Private Docker Registries

Valohai supports pulling images from private Docker registries. Once configured, your organization's projects can use private images just like public ones.

Supported registries

Valohai supports authentication with:

• AWS Elastic Container Registry (ECR)

• Docker Hub

• Google Cloud Artifact Registry

• Azure Container Registry

• JFrog Artifactory

• Any registry using standard Docker authentication

How it works

1. Organization admins configure registry credentials in Valohai

2. Match patterns determine which images use which credentials

3. All projects in your organization can pull matching private images

4. Workers automatically authenticate when pulling images

Who can configure registries?

Only organization admins can add and manage private registry credentials.

Personal projects cannot access organization-level private registries. If you need private images, make sure your project is owned by an organization.

Setup process

Each registry type has specific authentication requirements:

• AWS ECR: IAM user or instance role

• Docker Hub: Access token (not password)

• GCP Artifact Registry: Service account with Reader role

• Azure Container Registry: Service principal

• JFrog: Access token

Follow the guide for your registry to get started.

Using private images

After configuration, reference private images in your valohai.yaml using their full name:

- step:
    name: train-model
    image: myregistry.azurecr.io/ml-training:v2.0
    command:
      - python train.py

No changes to your code needed, Valohai handles authentication automatically.

Troubleshooting image pulls

Error: "unauthorized" or "access denied"

Check:

1. Registry credentials are correctly configured in organization settings

2. Match pattern covers your image (e.g., myregistry.azurecr.io/*)

3. Project is owned by an organization (personal projects can't access private registries)

4. Credentials have read permissions for the repository

Image pull takes too long or times out

If pulls are consistently slow:

• Your registry might be rate-limiting requests

• Network connectivity between workers and registry might be constrained

• Consider setting up a pull-through cache

Need to verify which image was used?

Check the execution logs. Valohai logs the full image name and digest when pulling:

Pulling image: myregistry.azurecr.io/ml-training:v2.0
Image digest: sha256:abc123...