounted volume that survives container replacement. Distribution’s filesystem driver stores content below the configured root directory. The environment variable form is:
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REGISTRY_STORAGE_FILESYSTEM_ROOTDIRECTORY=/var/lib/registryThe equivalent YAML setting is:
storage:
filesystem:
rootdirectory: /var/lib/registryMount the host’s durable directory at /var/lib/registry in the container. Check free space and inode availability, not only the nominal volume size: many small layers can consume substantial inode counts. Keep configuration files, TLS keys, and credential files outside the image so upgrades do not overwrite them.
4. Obtain and renew a trusted certificate
Use a certificate authority trusted by the Docker clients. Distribution documentation supports automated certificates through Let’s Encrypt, or you can obtain and renew a certificate with a separate ACME client. Renewal must replace the certificate files before expiry and reload or restart the endpoint that terminates TLS.
Plain HTTP and untrusted self-signed certificates are appropriate only for isolated testing. CNCF Distribution’s guidance is explicit: “A production-ready registry must be protected by TLS and should ideally use an access-control mechanism.”
5. Choose where TLS terminates
Option A: terminate TLS in Distribution
Mount the certificate directory into the container and set REGISTRY_HTTP_TLS_CERTIFICATE and REGISTRY_HTTP_TLS_KEY to the container paths. A direct HTTPS launch can look like this after you have created the host directories and copied the certificate and key:
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--name registry
--restart=always
-p 443:5000
-v /srv/registry/data:/var/lib/registry
-v /srv/registry/certs:/certs:ro
-e REGISTRY_STORAGE_FILESYSTEM_ROOTDIRECTORY=/var/lib/registry
-e REGISTRY_HTTP_TLS_CERTIFICATE=/certs/fullchain.pem
-e REGISTRY_HTTP_TLS_KEY=/certs/privkey.pem
registry:3Here the container still listens on its internal port 5000 while the VPS publishes HTTPS on 443. Protect the private key with restrictive host permissions and ensure the Docker daemon can read the mounted file.
Option B: terminate TLS at a reverse proxy
If the VPS already runs a web server, Distribution’s configuration reference allows TLS to be configured there instead of inside the registry. The proxy listens on 443, presents the certificate, and forwards requests to the registry’s private HTTP listener on port 5000. Bind that listener to localhost or a private interface and firewall it from the public internet.
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A reverse proxy is useful when one host serves several HTTPS applications, because certificate renewal, HTTP-to-HTTPS redirects, request logging, and port 443 ownership stay in one place. It adds another component to patch and troubleshoot. Whichever component terminates TLS must preserve the registry’s HTTP methods, headers, request bodies, and long-running layer uploads; overly restrictive proxy limits commonly break large pushes.
Authentication and authorization
Basic authentication for a small team
Distribution natively supports HTTP basic authentication with an htpasswd file. Create the file on the host, mount it read-only, and configure the registry to use the htpasswd authentication scheme and the file path. Use a bcrypt-generated entry where your tooling supports it, and give each person a separate account so you can revoke one credential without changing everyone else’s password.
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Basic authentication is acceptable for a small, single-team registry only when TLS is enabled. Distribution’s insecure-registry documentation states: “It’s not possible to use an insecure registry with basic authentication.” Credentials sent over plain HTTP can be intercepted, and Docker will not treat that arrangement as a safe private registry.
After enabling authentication, test both an authenticated push and an unauthenticated request. An unauthenticated client should receive a 401 response rather than a successful catalog or pull.
Bearer-token authorization for multiple repositories
Docker’s documented registry protocol is challenge-based:
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- The client attempts an operation such as a pull or push.
- The registry returns
401 Unauthorizedwith aWWW-Authenticatechallenge. - The client asks an authorization service for a bearer token, presenting the challenge details and its credentials.
- The client retries the original operation with that token.
A token service can issue repository-scoped permissions, for example read-only access to team/frontend and push access to team/backend. This is safer than sharing one password across all repositories and is the better design for CI systems, contractors, or several independent teams. The registry and token service must agree on issuer, service name, signing keys, and scopes; a mismatch appears to clients as repeated unauthorized responses even when the username and password are correct.
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Where pushed images are stored
Local filesystem backend
With the filesystem driver, Distribution writes manifests, configuration metadata, and content-addressed layer blobs below the root directory you configured. They are on the VPS volume, not inside the temporary writable layer of the container. Deleting and recreating the container is safe when the host directory remains mounted; deleting that directory destroys the registry’s data.
This backend is simple and has no separate service bill, but the VPS volume becomes a single durability domain. Disk failure, accidental deletion, or a full filesystem can make every repository unavailable.
Object-storage backends
Distribution also supports S3, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Storage drivers. Object storage separates image durability from the lifecycle of the VPS and can let you replace the compute host without copying every layer first. It introduces credentials, endpoint configuration, access-policy management, and a storage bill. Keep object-storage credentials in a secret mechanism or protected environment file rather than in a public repository.
| Backend | Best fit | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| VPS filesystem | One small registry, low operational complexity, predictable local latency. | Storage and compute fail together; you must manage volume backups and capacity. |
| S3-compatible storage | Independent durability, portability, or several registry instances. | Requires bucket credentials, network access, lifecycle policy, and ongoing storage/egress accounting. |
| Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud Storage | Organizations already standardized on that provider’s identity and backup controls. | Provider-specific configuration and permissions add setup work. |
Backups, retention, and garbage collection
Back up image data and the material needed to operate the registry: configuration, TLS renewal state, authentication files or token-service keys, and any object-storage policy definitions. A backup that contains blobs but not the credentials or configuration may be impossible to restore quickly.
Define retention before the disk fills. Decide how long to keep old tags, whether CI-generated tags expire, and who approves deletion. Distribution’s storage settings do not provide a universal retention schedule; your policy must reflect release, rollback, and compliance needs.
When unreferenced layers accumulate, plan a maintenance window for Distribution’s garbage-collection operation. Follow the version-specific procedure for your deployment, stop or quiesce pushes as required, take a backup first, and verify that no still-needed manifest references the layers selected for deletion. Monitor both filesystem usage and object-storage growth after the cleanup.
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Push and pull from a Docker client
Once DNS, TLS, and authentication work, tag an existing image with the registry hostname. The official deployment example uses these commands:
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docker tag ubuntu:16.04 myregistry.domain.com/my-ubuntu
docker push myregistry.domain.com/my-ubuntu
docker pull myregistry.domain.com/my-ubuntuFor a private registry, authenticate before the push:
docker login myregistry.domain.comUse the same hostname that appears in the certificate. Do not add a path such as /v2 to the image name; Docker adds the registry API paths itself. In CI, store the login credential in the platform’s secret store and prefer short-lived, least-privilege tokens when your authorization service supports them.
A successful push uploads any missing layers, then publishes a manifest under the repository name and tag. Subsequent pushes reuse layers already present, while a new tag can point to an existing manifest without duplicating its blobs.
Testing the finished endpoint
- Resolve the DNS name from an external network and confirm it reaches the intended VPS.
- Open an HTTPS connection and verify the certificate subject or SAN contains the exact hostname.
- Run
docker loginwith a valid account and confirm that an invalid password is rejected. - Push a small test image, remove the local copy, and pull it again from the registry.
- Test a user or token that should have read-only access and confirm that a push is denied.
- Restart the registry container and verify that the previously pushed image is still available.
- Check that backups include the data directory or object-storage contents and the authentication/TLS configuration.
Troubleshooting common failures
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| DNS resolves, but the connection times out. | VPS firewall, cloud firewall, or routing blocks TCP 443. | Allow 443 on every firewall layer and confirm the service is listening on the expected interface. |
| Certificate is not trusted or the name is wrong. | The certificate is self-signed, expired, missing an intermediate, or issued for a different hostname. | Install a complete CA-issued chain for the registry DNS name and renew it before expiry. |
502 Bad Gateway from a reverse proxy. |
The proxy cannot reach the registry’s internal port, or the container is stopped. | Inspect container logs, verify the private listener address and port, and test connectivity from the proxy host. |
| Every operation returns 401. | Credentials are wrong, the auth file is not mounted, or a bearer-token issuer/scope setting is inconsistent. | Inspect the challenge header and registry/auth-service logs; verify the mounted path and repository scope. |
| Push fails partway through a large layer. | Proxy request-size, timeout, buffering, or body-handling limits interrupt the upload. | Raise appropriate proxy limits, preserve streaming request bodies, and check for disk exhaustion. |
| Images disappear after a container replacement. | The registry data path was not mounted to durable storage. | Mount a persistent host volume or configure an object-storage driver, then restore from backup if necessary. |
| Pulls or pushes fail with “no space left on device.” | The VPS filesystem or inode pool is full. | Remove data only through an approved retention and garbage-collection process, then expand storage or migrate the backend. |
| Docker refuses an HTTP endpoint. | The registry is exposed without TLS and the client has not been deliberately configured for an insecure test registry. | Put the endpoint behind trusted HTTPS; reserve insecure mode for an isolated lab. |
Security and maintenance checklist
- Use a certificate issued by a trusted authority for internet-facing access.
- Expose only required ports; keep the registry’s internal port private when a proxy terminates TLS.
- Enable authentication and grant repository-level permissions rather than a shared, unrestricted password.
- Protect private keys, htpasswd files, token signing keys, and object-storage credentials with restrictive permissions.
- Persist image data and test restoration, not merely backup creation.
- Monitor disk, inode, object-storage, certificate-expiry, container-health, and failed-authentication signals.
- Document retention and garbage-collection approvals before storage pressure becomes an outage.
- Keep Distribution, Docker Engine, the VPS operating system, and any reverse-proxy packages patched.
- Review who can administer the VPS separately from who can push to repositories.
Choosing the simplest architecture that will last
| Decision | Simpler choice | When to choose the more elaborate choice |
|---|---|---|
| TLS termination | Distribution directly on 443. | Use a reverse proxy when the host already serves several HTTPS applications or centralizes certificate management. |
| Authentication | Basic authentication with individual htpasswd accounts. | Use a bearer-token authorization service for repository-scoped permissions, many users, or automated workloads. |
| Storage | Durable local VPS filesystem. | Use S3, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Storage when storage must outlive the VPS or be shared by multiple registry instances. |
| Host layout | One VPS running the registry and its firewall. | Separate proxy, registry, and storage when isolation, independent scaling, or organizational controls justify the extra operations. |
There is no published universal capacity figure for this software. Size the VPS from the total compressed layer volume, expected simultaneous uploads and downloads, backup throughput, and the amount of headroom you need for releases and garbage collection. Start with the architecture you can patch and restore reliably; add a proxy, token service, or object storage when a concrete operational requirement appears.
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