[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":792},["ShallowReactive",2],{"/en-us/blog/gitops-with-gitlab-connecting-the-cluster":3,"navigation-en-us":38,"banner-en-us":437,"footer-en-us":447,"blog-post-authors-en-us-Viktor Nagy":689,"blog-related-posts-en-us-gitops-with-gitlab-connecting-the-cluster":703,"assessment-promotions-en-us":743,"next-steps-en-us":782},{"id":4,"title":5,"authorSlugs":6,"body":8,"categorySlug":9,"config":10,"content":14,"description":8,"extension":26,"isFeatured":12,"meta":27,"navigation":28,"path":29,"publishedDate":20,"seo":30,"stem":34,"tagSlugs":35,"__hash__":37},"blogPosts/en-us/blog/gitops-with-gitlab-connecting-the-cluster.yml","Gitops With Gitlab Connecting The Cluster",[7],"viktor-nagy",null,"engineering",{"slug":11,"featured":12,"template":13},"gitops-with-gitlab-connecting-the-cluster",false,"BlogPost",{"title":15,"description":16,"authors":17,"heroImage":19,"date":20,"body":21,"category":9,"tags":22},"GitOps with GitLab: Connect with a Kubernetes cluster","In our third article in our GitOps series, learn how to connect a Kubernetes cluster with GitLab for pull and push-based deployments.",[18],"Viktor Nagy","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749663397/Blog/Hero%20Images/logoforblogpost.jpg","2021-11-18","_It is possible to use GitLab as a best-in-class GitOps tool, and this blog post series is going to show you how. These easy-to-follow tutorials will focus on different user problems, including provisioning, managing a base infrastructure, and deploying various third-party or custom applications on top of them. You can find the entire \"Ultimate guide to GitOps with GitLab\" tutorial series [here](/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-gitops-with-gitlab/)._\n\n## GitOps with GitLab: connecting a Kubernetes cluster\n\nThis [GitOps](/topics/gitops/) with GitLab post shows how to connect a Kubernetes cluster with GitLab for pull and push based deployments and easy security integrations. In order to do so, the following elements are required:\n\n- A Kubernetes cluster that you can access and can create new resources, including `Role` and `RoleBinding` in it. \n- You will need `kubectl` and your local environment configured to access the beforementioned cluster.\n- (Optional, recommended) Terraform and a Terraform project set up as shown [in the previous article](/blog/gitops-with-gitlab-infrastructure-provisioning/) to retrieve an agent registration token from GitLab.\n- (Optional, recommended) `kpt` and `kustomize` to install the Agent into your cluster.\n- (Optional, quickstart) If you prefer a less \"gitopsy\" approach, you will need `docker` (Docker Desktop is not needed). This is simpler to follow, but provides less control to you.\n\n## How to connect a cluster to GitLab\n\nThere are many ways how one can connect a cluster to GitLab:\n\n- you can set up a `$KUBECONTEXT` variable manually, manage all the related connections and use GitLab CI/CD to push changes into your cluster\n- you can use a 3rd party tool, like [ArgoCD](https://argo-cd.readthedocs.io/en/stable/) or [Flux](https://fluxcd.io) to get pull based deployments\n- you can use the legacy, certificate-based cluster integration within GitLab in which case GitLab will manage the `$KUBECONTEXT` for you and you can get easy metrics, log and monitoring integrations\n- or you can use the recommended approach, the [GitLab Agent for Kubernetes](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/clusters/agent/), to have pull and push based deployment support, network security policy integrations and the possibility of metrics and monitoring too\n\nWe are going to focus on the Agent-based setup here as we believe that it serves and will serve our users best, hopefully you included.\n\n## How does the Agent work\n\nThe Agent has a component that needs to be installed into your cluster. We call this component `agentk`. Once `agentk` is installed it reaches out to GitLab, and authenticates itself with an access token. So, the first step is to get a token from GitLab. We call this step \"the Agent registration.\" If the authentication succeeds, `agentk` sets up a bidirectional GRPC channel between itself and GitLab. The emphasis here is on \"bidirectional.\" This enables requests and messages to be sent by either side and provides the possibility of much deeper integrations than the other approaches while still being a nice citizen within your cluster.\n\nOnce the connection is established, the Agent retrieves its own configuration from GitLab. This configuration is a `config.yaml` file under a repository, and you actually register the location of this configuration file when you register a new Agent. The configuration describes the various capabilities enabled of an Agent.\n\nOn the GitLab side, `agentk` communicates with - what we call - the Kubernetes Agent Server, or `kas`. As most users do not have to deal with setting up `kas`, I won't write about it here. You need to be a GitLab administrator [to set up and manage `kas`](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/clusters/kas.html). If you are on gitlab.com, `kas` is available to you at `kas.gitlab.com`, thanks to our amazing SRE team.\n\nSo the steps we are going to take in this article are the following:\n\n1. Create a configuration file for the Agent\n1. Register the Agent and retrieve its authentication token\n1. Install `agentk` into the cluster together with the token\n\nFinally, we will set up an example pull-based deployment just to test that everything worked as expected. Let's get started!\n\n## How many Agents do you need for a larger setup\n\nWe recommend having a separate Agent registered at least against each of your environments. If you have multiple clusters, have at least one agent registered with each cluster. While it is possible to have many `agentk` deployments with the same authentication token and thus configuration file, this is not supported and might lead to syncronization problems!\n\nThe different agent configurations can use the same Kubernetes manifests for deployments. So maintaining a multi-region cluster where all the clusters should be identical does not require much effort. \n\nWe designed `agentk` to be very lightweight so you should not worry about deploying multiple instances of it into a cluster. \n\nWe know users who use separate `agentk` instances by squad for example. In these situations, the `squad` owns some namespaces in the cluster and each Agent can access only the namespaces available for their squad. This way `agentk` is not just a good citizen in your cluster, but is like a team member in your squad.\n\n## Create a configuration file for the Agent\n\nNote:\nYou can use either the Terraform project from the previous step or start with a new project. I will assume that we build on top of the Terraform setup from the previous article, linked above, that will come in handy when we want to register the Agent using Terraform. I won't go through setting up all the environment variables here for local Terraform run.\n\nDecide about your agent name, and create an empty file in your project under `.gitlab/agents/\u003Cyour agent name>/config.yaml`. Nota bene, that the extension is `yaml` not `yml` and your agent name must follow the [DNS label standard from RFC 1123](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/clusters/agent/install/#create-an-agent-configuration-file). I'll call my agent `demo-agent`, so the file is under `.gitlab/demo-agent/config.yaml`.\n\n## Register the Agent\n\nThe next step is to register the Agent with GitLab. You can do this either through the GitLab UI or using Terraform. I will show you both approaches.\n\n### Registering through the UI\n\nOnce the configuration file is in place, visit `Infrastructure/Kubernetes` and add a new cluster using the Agent. A dialog will pop up where you can select your agent.\n\nOnce you hit \"next,\" you will see the registration token and a `docker` command for easy installation. The `docker` command includes the token too and you can run it to quickly set up an `agentk` inside of your cluster. (You might need to create a namespace first!) Feel free to run the command for a quickstart or follow the tutorial for a truly code-based approach.\n\n### Registering through code\n\nWe will use Terraform to register the Agent through code. Let's create the following files:\n\n- Under `terraform/gitlab-agent/main.tf`\n\n```hcl\nterraform {\n  backend \"http\" {\n  }\n  required_version = \">= 0.13\"\n  required_providers {\n    gitlab = {\n      source = \"gitlabhq/gitlab\"\n      version = \"~>3.6.0\"\n    }\n  }\n}\n\nprovider \"gitlab\" {\n    token = var.gitlab_password\n}\n\nmodule \"gitlab_kubernetes_agent_registration\" {\n  source = \"gitlab.com/gitlab-org/kubernetes-agent-terraform-register-agent/local\"\n  version = \"0.0.2\"\n\n  gitlab_project_id = var.gitlab_project_id\n  gitlab_username = var.gitlab_username\n  gitlab_password = var.gitlab_password\n  gitlab_graphql_api_url = var.gitlab_graphql_api_url\n  agent_name = var.agent_name\n  token_name = var.token_name\n  token_description = var.token_description\n}\n```\n\nAs you can see we will use a module here. The module is hosted using the Terraform registry provided by GitLab. You can check out [the module source code here](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/configure/examples/kubernetes-agent-terraform-register-agent). You might have guessed correctly that under the hood the module uses the GitLab GraphQL API to register the agent and retrieve a token. We will need to set up variables for it to work.\n\n- Create `terraform/gitlab-agent/variables.tf`\n\n```hcl\nvariable \"gitlab_project_id\" {\n  type = string\n}\n\nvariable \"gitlab_username\" {\n  type = string\n}\n\nvariable \"gitlab_password\" {\n  type = string\n}\n\nvariable \"agent_name\" {\n  type = string\n}\n\nvariable \"token_name\" {\n  type    = string\n  default = \"kas-token\"\n}\n\nvariable \"token_description\" {\n  type    = string\n  default = \"Token for KAS Agent Authentication\"\n}\n\nvariable \"gitlab_graphql_api_url\" {\n  type    = string\n  default = \"https://gitlab.com/api/graphql\"\n}\n```\n\n- Create `terraform/gitlab-agent/outputs.tf`\n\n```hcl\noutput \"agent_id\" {\n  value     = module.gitlab_kubernetes_agent_registration.agent_id\n}\n\noutput \"token_secret\" {\n  value     = module.gitlab_kubernetes_agent_registration.token_secret\n  sensitive = true\n}\n```\n\nOnce the registration is over, you'll be able to retrieve the agent ID and the token using these Terraform outputs.\n\n### Run the Terraform project\n\nOnce the above code is in place, we need to run it to actually register the Agent. Here, I am going to extend the setup from the previous article.\n\n#### Running locally\n\n- Create `terraform/gitlab-agent/.envrc`  as you did for the network project.\n\n```shell\nexport TF_STATE_NAME=${PWD##*terraform/}\nsource_env ../../.main.env\n```\n\nNow run Terraform\n\n```bash\nterraform init\nterraform plan\nterraform apply\n```\n\n#### Running from CI/CD pipeline\n\nExtend the `.gitlab-ci.yml` file with the following 3 jobs:\n\n```hcl\ngitlab-agent:init:\n  extends: .terraform:init\n  stage: init\n  variables:\n    TF_ROOT: terraform/gitlab-agent\n    TF_STATE_NAME: gitlab-agent\n  only:\n    changes:\n      - \"terraform/gitlab-agent/*\"\n\ngitlab-agent:review:\n  extends: .terraform:build\n  stage: build\n  variables:\n    TF_ROOT: terraform/gitlab-agent\n    TF_STATE_NAME: gitlab-agent\n  resource_group: tf:gitlab-agent\n  only:\n    changes:\n      - \"terraform/gitlab-agent/*\"\n\ngitlab-agent:deploy:\n  extends: .terraform:deploy\n  stage: deploy\n  variables:\n    TF_ROOT: terraform/gitlab-agent\n    TF_STATE_NAME: gitlab-agent\n  resource_group: tf:gitlab-agent\n  environment:\n    name: demo-agent\n  when: manual\n  only:\n    changes:\n      - \"terraform/gitlab-agent/*\"\n    variables:\n      - $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH\n\n```\n\nAs you can see these are the same jobs that we saw already, they are just parameterized for the `gitlab-agent` terraform project.\n\nNota bene, even if you use GitLab to register the Agent, you will need your command line to install `agentk` for the first time! As a result, you can not avoid a local setup as you will need to run at least `terraform output` to retrieve the token!\n\n## Install `agentk`\n\nIn this tutorial we are going to follow [the advanced installation instructions](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/clusters/agent/install/index.html#advanced-installation) from the GitLab documentation. This approach is highly customizable using `kustomize` and `kpt`.\n\nFirst, let's retrieve the basic Kubernetes resource definitions using `kpt`:\n\n- Create a directory `packages` using `mkdir packages`\n- Run `kpt pkg get https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cluster-integration/gitlab-agent.git/build/deployment/gitlab-agent packages/gitlab-agent`\n\nThis will retrieve the most recent version of the `agentk` installation resources. You can request a tagged version with the well-known `@` syntax, for example by running `kpt pkg get https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cluster-integration/gitlab-agent.git/build/deployment/gitlab-agent@v14.4.0 packages/gitlab-agent`. You can see [all the available versions here](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cluster-integration/gitlab-agent/-/tags).\n\n### Why `kpt` - could we make this a box?\n\nThe choice of `kpt` is because it allows sane upstream package management to you. With `kpt` you will be able to regularly update your packages using something like `kpt pkg update packages/gitlab-agent@\u003Cnew version> --strategy=resource-merge`. It basically allows you to modify your package locally, and will try to merge upstream changes into it. Read the `kpt pkg update -h` output for more information and alternative merge strategies.\n\n### Continue with the installation - if it's a box, this is not needed\n\nThe `kpt` packages you retrieved are actually a set up `kustomize` overlays. The `base` defines only the `agentk` deployment and namespace; the `cluster` defines some default RBAC around the deployment. Feel free to add your own overlays and use those. We will extend this package with custom overlays in a part 6 of the series.\n\nTo configure the package, see the available configuration options using:\n\n```bash\nkustomize cfg list-setters packages/gitlab-agent\n        NAME                 VALUE               SET BY                  DESCRIPTION              COUNT   REQUIRED   IS SET  \n  agent-version       stable                 package-default   Image tag for agentk container     1       No         No      \n  kas-address         wss://kas.gitlab.com   package-default   kas address. Use                   1       No         No      \n                                                               grpc://host.docker.internal:8150                              \n                                                               if connecting from within Docker                              \n                                                               e.g. from kind.                                               \n  name-prefix                                                  Prefix for resource names          1       No         No      \n  namespace           gitlab-agent           package-default   Namespace to install GitLab        2       No         No      \n                                                               Kubernetes Agent into                                         \n  prometheus-scrape   true                   package-default   Enable or disable Prometheus       1       No         No      \n                                                               scraping of agentk metrics.                              \n\n```\n\nThe package default will be different if you used a tagged version for getting the package. Let's set the version as using `stable` is not recommended.\n\n```bash\nkustomize cfg set packages/gitlab-agent agent-version v14.4.1\nset 1 field(s) of setter \"agent-version\" to value \"v14.4.1\"\n```\n\nFeel free to adjust the other configuration options too or add you own overlays if that is needed.\n\n### Which agent-version to use - could we make this a box?\n\nIf possible the version of `agentk` should match the major and minor version of your GitLab instance. You can find our the version of your GitLab instance under the Help menu on the UI.\n\nIf there is no agent version with your major and minor version, then pick the agent with the highest major and minor below the version of your GitLab.\n\n### Continue with the installation - if it's a box, this is not needed\n\nWarning:\nBefore the next step, I want to warn you about never, ever committing unencrypted secrets into git, and the agent registration token is a secret!\n\nLet's retrieve the agent registration token from our Terraform project. Run the following command in the `terraform/gitlab-agent` directory:\n\n```bash\nterraform output -raw token_secret > ../../packages/gitlab-agent/base/secrets/agent.token\n```\n\nThis writes the registration token to a file on your local computer. Do not commit these changes to git!\n\nAt this point, we are ready to deploy `agentk` into the cluster, so run:\n\n```bash\nkustomize build packages/gitlab-agent/cluster | kubectl apply -f -\n```\n\nLet's get rid of the secret:\n\n```bash\necho \"Invalid token\" > packages/gitlab-agent/base/secrets/agent.token\n```\n\nYou are good to commit your changes to `git` now!\n\n## Testing the setup\n\nWe have installed the Agent, now what? How can we start using it? In the next article we will see in detail how to deploy a more serious application into the cluster. Still, to check that cluster syncronization actually works, let's deploy a `ConfigMap`.\n\n- Create `kubernetes/test_config.yaml` with the following content:\n\n```yaml\napiVersion: v1\nkind: ConfigMap\nmetadata:\n  name: gitlab-gitops\n  namespace: default\ndata:\n  key: It works!\n\n```\n\n- Modify your Agent configuration file under `.gitlab/demo-agent/config.yaml`, and add the following to it:\n\n```yaml\ngitops:\n  # Manifest projects are watched by the agent. Whenever a project changes,\n  # GitLab deploys the changes using the agent.\n  manifest_projects:\n  - id: path/to/your/project\n    default_namespace: gitlab-agent\n    # Paths inside of the repository to scan for manifest files.\n    # Directories with names starting with a dot are ignored.\n    paths:\n    - glob: 'kubernetes/test_config.yaml'\n    #- glob: 'kubernetes/**/*.yaml'\n\n```\n\nChange the `- id: path/to/your/project` line above to point to your project's path!\n\nThe above configuration tells the Agent to kepp the `kubernetes/test_config.yaml` file in sync with the cluster. I've left a commented line at the end to show how you could use wildcards. This will come handy in future steps of this article. The`default_namespace` is used if no namespace is provided in the Kuberentes manifests. There are many other options to configure as well even for the `gitops` use case. You can read more about these in [the configuration file reference documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/clusters/agent/work_with_agent.html).\n\nOnce you commit the above changes, GitLab notifies `agentk` about the changed files. First, `agentk` updates its configuration; second, it retrieves the `ConfigMap`.\n\nWait a few seconds, and run `kubectl describe configmap gitlab-gitops` to check that the changes got appliedd to your cluster. 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statement",{"items":679},[680,683,686],{"text":681,"config":682},"Terms",{"href":507,"dataGaName":508,"dataGaLocation":455},{"text":684,"config":685},"Cookies",{"dataGaName":517,"dataGaLocation":455,"id":518,"isOneTrustButton":28},{"text":687,"config":688},"Privacy",{"href":512,"dataGaName":513,"dataGaLocation":455},[690],{"id":691,"title":18,"body":8,"config":692,"content":694,"description":8,"extension":26,"meta":698,"navigation":28,"path":699,"seo":700,"stem":701,"__hash__":702},"blogAuthors/en-us/blog/authors/viktor-nagy.yml",{"template":693},"BlogAuthor",{"name":18,"config":695},{"headshot":696,"ctfId":697},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1749662918/Blog/Author%20Headshots/nagy-headshot.jpg","nagyvgitlab",{},"/en-us/blog/authors/viktor-nagy",{},"en-us/blog/authors/viktor-nagy","rM3QZ5iaPa1fk9rDH9Dq-owlsuuFm699I03jWP1dUY4",[704,719,732],{"content":705,"config":717},{"title":706,"description":707,"authors":708,"heroImage":710,"date":711,"body":712,"category":9,"tags":713},"How to use GitLab Container Virtual Registry with Docker Hardened Images","Learn how to simplify container image management with this step-by-step guide.",[709],"Tim Rizzi","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772111172/mwhgbjawn62kymfwrhle.png","2026-03-12","If you're a platform engineer, you've probably had this conversation:\n  \n*\"Security says we need to use hardened base images.\"*\n\n*\"Great, where do I configure credentials for yet another registry?\"*\n\n*\"Also, how do we make sure everyone actually uses them?\"*\n\nOr this one:\n\n*\"Why are our builds so slow?\"*\n\n*\"We're pulling the same 500MB image from Docker Hub in every single job.\"*\n\n*\"Can't we just cache these somewhere?\"*\n\nI've been working on [Container Virtual Registry](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/packages/virtual_registry/container/) at GitLab specifically to solve these problems. It's a pull-through cache that sits in front of your upstream registries — Docker Hub, dhi.io (Docker Hardened Images), MCR, and Quay — and gives your teams a single endpoint to pull from. Images get cached on the first pull. Subsequent pulls come from the cache. Your developers don't need to know or care which upstream a particular image came from.\n\nThis article shows you how to set up Container Virtual Registry, specifically with Docker Hardened Images in mind, since that's a combination that makes a lot of sense for teams concerned about security and not making their developers' lives harder.\n\n## What problem are we actually solving?\n\nThe Platform teams I usually talk to manage container images across three to five registries:\n\n* **Docker Hub** for most base images\n* **dhi.io** for Docker Hardened Images (security-conscious workloads)\n* **MCR** for .NET and Azure tooling\n* **Quay.io** for Red Hat ecosystem stuff\n* **Internal registries** for proprietary images\n\nEach one has its own:\n\n* Authentication mechanism\n* Network latency characteristics\n* Way of organizing image paths\n\nYour CI/CD configs end up littered with registry-specific logic. Credential management becomes a project unto itself. And every pipeline job pulls the same base images over the network, even though they haven't changed in weeks.\n\nContainer Virtual Registry consolidates this. One registry URL. One authentication flow (GitLab's). Cached images are served from GitLab's infrastructure rather than traversing the internet each time.\n\n## How it works\n\nThe model is straightforward:\n\n```text\nYour pipeline pulls:\n  gitlab.com/virtual_registries/container/1000016/python:3.13\n\nVirtual registry checks:\n  1. Do I have this cached? → Return it\n  2. No? → Fetch from upstream, cache it, return it\n\n```\n\nYou configure upstreams in priority order. When a pull request comes in, the virtual registry checks each upstream until it finds the image. The result gets cached for a configurable period (default 24 hours).\n\n```text\n┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐\n│                    CI/CD Pipeline                       │\n│                          │                              │\n│                          ▼                              │\n│   gitlab.com/virtual_registries/container/\u003Cid>/image   │\n└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘\n                           │\n                           ▼\n┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐\n│            Container Virtual Registry                   │\n│                                                         │\n│  Upstream 1: Docker Hub ────────────────┐               │\n│  Upstream 2: dhi.io (Hardened) ────────┐│               │\n│  Upstream 3: MCR ─────────────────────┐││               │\n│  Upstream 4: Quay.io ────────────────┐│││               │\n│                                      ││││               │\n│                    ┌─────────────────┴┴┴┴──┐            │\n│                    │        Cache          │            │\n│                    │  (manifests + layers) │            │\n│                    └───────────────────────┘            │\n└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘\n```\n\n## Why this matters for Docker Hardened Images\n\n[Docker Hardened Images](https://docs.docker.com/dhi/) are great because of the minimal attack surface, near-zero CVEs, proper software bills of materials (SBOMs), and SLSA provenance. If you're evaluating base images for security-sensitive workloads, they should be on your list.\n\nBut adopting them creates the same operational friction as any new registry:\n\n* **Credential distribution**: You need to get Docker credentials to every system that pulls images from dhi.io.\n* **CI/CD changes**: Every pipeline needs to be updated to authenticate with dhi.io.\n* **Developer friction**: People need to remember to use the hardened variants.\n* **Visibility gap**: It's difficulat to tell if teams are actually using hardened images vs. regular ones.\n\nVirtual registry addresses each of these:\n\n**Single credential**: Teams authenticate to GitLab. The virtual registry handles upstream authentication. You configure Docker credentials once, at the registry level, and they apply to all pulls.\n\n**No CI/CD changes per-team**: Point pipelines at your virtual registry. Done. The upstream configuration is centralized.\n\n**Gradual adoption**: Since images get cached with their full path, you can see in the cache what's being pulled. If someone's pulling `library/python:3.11` instead of the hardened variant, you'll know.\n\n**Audit trail**: The cache shows you exactly which images are in active use. Useful for compliance, useful for understanding what your fleet actually depends on.\n\n## Setting it up\n\nHere's a real setup using the Python client from this demo project.\n\n### Create the virtual registry\n\n```python\nfrom virtual_registry_client import VirtualRegistryClient\n\nclient = VirtualRegistryClient()\n\nregistry = client.create_virtual_registry(\n    group_id=\"785414\",  # Your top-level group ID\n    name=\"platform-images\",\n    description=\"Cached container images for platform teams\"\n)\n\nprint(f\"Registry ID: {registry['id']}\")\n# You'll need this ID for the pull URL\n```\n\n### Add Docker Hub as an upstream\n\nFor official images like Alpine, Python, etc.:\n\n```python\ndocker_upstream = client.create_upstream(\n    registry_id=registry['id'],\n    url=\"https://registry-1.docker.io\",\n    name=\"Docker Hub\",\n    cache_validity_hours=24\n)\n```\n\n### Add Docker Hardened Images (dhi.io)\n\nDocker Hardened Images are hosted on `dhi.io`, a separate registry that requires authentication:\n\n```python\ndhi_upstream = client.create_upstream(\n    registry_id=registry['id'],\n    url=\"https://dhi.io\",\n    name=\"Docker Hardened Images\",\n    username=\"your-docker-username\",\n    password=\"your-docker-access-token\",\n    cache_validity_hours=24\n)\n```\n\n### Add other upstreams\n\n```python\n# MCR for .NET teams\nclient.create_upstream(\n    registry_id=registry['id'],\n    url=\"https://mcr.microsoft.com\",\n    name=\"Microsoft Container Registry\",\n    cache_validity_hours=48\n)\n\n# Quay for Red Hat stuff\nclient.create_upstream(\n    registry_id=registry['id'],\n    url=\"https://quay.io\",\n    name=\"Quay.io\",\n    cache_validity_hours=24\n)\n```\n\n### Update your CI/CD\n\nHere's a `.gitlab-ci.yml` that pulls through the virtual registry:\n\n```yaml\nvariables:\n  VIRTUAL_REGISTRY_ID: \u003Cyour_virtual_registry_ID>\n\n  \nbuild:\n  image: docker:24\n  services:\n    - docker:24-dind\n  before_script:\n    # Authenticate to GitLab (which handles upstream auth for you)\n    - echo \"${CI_JOB_TOKEN}\" | docker login -u gitlab-ci-token --password-stdin gitlab.com\n  script:\n    # All of these go through your single virtual registry\n    \n    # Official Docker Hub images (use library/ prefix)\n    - docker pull gitlab.com/virtual_registries/container/${VIRTUAL_REGISTRY_ID}/library/alpine:latest\n    \n    # Docker Hardened Images from dhi.io (no prefix needed)\n    - docker pull gitlab.com/virtual_registries/container/${VIRTUAL_REGISTRY_ID}/python:3.13\n    \n    # .NET from MCR\n    - docker pull gitlab.com/virtual_registries/container/${VIRTUAL_REGISTRY_ID}/dotnet/sdk:8.0\n```\n\n### Image path formats\n\nDifferent registries use different path conventions:\n\n| Registry | Pull URL Example |\n|----------|------------------|\n| Docker Hub (official) | `.../library/python:3.11-slim` |\n| Docker Hardened Images (dhi.io) | `.../python:3.13` |\n| MCR | `.../dotnet/sdk:8.0` |\n| Quay.io | `.../prometheus/prometheus:latest` |\n\n### Verify it's working\n\nAfter some pulls, check your cache:\n\n```python\nupstreams = client.list_registry_upstreams(registry['id'])\nfor upstream in upstreams:\n    entries = client.list_cache_entries(upstream['id'])\n    print(f\"{upstream['name']}: {len(entries)} cached entries\")\n\n```\n\n## What the numbers look like\n\nI ran tests pulling images through the virtual registry:\n\n| Metric | Without Cache | With Warm Cache |\n|--------|---------------|-----------------|\n| Pull time (Alpine) | 10.3s | 4.2s |\n| Pull time (Python 3.13 DHI) | 11.6s | ~4s |\n| Network roundtrips to upstream | Every pull | Cache misses only |\n\n\n\n\nThe first pull is the same speed (it has to fetch from upstream). Every pull after that, for the cache validity period, comes straight from GitLab's storage. No network hop to Docker Hub, dhi.io, MCR, or wherever the image lives.\n\nFor a team running hundreds of pipeline jobs per day, that's hours of cumulative build time saved.\n\n## Practical considerations\nHere are some considerations to keep in mind:\n\n### Cache validity\n\n24 hours is the default. For security-sensitive images where you want patches quickly, consider 12 hours or less:\n\n```python\nclient.create_upstream(\n    registry_id=registry['id'],\n    url=\"https://dhi.io\",\n    name=\"Docker Hardened Images\",\n    username=\"your-username\",\n    password=\"your-token\",\n    cache_validity_hours=12\n)\n```\n\nFor stable, infrequently-updated images (like specific version tags), longer validity is fine.\n\n### Upstream priority\n\nUpstreams are checked in order. If you have images with the same name on different registries, the first matching upstream wins.\n\n### Limits\n\n* Maximum of 20 virtual registries per group\n* Maximum of 20 upstreams per virtual registry\n\n## Configuration via UI\n\nYou can also configure virtual registries and upstreams directly from the GitLab UI—no API calls required. Navigate to your group's **Settings > Packages and registries > Virtual Registry** to:\n\n* Create and manage virtual registries\n* Add, edit, and reorder upstream registries\n* View and manage the cache\n* Monitor which images are being pulled\n\n## What's next\n\nWe're actively developing:\n\n* **Allow/deny lists**: Use regex to control which images can be pulled from specific upstreams.\n\nThis is beta software. It works, people are using it in production, but we're still iterating based on feedback.\n\n## Share your feedback\n\nIf you're a platform engineer dealing with container registry sprawl, I'd like to understand your setup:\n\n* How many upstream registries are you managing?\n* What's your biggest pain point with the current state?\n* Would something like this help, and if not, what's missing?\n\nPlease share your experiences in the [Container Virtual Registry feedback issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/work_items/589630).\n## Related resources\n- [New GitLab metrics and registry features help reduce CI/CD bottlenecks](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/new-gitlab-metrics-and-registry-features-help-reduce-ci-cd-bottlenecks/#container-virtual-registry)\n- [Container Virtual Registry documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/packages/virtual_registry/container/)\n- [Container Virtual Registry API](https://docs.gitlab.com/api/container_virtual_registries/)",[714,715,716],"tutorial","product","features",{"featured":12,"template":13,"slug":718},"using-gitlab-container-virtual-registry-with-docker-hardened-images",{"content":720,"config":730},{"title":721,"description":722,"authors":723,"heroImage":725,"date":726,"category":9,"tags":727,"body":729},"How IIT Bombay students are coding the future with GitLab","At GitLab, we often talk about how software accelerates innovation. But sometimes, you have to step away from the Zoom calls and stand in a crowded university hall to remember why we do this.",[724],"Nick Veenhof","https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1750099013/Blog/Hero%20Images/Blog/Hero%20Images/blog-image-template-1800x945%20%2814%29_6VTUA8mUhOZNDaRVNPeKwl_1750099012960.png","2026-01-08",[259,611,728],"open source","The GitLab team recently had the privilege of judging the **iHack Hackathon** at **IIT Bombay's E-Summit**. The energy was electric, the coffee was flowing, and the talent was undeniable. But what struck us most wasn't just the code — it was the sheer determination of students to solve real-world problems, often overcoming significant logistical and financial hurdles to simply be in the room.\n\n\nThrough our [GitLab for Education program](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/), we aim to empower the next generation of developers with tools and opportunity. Here is a look at what the students built, and how they used GitLab to bridge the gap between idea and reality.\n\n## The challenge: Build faster, build securely\n\nThe premise for the GitLab track of the hackathon was simple: Don't just show us a product; show us how you built it. We wanted to see how students utilized GitLab's platform — from Issue Boards to CI/CD pipelines — to accelerate the development lifecycle.\n\nThe results were inspiring.\n\n## The winners\n\n### 1st place: Team Decode — Democratizing Scientific Research\n\n**Project:** FIRE (Fast Integrated Research Environment)\n\nTeam Decode took home the top prize with a solution that warms a developer's heart: a local-first, blazing-fast data processing tool built with [Rust](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/secure-rust-development-with-gitlab/) and Tauri. They identified a massive pain point for data science students: existing tools are fragmented, slow, and expensive.\n\nTheir solution, FIRE, allows researchers to visualize complex formats (like NetCDF) instantly. What impressed the judges most was their \"hacker\" ethos. They didn't just build a tool; they built it to be open and accessible.\n\n**How they used GitLab:** Since the team lived far apart, asynchronous communication was key. They utilized **GitLab Issue Boards** and **Milestones** to track progress and integrated their repo with Telegram to get real-time push notifications. As one team member noted, \"Coordinating all these technologies was really difficult, and what helped us was GitLab... the Issue Board really helped us track who was doing what.\"\n\n![Team Decode](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380253/epqazj1jc5c7zkgqun9h.jpg)\n\n### 2nd place: Team BichdeHueDost — Reuniting to Solve Payments\n\n**Project:** SemiPay (RFID Cashless Payment for Schools)\n\nThe team name, BichdeHueDost, translates to \"Friends who have been set apart.\" It's a fitting name for a group of friends who went to different colleges but reunited to build this project. They tackled a unique problem: handling cash in schools for young children. Their solution used RFID cards backed by a blockchain ledger to ensure secure, cashless transactions for students.\n\n**How they used GitLab:** They utilized [GitLab CI/CD](https://about.gitlab.com/topics/ci-cd/) to automate the build process for their Flutter application (APK), ensuring that every commit resulted in a testable artifact. This allowed them to iterate quickly despite the \"flaky\" nature of cross-platform mobile development.\n\n![Team BichdeHueDost](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380253/pkukrjgx2miukb6nrj5g.jpg)\n\n### 3rd place: Team ZenYukti — Agentic Repository Intelligence\n\n**Project:** RepoInsight AI (AI-powered, GitLab-native intelligence platform)\n\nTeam ZenYukti impressed us with a solution that tackles a universal developer pain point: understanding unfamiliar codebases. What stood out to the judges was the tool's practical approach to onboarding and code comprehension: RepoInsight-AI automatically generates documentation, visualizes repository structure, and even helps identify bugs, all while maintaining context about the entire codebase.\n\n**How they used GitLab:** The team built a comprehensive CI/CD pipeline that showcased GitLab's security and DevOps capabilities. They integrated [GitLab's Security Templates](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/tree/master/lib/gitlab/ci/templates/Security) (SAST, Dependency Scanning, and Secret Detection), and utilized [GitLab Container Registry](https://docs.gitlab.com/user/packages/container_registry/) to manage their Docker images for backend and frontend components. They created an AI auto-review bot that runs on merge requests, demonstrating an \"agentic workflow\" where AI assists in the development process itself.\n\n![Team ZenYukti](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380253/ymlzqoruv5al1secatba.jpg)\n\n## Beyond the code: A lesson in inclusion\n\nWhile the code was impressive, the most powerful moment of the event happened away from the keyboard.\n\nDuring the feedback session, we learned about the journey Team ZenYukti took to get to Mumbai. They traveled over 24 hours, covering nearly 1,800 kilometers. Because flights were too expensive and trains were booked, they traveled in the \"General Coach,\" a non-reserved, severely overcrowded carriage.\n\nAs one student described it:\n\n*\"You cannot even imagine something like this... there are no seats... people sit on the top of the train. This is what we have endured.\"*\n\nThis hit home. [Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging](https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/company/culture/inclusion/) are core values at GitLab. We realized that for these students, the barrier to entry wasn't intellect or skill, it was access.\n\nIn that moment, we decided to break that barrier. We committed to reimbursing the travel expenses for the participants who struggled to get there. It's a small step, but it underlines a massive truth: **talent is distributed equally, but opportunity is not.**\n\n![hackathon class together](https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1767380252/o5aqmboquz8ehusxvgom.jpg)\n\n### The future is bright (and automated)\n\nWe also saw incredible potential in teams like Prometheus, who attempted to build an autonomous patch remediation tool (DevGuardian), and Team Arrakis, who built a voice-first job portal for blue-collar workers using [GitLab Duo](https://about.gitlab.com/gitlab-duo/) to troubleshoot their pipelines.\n\nTo all the students who participated: You are the future. Through [GitLab for Education](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/), we are committed to providing you with the top-tier tools (like GitLab Ultimate) you need to learn, collaborate, and change the world — whether you are coding from a dorm room, a lab, or a train carriage. **Keep shipping.**\n\n> :bulb: Learn more about the [GitLab for Education program](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/).\n",{"slug":731,"featured":12,"template":13},"how-iit-bombay-students-code-future-with-gitlab",{"content":733,"config":741},{"title":734,"description":735,"authors":736,"heroImage":737,"date":738,"category":9,"tags":739,"body":740},"Artois University elevates research and curriculum with GitLab Ultimate for Education","Artois University's CRIL leveraged the GitLab for Education program to gain free access to Ultimate, transforming advanced research and computer science curricula.",[724],"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1750099203/Blog/Hero%20Images/Blog/Hero%20Images/blog-image-template-1800x945%20%2820%29_2bJGC5ZP3WheoqzlLT05C5_1750099203484.png","2025-12-10",[611,259,715],"Leading academic institutions face a critical challenge: how to provide thousands of students and researchers with industry-standard, **full-featured DevSecOps tools** without compromising institutional control. Many start with basic version control, but the modern curriculum demands integrated capabilities for planning, security, and advanced CI/CD.\n\nThe **GitLab for Education program** is designed to solve this by providing access to **GitLab Ultimate** for qualifying institutions, allowing them to scale their operations and elevate their academic offerings. \n\nThis article showcases a powerful success story from the **Centre de Recherche en Informatique de Lens (CRIL)**, a joint laboratory of **Artois University** and CNRS in France. After years of relying solely on GitLab Community Edition (CE), the university's move to GitLab Ultimate through the GitLab for Education program immediately unlocked advanced capabilities, transforming their teaching, research, and contribution workflows virtually overnight. This story demonstrates why GitLab Ultimate is essential for institutions seeking to deliver advanced computer science and research curricula.\n\n## GitLab Ultimate unlocked: Managing scale and driving academic value\n\n**Artois University's** self-managed GitLab instance is a large-scale operation, supporting nearly **3,000 users** across approximately **19,000 projects**, primarily serving computer science students and researchers. While GitLab Community Edition was robust, the upgrade to GitLab Ultimate provided the sophisticated tooling necessary for managing this scale and facilitating advanced university-level work.\n\n***\"We can see the difference,\" says Daniel Le Berre, head of research at CRIL and the instance maintainer. \"It's a completely different product. Each week reveals new features that directly enhance our productivity and teaching.\"***\n\nThe institution joined the GitLab for Education program specifically because it covers both **instructional and non-commercial research use cases** and offers full access to Ultimate's features, removing significant cost barriers.\n\n### Key GitLab Ultimate benefits for students and researchers\n\n* **Advanced project management at scale:** Master's students now benefit from **GitLab Ultimate's project planning features**. This enables them to structure, track, and manage complex, long-term research projects using professional methodologies like portfolio management and advanced issue tracking that seamlessly roll up across their thousands of projects.\n\n* **Enhanced visibility:** Features like improved dashboards and code previews directly in Markdown files dramatically streamline tracking and documentation review, reducing administrative friction for both instructors and students managing large project loads.\n\n## Comprehensive curriculum: From concepts to continuous delivery\n\nGitLab Ultimate is deeply integrated into the computer science curriculum, moving students beyond simple `git` commands to practical **DevSecOps implementation**.\n\n* **Git fundamentals:** Students begin by visualizing concepts using open-source tools to master Git concepts.\n\n* **Full CI/CD implementation:** Students use GitLab CI for rigorous **Test-Driven Development (TDD)** in their software projects. They learn to build, test, and perform quality assurance using unit and integration testing pipelines—core competency made seamless by the integrated platform.\n\n* **DevSecOps for research and documentation:** The university teaches students that DevSecOps principles are vital for all collaborative work. Inspired by earlier work in Delft, students manage and produce critical research documentation (PDFs from Markdown files) using GitLab, incorporating quality checks like linters and spell checks directly in the CI pipeline. This ensures high-quality, reproducible research output.\n\n* **Future-proofing security skills:** The GitLab Ultimate platform immediately positions the institution to incorporate advanced DevSecOps features like SAST and DAST scanning as their research and development code projects grow, ensuring students are prepared for industry security standards.\n\n## Accelerating open source contributions with GitLab Duo\n\nAccess to the full GitLab platform, including our AI capabilities, has empowered students to make impactful contributions to the wider open source community faster than ever before.\n\nTwo Master's students recently completed direct contributions to the GitLab product, adding the **ORCID identifier** into user profiles. Working on GitLab.com, they leveraged **GitLab Duo's AI chat and code suggestions** to navigate the codebase efficiently.\n\n***\"This would not have been possible without GitLab Duo,\" Daniel Le Berre notes. \"The AI features helped students, who might have lacked deep codebase knowledge, deliver meaningful contributions in just two weeks.\"***\n\nThis demonstrates how providing students with cutting-edge tools **accelerates their learning and impact**, allowing them to translate classroom knowledge into real-world contributions immediately.\n\n## Empowering open research and institutional control\n\nThe stability of the self-managed instance at Artois University is key to its success. This model guarantees **institutional control and stability** — a critical factor for long-term research preservation.\n\nThe institution's expertise in this area was recently highlighted in a major 2024 study led by CRIL, titled: \"[Higher Education and Research Forges in France - Definition, uses, limitations encountered and needs analysis](https://hal.science/hal-04208924v4)\" ([Project on GitLab](https://gitlab.in2p3.fr/coso-college-codes-sources-et-logiciels/forges-esr-en)). The research found that the vast majority of public forges in French Higher Education and Research relied on **GitLab**. This finding underscores the consensus among academic leaders that self-hosted solutions are essential for **data control and longevity**, especially when compared to relying on external, commercial forges.\n\n## Unlock GitLab Ultimate for your institution today\n\nThe success story of **Artois University's CRIL** proves the transformative power of the GitLab for Education program. By providing **free access to GitLab Ultimate**, we enable large-scale institutions to:\n\n1.  **Deliver a modern, integrated DevSecOps curriculum.**\n\n2.  **Support advanced, collaborative research projects with Ultimate planning features.**\n\n3.  **Empower students to make AI-assisted open source contributions.**\n\n4.  **Maintain institutional control and data longevity.**\n\nIf your academic institution is ready to equip its students and researchers with the complete DevSecOps platform and its most advanced features, we invite you to join the program.\n\nThe program provides **free access to GitLab Ultimate** for qualifying instructional and non-commercial research use cases.\n\n**Apply now [online](https://about.gitlab.com/solutions/education/join/).**\n",{"slug":742,"featured":28,"template":13},"artois-university-elevates-curriculum-with-gitlab-ultimate-for-education",{"promotions":744},[745,759,770],{"id":746,"categories":747,"header":749,"text":750,"button":751,"image":756},"ai-modernization",[748],"ai-ml","Is AI achieving its promise at scale?","Quiz will take 5 minutes or less",{"text":752,"config":753},"Get your AI maturity score",{"href":754,"dataGaName":755,"dataGaLocation":241},"/assessments/ai-modernization-assessment/","modernization assessment",{"config":757},{"src":758},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/qix0m7kwnd8x2fh1zq49.png",{"id":760,"categories":761,"header":762,"text":750,"button":763,"image":767},"devops-modernization",[715,557],"Are you just managing tools or shipping innovation?",{"text":764,"config":765},"Get your DevOps maturity score",{"href":766,"dataGaName":755,"dataGaLocation":241},"/assessments/devops-modernization-assessment/",{"config":768},{"src":769},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138785/eg818fmakweyuznttgid.png",{"id":771,"categories":772,"header":774,"text":750,"button":775,"image":779},"security-modernization",[773],"security","Are you trading speed for security?",{"text":776,"config":777},"Get your security maturity score",{"href":778,"dataGaName":755,"dataGaLocation":241},"/assessments/security-modernization-assessment/",{"config":780},{"src":781},"https://res.cloudinary.com/about-gitlab-com/image/upload/v1772138786/p4pbqd9nnjejg5ds6mdk.png",{"header":783,"blurb":784,"button":785,"secondaryButton":790},"Start building faster today","See what your team can do with the intelligent orchestration platform for DevSecOps.\n",{"text":786,"config":787},"Get your free trial",{"href":788,"dataGaName":49,"dataGaLocation":789},"https://gitlab.com/-/trial_registrations/new?glm_content=default-saas-trial&glm_source=about.gitlab.com/","feature",{"text":493,"config":791},{"href":53,"dataGaName":54,"dataGaLocation":789},1773350839951]