Create your own private Docker registry by running the official registry image in a container

Not cloud-only, not fancy-pants proprietary magic: private Docker registries are surprisingly accessible, and yes, you can build one yourself by running a container with the registry image. Here’s the story behind that little truth and how you put it into practice without turning your workspace into a technical maze.

Let me explain the basic idea first

A private Docker registry is simply a server that stores your Docker images, away from the public Docker Hub. For teams, it’s a guarded library where you decide who can pull images, who can push new builds, and how those images are stored. The standout truth in the options you might see is option B: you can create your own registry by running a container with the official registry image. Docker ships an official registry image—registry:2—that you can pull from Docker Hub and run on your own hardware, on a cloud VM, or inside your company’s data center.

Why this is so appealing is almost practical poetry. It gives you control over your images, reduces dependency on external networks, and aligns with security and compliance needs. No mystery, just a container that behaves like a tiny, dedicated image library.

How to set it up in a few practical steps

Here’s a straightforward way to get started. You’ll notice this is less about knobs-on-knob fiddling and more about a clean, repeatable setup.

1. Start a registry container

• docker run -d -p 5000:5000 --name registry -v /opt/registry:/var/lib/registry registry:2

What this does is simple: it starts the registry, maps port 5000 so you can reach it, and uses a local directory on your host to store the images. If you’re in a laptop-while-on-call situation, this is a great way to prototype. If you’re in a real environment, you’ll probably want to add TLS and some access controls, which we’ll get to in a moment.

2. Push a test image

• Build or pull an image you’re comfortable with, tag it for your private registry (using an appropriate hostname or IP), then push.

• Example:

• docker tag hello-world localhost:5000/hello-world

• docker push localhost:5000/hello-world

When you pull on the same machine, it’s quick. When you’re collaborating, you’ll want a proper DNS name or IP plus a secure channel, which means a quick detour into TLS and a reverse proxy.

Make it safer without slowing you down

Security isn’t a box to check off; it’s the foundation that keeps teams honest and builds trust across CI/CD pipelines. A private registry can be configured to require authentication, to serve over TLS, and to back its storage with a reliable backend so you don’t lose images if a disk hiccup happens.

• TLS is your friend: ideally you’d serve the registry behind a reverse proxy (like Nginx or Traefik) that terminates TLS. That way, traffic between your developer machines and the registry is encrypted in transit.

• Authentication matters: a common approach is basic auth using htpasswd. Your CI system and developers would run docker login your-registry.example.com, supply credentials, and then push or pull as needed.

• Storage backends: while the simplest setup uses local filesystem storage, you can point the registry at S3-compatible storage, Azure Blob, or other object stores if your organization needs redundancy or offsite backups.

A quick, concrete outline for a TLS-enabled setup

If you want to avoid the “well, that sounds nice—how do I do it?” question popping up later, here’s a digestible path.

• Generate or obtain TLS certificates for your registry hostname.

• Put a reverse proxy in front of the registry. In simple terms, you’ll run Nginx with a server block for your registry, pointing to the registry container on port 5000.

• Force TLS and set up basic auth for access control.

Copilot-level tips

• Use a hostname like registry.company.local or registry.yourdomain.com so your team members don’t have to remember an IP.

• Keep the registry container and the host’s storage separate. It makes backups and migrations smoother.

• Document how to tag images for your private registry and how to authenticate it in your CI system. Clear instructions beat guesswork every time.

Debunking the myths you might have heard

• A says private registries can only be created on cloud services. Not true. You can run a registry on your own servers, laptops, or anywhere Docker runs. The beauty of containers is that you pick the environment that fits your needs.

• C says only Docker Hub can host a private registry. Also not true. Docker Hub is a public registry, but you control your own private registry with the registry image, or you can opt for higher-end solutions like Harbor, JFrog Artifactory, or AWS ECR if you want a managed service.

• D says private registries are only accessible over secure networks. Not a universal rule. You can expose a private registry over the internet with proper authentication and TLS, or keep it isolated on a private network for air-gapped setups. Each organization tunes this to its risk tolerance.

Bridging to the daily work life: why teams care

• Speed and autonomy: pulling images from a private registry on a local network is faster than going out to a public registry. That speed translates into shorter feedback loops during development and testing.

• Security and policy: with a private registry, you control what gets stored, who can push it, and how it’s scanned for vulnerabilities. You can enforce image signing, integrate with your existing security tooling, and keep sensitive builds off public networks.

• CI/CD synergy: imagine your build pipeline tagging a new image with the latest version, pushing it to the private registry, and then your deployment workflow pulling that exact image for staging or production. It’s a clean, auditable flow that reduces surprises.

A few practical tales from the trenches

• Small teams, big impact: a dev team running a private registry on a small VM cut image pull times by a noticeable margin. The team could keep internal tooling and experiment images inside a controlled space, which also meant fewer “is this image safe to deploy?” debates.

• On-prem constraints, big rewards: in regulated industries, air-gapped environments are common. A private registry that lives inside the company’s network becomes the backbone for a compliant, repeatable release process.

• Hybrid setups: some teams keep both a private registry for internal builds and a managed cloud registry for public-facing or partner-sharing images. This flexibility is one of the gaps that Docker’s ecosystem helps you fill without a lot of drama.

A concise reference you can actually use

• Start a baseline private registry: docker run -d -p 5000:5000 --name registry -v /opt/registry:/var/lib/registry registry:2

• Tag and push: docker tag my-app localhost:5000/my-app; docker push localhost:5000/my-app

• Basic security starter: set up htpasswd for a couple of users, then place a TLS-terminating reverse proxy in front of the registry, and require authentication at the proxy level.

• Storage choices: local filesystem for quick tests; S3-compatible storage for resilience and cross-region needs

Where to go next if you want to explore more

• Look into Harbor if you want a feature-rich private registry with role-based access control, image replication, and vulnerability scanning as built-in options.

• Explore cloud-native options like AWS ECR, Google Artifact Registry, or Azure Container Registry when you need a fully managed approach with tight integration into your cloud ecosystem.

• Practice with real-world pipelines: wire up a simple GitHub Actions or GitLab CI job that builds a container, pushes to your private registry, and deploys to a local Kubernetes cluster. The pattern repeats, and the wins compound.

In closing, the heart of the matter is simple: private registries aren’t a luxury; they’re a practical, flexible tool in modern software delivery. The true statement—“We can create our own registry by running a container with the registry image”—is a reminder that you don’t need to rely on someone else’s infrastructure to store your images. You can, and you should, tailor a solution that fits your team’s workflows, security posture, and speed of iteration.

If you’re wiring up a private registry for the first time, start small, stay deliberate, and gradually layer in TLS, authentication, and a robust storage backend. Your future self—and your teammates—will thank you for it. And who knows? That tiny registry you spin up in a weekend could become the steady backbone of your entire development lifecycle, quietly doing the heavy lifting so you can focus on building great software.