Using the Anka Registry

Push and pull full VM templates with the Anka Registry from Anka Build Cloud

The Anka Registry is part of Anka Build Cloud. It stores full VM templates, and the Build Cloud Controller pulls templates from it. To install the Anka Registry, see Setting up the Controller & Registry on Linux/Docker or on macOS.

Add the registry

This is not needed on all Nodes connecting to the Controller. Most users have a “builder machine” that has the registry connection and is used to create and push VM Templates/Tags.

Assuming you haven’t changed the default port configuration, your Registry is serving requests on port 8089.

We now need to configure the Registry on this machine so we can push/upload the local VM Template so other machines connected to the Anka Build Cloud. Uploading the Template to the Registry makes it possible to download and run it from other nodes.

sudo anka registry add <registry name> http://<ip>:8089

Verify the configuration:

sudo anka registry --list
++
++

<registry name you set> (default)

+--------+------------------+
| host   | <the ip you set> |
+--------+------------------+
| scheme | http             |
+--------+------------------+
| port   | 8089             |
+--------+------------------+

Then, confirm the registry list command shows your VM Template:

sudo anka registry list

Push a template

anka push sends the tag to the registry in ANKA_REGISTRY. To use a different registry, add the registry name or URL.

❯ anka push 27.0.1 -t vanilla
❯ anka push 27.0.1 -t vanilla http://anka.registry:8089

The Anka Registry always stores the full tag. push_mode and --thin do not apply.

Pull a template

❯ anka pull 27.0.1 -t vanilla

When you pull a tag, the VM goes back to the exact state of that tag.

Manage templates and tags

Registry VM Templates and Tags describes how to replace a template and keep its name and UUID.
Working with the Registry and API describes all anka registry commands and the Registry REST API.

Add OCI tags to your templates

You can add tools from an OCI registry to a template in the Anka Registry. See Combining both registries. To move your current templates step by step, see Moving to OCI tags.