Prerequisite

All examples in this guide use the public image. If you've mirrored the repository for your own use (for example, to your Docker Hub namespace), update your commands to reference the mirrored image instead of the public one.

For example:

• Public image: dhi.io/istio-proxyv2:<tag>
• Mirrored image: <your-namespace>/dhi-istio-proxyv2:<tag>

For the examples, you must first use docker login dhi.io to authenticate to the registry to pull the images.

What's included in this istio-proxyv2 image

This Docker Hardened Image includes:

• Istio proxy binaries and configuration
• Pilot-agent for managing the proxy lifecycle
• Enhanced security with non-root user operation (UID 1337)
• CIS compliance for runtime variants; FIPS 140 + STIG + CIS compliance for FIPS variants

Start an Istio Proxy v2 instance

Istio Proxy v2 is designed to function as a sidecar in a service mesh and requires an active Istio control plane. It cannot be run as a standalone container.

Install Istio control plane

First, install the Istio control plane on your Kubernetes cluster.

# Download and install istioctl
curl -L https://istio.io/downloadIstio | sh -
cd istio-*
export PATH=$PWD/bin:$PATH

# Install Istio with minimal profile
istioctl install --set profile=minimal -y

# Verify the control plane is running
kubectl get pods -n istio-system

Create a namespace with sidecar injection

Create a namespace and enable automatic Istio sidecar injection:

# Create namespace
kubectl create namespace istio-app

# Enable Istio sidecar injection
kubectl label namespace istio-app istio-injection=enabled

# Verify the label
kubectl get namespace istio-app --show-labels

Create an image pull secret

Create a Kubernetes secret so the cluster can pull images from the DHI registry:

kubectl create secret docker-registry dhi-registry-secret \
    --docker-server=dhi.io \
    --docker-username=<your-username> \
    --docker-password=<your-password> \
    -n istio-app

Deploy your application with the DHI sidecar

Create the deployment manifest with the DHI istio-proxyv2 sidecar:

cat > deployment.yaml << 'EOF'
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: example-deployment
  namespace: istio-app
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: example-app
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: example-app
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: example-app
          image: dhi.io/nginx:1-debian13
          ports:
            - containerPort: 8080
        - name: istio-proxy
          image: dhi.io/istio-proxyv2:1.30.3
          imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
          securityContext:
            runAsUser: 1337
      imagePullSecrets:
      - name: dhi-registry-secret
EOF

kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml

Verify the deployment

# Check pod status - both containers should show 2/2 READY
kubectl get pods -n istio-app

# Verify the sidecar is connected to the control plane
kubectl logs -n istio-app -l app=example-app -c istio-proxy --tail=10

You should see Envoy proxy is ready in the logs, confirming the sidecar has connected to the Istio control plane.

Common istio-proxyv2 use cases

Service mesh sidecar deployment

The primary use case is automatic sidecar injection in Kubernetes pods within an Istio service mesh.

Traffic management with virtual services

Create a VirtualService to manage traffic routing through the service mesh:

cat > virtual-service.yaml << 'EOF'
apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1
kind: VirtualService
metadata:
  name: example-app
  namespace: istio-app
spec:
  hosts:
  - example-app
  http:
  - route:
    - destination:
        host: example-app
        port:
          number: 8080
EOF

kubectl apply -f virtual-service.yaml

Verify mTLS is active

The DHI sidecar automatically handles mutual TLS between services:

# Check workload certificate status
kubectl logs -n istio-app -l app=example-app -c istio-proxy | grep -i "cert\|tls\|trust"

You should see entries confirming workload certificate generation and trust anchor caching.

Non-hardened images vs Docker Hardened Images

Key differences

Why no shell or package manager?

Docker Hardened Images prioritize security through minimalism:

• Reduced attack surface: Fewer binaries mean fewer potential vulnerabilities
• Immutable infrastructure: Runtime containers shouldn't be modified after deployment
• Compliance ready: Meets strict security requirements for regulated environments

The hardened images intended for runtime don't contain a shell nor any tools for debugging. Common debugging methods for applications built with Docker Hardened Images include:

• Docker Debug to attach to containers
• Docker's Image Mount feature to mount debugging tools
• Kubernetes-specific debugging with kubectl debug

Docker Debug provides a shell, common debugging tools, and lets you install other tools in an ephemeral, writable layer that only exists during the debugging session.

For Kubernetes environments, you can use kubectl debug:

kubectl debug -n istio-app pod/<pod-name> -it --image=busybox --target=istio-proxy

Or use Docker Debug if you have access to the node:

docker debug <container-id>

Image variants

Docker Hardened Images come in different variants depending on their intended use. Image variants are identified by their tag.

Runtime variants are designed to run the Istio proxy in production. These images:

• Run as the istio-proxy user (UID 1337)
• Do not include a shell or a package manager
• Contain only the minimal set of libraries needed to run the proxy
• Carry CIS compliance labels

FIPS variants are designed for environments that require FIPS 140 compliance. These images:

• Include FIPS-validated cryptographic libraries
• Carry FIPS 140, STIG, and CIS compliance labels
• Are slightly larger than runtime variants due to FIPS crypto libraries

To view the image variants and get more information about them, select the Tags tab for this repository, and then select a tag.

Migrate to a Docker Hardened Image

To migrate your application to a Docker Hardened Image, you must update your Dockerfile. At minimum, you must update the base image in your existing Dockerfile to a Docker Hardened Image. This and a few other common changes are listed in the following table of migration notes:

The following steps outline the general migration process.

1. Find hardened images for your app. A hardened image may have several variants. Inspect the image tags and find the image variant that meets your needs.

2. Update the base image in your Dockerfile. Update the base image in your application's Dockerfile to the hardened image you found in the previous step.

3. Verify permissions. Since the image runs as the istio-proxy user (UID 1337), ensure that data directories and mounted volumes are accessible to this user.

Troubleshoot migration

General debugging

The recommended method for debugging applications built with Docker Hardened Images is to use Docker Debug to attach to these containers. Docker Debug provides a shell, common debugging tools, and lets you install other tools in an ephemeral, writable layer that only exists during the debugging session.

Permissions

By default the DHI istio-proxyv2 runs as the istio-proxy user (UID 1337). Ensure that necessary files and directories are accessible to this user. You may need to copy files to different directories or change permissions so your application running as the nonroot user can access them.

Privileged ports

Hardened images run as a nonroot user by default. As a result, applications in these images can't bind to privileged ports (below 1024) when running in Kubernetes or in Docker Engine versions older than 20.10.

No shell

By default, image variants intended for runtime don't contain a shell. Use dev images in build stages to run shell commands and then copy any necessary artifacts into the runtime stage. In addition, use Docker Debug to debug containers with no shell.

Entry point

Docker Hardened Images may have different entry points than images such as Docker Official Images. Both the standard and DHI istio-proxyv2 images use /usr/local/bin/pilot-agent as the entrypoint. For other DHI images, use docker inspect to verify entry points and update your Dockerfile if necessary.