Deploy Private Docker Registry on GCP with Nexus, Terraform and Packer

In this post, I will walk you through how to deploy Sonatype Nexus OSS 3 on Google Cloud Platform and how to create a private Docker hosted repository to store your Docker images and other build artifacts (maven, npm and pypi, etc). To achieve this, we need to bake our machine image using Packer to create a gold image with Nexus preinstalled and configured. Terraform will be used to deploy a Google compute instance based on the baked image. The following schema describes the build workflow: PS : All the templates used in this tutorial, can be found on my GitHub . To get started, we need to create the machine image to be used with Google Compute Engine (GCE). Packer will create a temporary instance based on the CentOS image and use a shell script to provision the instance: The shell script, will install the latest stable version of Nexus OSS based on their and wait for the service to be up and running, then it will use the Scripting API to post a groovy script: official documentation The script will create a Docker private registry listening on port 5000: Once the template files are defined, issue command to bake our machine image: packer build If you head back to section from dashboard, a new image called nexus should be created: Images Compute Engine Now we are ready to deploy Nexus, we will create a Nexus server based on the machine image we baked with Packer. The template file is self-explanatory, it creates a set of firewall rules to allow inbound traffic on port 8081 (Nexus GUI) and 22 (SSH) from anywhere, and creates a google compute instance based on the Nexus image: On the terminal, run the command to download and install the Google provider, shown as follows: terraform init Create an execution plan (dry run) with the command. It shows you things that will be created in advance, which is good for debugging and ensuring that you’re not doing anything wrong, as shown in the next screenshot: terraform plan When you’re ready, go ahead and apply the changes by issuing : terraform apply Terraform will create the needed resources and display the public ip address of the nexus instance on the output section. Jump back to GCP Console, your nexus instance should be created: If you point your favorite browser to you should see the Sonatype Nexus Repository Manager interface: http://instance_ip:8081, Click the “ ” button in the upper right corner and use the username “ ” and the password “ ”. Then, click on the cogwheel to go to the server administration and configuration section. Navigate to “ ”, our private Docker repository should be created as follows: Sign in admin admin123 Repositories The docker repository is published as expected on port 5000: Hence, we need to allow inbound traffic on that port, so update the firewall rules accordingly: Issue command to apply the changes: terrafrom apply Your private docker registry is ready to work at , let’s test it by pushing a docker image. instance_ip:5000 Since we have exposed the private Docker registry on a plain HTTP endpoint, we need to configure the Docker daemon that will act as client to the private Docker registry as to allow for insecure connections. : Click on the in the tray to open . Click on the tab and add the IP address on which the Nexus GUI is exposed along with the port number 5000 in section. Don’t forget to for the changes to take effect and you’re ready to go. On Windows or Mac OS X Docker icon Preferences Daemon Insecure registries Apply & Restart : Follow the . Other OS official guide You should now be able to log in to your private Docker registry using the following command: And push your docker images to the registry with the command: docker push If you head back to Nexus Dashboard, your docker image should be stored with the latest tag: Drop your comments, feedback, or suggestions below — or connect with me directly on Twitter . **@**mlabouardy