How to use this image

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/openshift-console:4.22
• Mirrored image: <your-namespace>/dhi-openshift-console:4.22

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

This Docker Hardened image packages the console used by Red Hat® OpenShift® and OKD: its Go backend, bridge, together with the compiled React/TypeScript frontend. bridge is a reverse proxy and API gateway that serves the frontend's static assets and proxies authenticated requests to the Kubernetes API server, OAuth, and in-cluster services such as Alertmanager, Thanos, Prometheus, and GitOps.

Start an OpenShift Console instance

The console requires cluster-specific configuration for normal use. This local smoke test starts the server with authentication disabled and a deliberately unreachable API endpoint, which is enough to verify the health endpoint and static UI without granting access to a real cluster:

$ docker run -d --name openshift-console -p 127.0.0.1:9000:9000 \
    dhi.io/openshift-console:4.22 \
    /usr/local/bin/openshift-console \
    --public-dir=/opt/bridge/static \
    --listen=http://0.0.0.0:9000 \
    --k8s-mode=off-cluster \
    --k8s-mode-off-cluster-endpoint=https://127.0.0.1:6443 \
    --user-auth=disabled \
    --k8s-auth-bearer-token=local-smoke-test
$ curl --fail http://127.0.0.1:9000/health
$ docker rm --force openshift-console

This smoke test binds only to loopback. The page loads, but cluster-backed API calls fail because the example endpoint does not exist. For a functional console, use one of the cluster-connected configurations below. To inspect every supported flag, run docker run --rm dhi.io/openshift-console:4.22 /usr/local/bin/openshift-console --help.

Common openshift-console use cases

Run in-cluster with a Kubernetes Deployment

This is how the console actually runs in production: as a Pod, reading the Pod's automatically-mounted service account token and CA certificate to reach the API server.

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: console
  namespace: openshift-console
spec:
  replicas: 2
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: console
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: console
    spec:
      serviceAccountName: console
      containers:
        - name: console
          image: dhi.io/openshift-console:4.22
          # The image ships no entrypoint (the binary is its CMD), so name the
          # binary in command: and pass flags as args:.
          command:
            - /usr/local/bin/openshift-console
          args:
            - --public-dir=/opt/bridge/static
            - --listen=https://0.0.0.0:8443
            - --base-address=https://console.apps.example.com
            - --user-auth=openshift
            - --user-auth-oidc-client-id=console
            - --user-auth-oidc-client-secret-file=/var/run/secrets/console-auth/client-secret
            - --tls-cert-file=/var/run/secrets/console-tls/tls.crt
            - --tls-key-file=/var/run/secrets/console-tls/tls.key
          ports:
            - name: https
              containerPort: 8443
          volumeMounts:
            - name: console-auth
              mountPath: /var/run/secrets/console-auth
              readOnly: true
            - name: console-tls
              mountPath: /var/run/secrets/console-tls
              readOnly: true
          readinessProbe:
            httpGet:
              path: /health
              port: https
              scheme: HTTPS
          livenessProbe:
            httpGet:
              path: /health
              port: https
              scheme: HTTPS
      volumes:
        - name: console-auth
          secret:
            secretName: console-oauth-client
        - name: console-tls
          secret:
            secretName: console-tls

--k8s-mode defaults to in-cluster, so no flag is needed for it. Kubernetes automatically mounts the console service account's token and CA certificate at /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/, which is what bridge reads to authenticate to the API server. /health is an unauthenticated liveness/readiness endpoint served by bridge itself.

This Deployment assumes that the namespace already contains:

• A console-tls TLS Secret valid for console.apps.example.com.
• A console-oauth-client Secret whose client-secret key matches an OpenShift OAuthClient named console, with https://console.apps.example.com/auth/callback registered as a redirect URI.
• A console ServiceAccount with the RBAC permissions required by the console.

The OpenShift console-operator normally creates and rotates these resources, adds the cluster service CA, configures monitoring and plugin endpoints, and exposes the Deployment through a Service and Route. Use the manifest above only when you intentionally manage those dependencies yourself.

For the full set of flags and how the operator wires them together, see the console-operator⁠ repository and the OpenShift web console documentation⁠.

Run off-cluster for local development

To point the console at an existing cluster from outside it, for example on a developer workstation, use --k8s-mode=off-cluster with a bearer token instead of the in-cluster service account:

$ docker run --rm -p 127.0.0.1:9000:9000 \
    -e BRIDGE_K8S_MODE=off-cluster \
    -e BRIDGE_K8S_MODE_OFF_CLUSTER_ENDPOINT="$(oc whoami --show-server)" \
    -e BRIDGE_K8S_MODE_OFF_CLUSTER_SKIP_VERIFY_TLS=true \
    -e BRIDGE_USER_AUTH=disabled \
    -e BRIDGE_K8S_AUTH_BEARER_TOKEN="$(oc whoami --show-token)" \
    dhi.io/openshift-console:4.22

Every bridge flag can also be set as a BRIDGE_<FLAG_NAME> environment variable, which is how this example passes them. BRIDGE_USER_AUTH=disabled skips the OAuth login flow entirely and serves the console using the bearer token's own permissions, so bind it to 127.0.0.1 only — this mode has no login page and anyone who can reach the port has full access as that user. BRIDGE_K8S_MODE_OFF_CLUSTER_SKIP_VERIFY_TLS is for development against clusters with self-signed certificates and should not be used in production.

For the complete off-cluster flag set, including wiring up Alertmanager, Thanos, and GitOps endpoints, see upstream's examples/run-bridge.sh⁠ and the Frontend Development⁠ and Backend⁠ sections of the upstream README.

Non-hardened images vs. Docker Hardened Images

This image's default command runs /usr/local/bin/openshift-console, a symlink to /opt/bridge/bin/bridge — the upstream binary path remains resolvable, so scripts or health checks that exec /opt/bridge/bin/bridge directly keep working. Like upstream, the image sets no entrypoint, so an override that appends flags must name the binary. Runtime variants of this image run as the nonroot user, whereas the upstream image runs as the fixed non-root UID 1001 (USER 1001 in its Dockerfile).

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 your application in production. These images are intended to be used either directly or as the FROM image in the final stage of a multi-stage build. These images typically:

  • Run as a nonroot user
  • Do not include a shell or a package manager
  • Contain only the minimal set of libraries needed to run the app

• Build-time variants typically include dev in the tag name and are intended for use in the first stage of a multi-stage Dockerfile. These images typically:

  • Run as the root user
  • Include a shell and package manager
  • Are used to build or compile applications

• FIPS variants include fips in the variant name and tag. They come in both runtime and build-time variants. These variants use cryptographic modules that have been validated under FIPS 140, a U.S. government standard for secure cryptographic operations. For example, usage of MD5 fails in FIPS variants.

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. For framework images, this is typically going to be an image tagged as dev because it has the tools needed to install packages and dependencies.

3. For multi-stage Dockerfiles, update the runtime image in your Dockerfile.

   To ensure that your final image is as minimal as possible, you should use a multi-stage build. All stages in your Dockerfile should use a hardened image. While intermediary stages will typically use images tagged as dev, your final runtime stage should use a non-dev image variant.

4. Install additional packages

   Docker Hardened Images contain minimal packages in order to reduce the potential attack surface. You may need to install additional packages in your Dockerfile. Inspect the image variants to identify which packages are already installed.

   Only images tagged as dev typically have package managers. You should use a multi-stage Dockerfile to install the packages. Install the packages in the build stage that uses a dev image. Then, if needed, copy any necessary artifacts to the runtime stage that uses a non-dev image.

   For Alpine-based images, you can use apk to install packages. For Debian-based images, you can use apt-get to install packages.

Troubleshooting migration

The following are common issues that you may encounter during migration.

General debugging

The hardened images intended for runtime don't contain a shell nor any tools for 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 image variants intended for runtime, run as the nonroot user. Ensure that necessary files and directories are accessible to the nonroot 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

Non-dev 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. To avoid issues, configure your application to listen on port 1025 or higher inside the container, even if you map it to a lower port on the host. For example, docker run -p 80:8080 my-image will work because the port inside the container is 8080, and docker run -p 80:81 my-image won't work because the port inside the container is 81.

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. Use docker inspect to inspect entry points for Docker Hardened Images and update your Dockerfile if necessary.