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Build your own Docker images

Kong is distributed as prebuilt apk, deb and rpm packages, in addition to official Docker images hosted on DockerHub

Kong builds and verifies Debian and RHEL images for use in production. Alpine images are provided for development purposes only as they contain development tooling such as git for plugin development purposes.

The Debian and RHEL images are built with minimal dependencies (as of Kong Gateway 3.0) and run through automated security scanners before being published. Any vulnerabilities detected in supported images will be addressed in the next available patch release.

If you would like to build your own images to further customise the base image and any dependencies, follow the instructions below:

1. Download docker-entrypoint.sh script from docker-kong and make it executable:

   chmod +x docker-entrypoint.sh
   

2. Download the Kong Gateway package:
   • Debian: .deb.

   • Ubuntu: .deb.

   • Alpine: .apk

   • RHEL: .rpm

3. Create a Dockerfile, ensuring you replace the filename by the first COPY with the name of the Kong Gateway file you downloaded in step 2:

   Debian

   Ubuntu

   RHEL

   Alpine

   
   FROM debian:bullseye-slim
      
   COPY kong.deb /tmp/kong.deb
      
   RUN set -ex; \
       apt-get update \
       && apt-get install --yes /tmp/kong.deb \
       && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
       && rm -rf /tmp/kong.deb \
       && chown kong:0 /usr/local/bin/kong \
       && chown -R kong:0 /usr/local/kong \
       && ln -s /usr/local/openresty/luajit/bin/luajit /usr/local/bin/luajit \
       && ln -s /usr/local/openresty/luajit/bin/luajit /usr/local/bin/lua \
       && ln -s /usr/local/openresty/nginx/sbin/nginx /usr/local/bin/nginx \
       && kong version
      
   COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /docker-entrypoint.sh
      
   USER kong
      
   ENTRYPOINT ["/docker-entrypoint.sh"]
      
   EXPOSE 8000 8443 8001 8444 8002 8445 8003 8446 8004 8447
      
   STOPSIGNAL SIGQUIT
      
   HEALTHCHECK --interval=10s --timeout=10s --retries=10 CMD kong health
      
   CMD ["kong", "docker-start"]

   
   FROM ubuntu:20.04
      
   COPY kong.deb /tmp/kong.deb
      
   RUN set -ex; \
       apt-get update \
       && apt-get install --yes /tmp/kong.deb \
       && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
       && rm -rf /tmp/kong.deb \
       && chown kong:0 /usr/local/bin/kong \
       && chown -R kong:0 /usr/local/kong \
       && ln -s /usr/local/openresty/luajit/bin/luajit /usr/local/bin/luajit \
       && ln -s /usr/local/openresty/luajit/bin/luajit /usr/local/bin/lua \
       && ln -s /usr/local/openresty/nginx/sbin/nginx /usr/local/bin/nginx \
       && kong version
      
   COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /docker-entrypoint.sh
      
   USER kong
      
   ENTRYPOINT ["/docker-entrypoint.sh"]
      
   EXPOSE 8000 8443 8001 8444 8002 8445 8003 8446 8004 8447
      
   STOPSIGNAL SIGQUIT
      
   HEALTHCHECK --interval=10s --timeout=10s --retries=10 CMD kong health
      
   CMD ["kong", "docker-start"]

   
   FROM registry.access.redhat.com/ubi8/ubi:8.1
      
   COPY kong.rpm /tmp/kong.rpm
      
   RUN set -ex; \
       yum install -y /tmp/kong.rpm \
       && rm /tmp/kong.rpm \
       && chown kong:0 /usr/local/bin/kong \
       && chown -R kong:0 /usr/local/kong \
       && ln -s /usr/local/openresty/luajit/bin/luajit /usr/local/bin/luajit \
       && ln -s /usr/local/openresty/luajit/bin/luajit /usr/local/bin/lua \
       && ln -s /usr/local/openresty/nginx/sbin/nginx /usr/local/bin/nginx \
       && kong version
      
   COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /docker-entrypoint.sh
      
   USER kong
      
   ENTRYPOINT ["/docker-entrypoint.sh"]
      
   EXPOSE 8000 8443 8001 8444 8002 8445 8003 8446 8004 8447
      
   STOPSIGNAL SIGQUIT
      
   HEALTHCHECK --interval=10s --timeout=10s --retries=10 CMD kong health
      
   CMD ["kong", "docker-start"]

   
   FROM alpine:latest
      
   COPY kong.apk.tar.gz /tmp/kong.apk.tar.gz
      
   RUN set -ex; \
       apk add --no-cache --virtual .build-deps tar gzip \
       && tar -C / -xzf /tmp/kong.apk.tar.gz \
       && apk add --no-cache libstdc++ libgcc openssl pcre perl tzdata libcap zlib zlib-dev bash curl ca-certificates \
       && adduser -S kong \
       && addgroup -S kong \
       && mkdir -p "/usr/local/kong" \
       && chown -R kong:0 /usr/local/kong \
       && chown kong:0 /usr/local/bin/kong \
       && chmod -R g=u /usr/local/kong \
       && rm -rf /tmp/kong.tar.gz \
       && ln -s /usr/local/openresty/luajit/bin/luajit /usr/local/bin/luajit \
       && ln -s /usr/local/openresty/luajit/bin/luajit /usr/local/bin/lua \
       && ln -s /usr/local/openresty/nginx/sbin/nginx /usr/local/bin/nginx \
       && apk del .build-deps \
       && kong version
      
   COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /docker-entrypoint.sh
      
   USER kong
      
   ENTRYPOINT ["/docker-entrypoint.sh"]
      
   EXPOSE 8000 8443 8001 8444 8002 8445 8003 8446 8004 8447
      
   STOPSIGNAL SIGQUIT
      
   HEALTHCHECK --interval=10s --timeout=10s --retries=10 CMD kong health
      
   CMD ["kong", "docker-start"]

4. Build your image:

    docker build --platform linux/amd64 --no-cache -t kong-image .
   

5. Test that the image built correctly:

    docker run -it --rm kong-image kong version
   

6. To run Kong Gateway and process traffic, follow the Docker install instructions, replacing the image name with your custom name.