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Lab/Walkthrough instructions - Container Builds

Container Build Options

1. About

This lab will walk you through steps to build container images with various technologies.

2. Prereqs

Mandatory:

Recommended:

Optional:

Links:

2.1. Validation

Validate docker installation.

docker version

Should display output like (version might differ):

Client: Docker Engine - Community
 Version:           25.0.3
 API version:       1.44
...

Server: Docker Engine - Community
 Engine:
  Version:          25.0.3
  API version:      1.44 (minimum version 1.24)

Validate Java.

java --version

Should display output like (version might differ):

openjdk 17.0.7 2023-04-18
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 17.0.7+7-Ubuntu-0ubuntu120.04)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 17.0.7+7-Ubuntu-0ubuntu120.04, mixed mode, sharing)

3. Dockerfile Exercises

3.1. Set environment and build code

Download/clone the repo and change to the root folder. If you are running in gitpod,codespaces or using devcontainer, you can skip this step.

git clone https://github.com/maeddes/options-galore-container-build

Note: Without git CLI you can download the repo as zip file here: https://github.com/maeddes/options-galore-container-build/archive/refs/heads/main.zip Extract it and change your command line shell to the root folder.

cd options-galore-container-build

Build the code:

Change to the Java sample app

cd java

Option 1 (with local JDK installed)

./mvnw clean package

Validate build artefact (timestamps will of course be different)

ls -ltr ./target/simplecode-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 20951064 May  5 11:47 ./target/simplecode-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar

3.2. Classic Dockerfile

Classic Dockerfile

Observe contents of Dockerfile-simple-ubuntu

cat Dockerfile-simple-ubuntu
FROM ubuntu:22.04
RUN apt update && apt install openjdk-17-jre-headless -y
COPY target/simplecode-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar /opt/app.jar
CMD ["java","-jar","/opt/app.jar"]

Build first image with this Dockerfile:

docker build -f Dockerfile-simple-ubuntu -t java-app:v-simple-ubuntu .

Build images with other predefined base images:

docker build -f Dockerfile-simple-temurin -t java-app:v-simple-temurin .
docker build -f Dockerfile-simple-ibm-semeru -t java-app:v-simple-ibm-semeru .

Validate images in local repo

docker images
REPOSITORY   TAG                    IMAGE ID       CREATED              SIZE
java-app     v-simple-ibm-semeru   3a7c058097d9   8 seconds ago    300MB
java-app     v-simple-temurin      62c5ca75dad1   32 seconds ago   292MB
java-app     v-simple-ubuntu       a491383f3f53   2 minutes ago    400MB----

Observe build history and differences of the 3 images

docker history java-app:v-simple-ubuntu
docker history java-app:v-simple-temurin
docker history java-app:v-simple-ibm-semeru

You will observe different base layers and structure, but always the same top layer:

IMAGE          CREATED         CREATED BY                                      SIZE      COMMENT
7209f28736c8   3 minutes ago   /bin/sh -c #(nop)  CMD ["java" "-jar" "/opt/…   0B
e5385e2e3146   3 minutes ago   /bin/sh -c #(nop) COPY file:90a1db2252f31169…   19MB

Optional: Use tool "dive" to show detailed history of image:

dive java-app:v-simple-ubuntu
dive java-app:v-simple-temurin
dive java-app:v-simple-ibm-semeru

Usage: ctrl+l (ensure layer changes) <tab> ctrl+u (uncheck unmodified) <tab> <arrows> for layer switch

3.3. Multi-Stage

Multi-Stage Dockerfiles

Build image with Multistage Dockerfile:

docker build -f Dockerfile-multistage-builder -t java-app:v-multistage-builder .

This will take a while as all the maven dependencies need to be downloaded.

Validate history:

docker history java-app:v-multistage-builder

Explore docker images:

docker images
REPOSITORY     TAG                     IMAGE ID       CREATED          SIZE
java-app     v-multistage-builder   816512fee0cd   17 seconds ago   291MB

Perform a slight modification in the source code which does not affect the behaviour of the application. You can use the editor 'nano' to execute this:

nano src/main/java/de/maeddes/simplecode/SimplecodeApplication.java

Locate the method hello()

        @GetMapping("/")
        String hello(){

                logger.info("Call to hello method on instance: " + getInstanceId());
                return getInstanceId()+" Hello, Container people ! ";

        }

and just add some characters to the method name, e.g.

        String helloABC(){

And save it using Ctrl+X and confirm with 'Y'.

Now you can repeat the docker build call.

docker build -f Dockerfile-multistage-builder -t java-app:v-multistage-builder .

You can observe that all the dependencies will need to get downloaded again. This method does not cache anything.

3.4. BuildKit

Build with multistage cache option:

Dockerfile with Cache
docker build -f Dockerfile-multistage-cache -t java-app:v-multistage-cache .

Change the code and rebuild:

You can use an editor to change a method name in

src/main/java/de/maeddes/simplecode/SimplecodeApplication.java

or simply execute

sed -i 's/hello/helloABC/g' src/main/java/de/maeddes/simplecode/SimplecodeApplication.java

(Linux)

or

sed -i '' 's/hello/helloABC/g' src/main/java/de/maeddes/simplecode/SimplecodeApplication.java

(Mac)

Rebuild and observe faster build through caching:

docker build -f Dockerfile-multistage-cache -t java-app:v-multistage-cache .

Observe the history to validate that top layer is still 'monolithic':

docker history java-app:v-multistage-cache

Build the code with a layered jar approach:

Layer considerations for Java
docker build -f Dockerfile-multistage-layered -t java-app:layered .

Display layered state

docker history java-app:layered
IMAGE          CREATED         CREATED BY                                      SIZE      COMMENT
de2cb7c4be82   8 seconds ago   ENTRYPOINT ["java" "org.springframework.boot…   0B        buildkit.dockerfile.v0
<missing>      8 seconds ago   COPY application/application/ ./ # buildkit     6.12kB    buildkit.dockerfile.v0
<missing>      8 seconds ago   COPY application/snapshot-dependencies/ ./ #…   0B        buildkit.dockerfile.v0
<missing>      8 seconds ago   COPY application/spring-boot-loader/ ./ # bu…   245kB     buildkit.dockerfile.v0
<missing>      8 seconds ago   COPY application/dependencies/ ./ # buildkit    18.9MB    buildkit.dockerfile.v0

Finally have a look at the Dockerfile with specific JVM flags:

cat Dockerfile-multistage-layered-jvm-flags

in the final line you can see how to apply alternative settings here.

ENTRYPOINT ["java","-XX:+UseParallelGC","-XX:MaxRAMPercentage=75","org.springframework.boot.loader.JarLauncher"]

4. Jib

The following steps show how to build container images with the jib-maven plugin.

Jib from Google

Again the use of the local maven wrapper (mvnw) will require a local JDK installation. If it’s not present use option 2.

Option 1:

./mvnw compile com.google.cloud.tools:jib-maven-plugin:3.3.2:dockerBuild -Dimage=java-app:jib

In this case the :dockerBuild part will instruct the plugin to build to the local docker daemon. The -Dimage parameter will specify the image name tag.

If you have a docker account you can login and push directly to the docker hub using: (Replace <docker_id> with your own username)

./mvnw compile com.google.cloud.tools:jib-maven-plugin:3.3.2:build -Dimage=<docker_id>/java-app:jib

Another option is to export the image directly to a tar. Use the following command.

./mvnw compile com.google.cloud.tools:jib-maven-plugin:3.3.2:buildTar -Dimage=java-app:jib

You will see an output saying

After that you can import the image into the local registry.

docker load -i target/jib-image.tar
15bbc04e2cf6: Loading layer [==================================================>]  41.71MB/41.71MB
7f270d883779: Loading layer [==================================================>]  16.82MB/16.82MB
496ff124a7de: Loading layer [==================================================>]     213B/213B
965a8d44c836: Loading layer [==================================================>]  1.345kB/1.345kB
5e91304a655b: Loading layer [==================================================>]     219B/219B
Loaded image: java-app:jib

Option 2:

Without local maven you can only perform the tar build and direct import via load.

docker run -it --rm --name my-maven-project -v "$(pwd)":/opt/app -w /opt/app maven:3.6.3-jdk-11 mvn compile com.google.cloud.tools:jib-maven-plugin:3.3.1:buildTar -Dimage=java-app:jib

Load the exported tar file as image into the local registry.

docker load -i target/jib-image.tar
15bbc04e2cf6: Loading layer [==================================================>]  41.71MB/41.71MB
7f270d883779: Loading layer [==================================================>]  16.82MB/16.82MB
496ff124a7de: Loading layer [==================================================>]     213B/213B
965a8d44c836: Loading layer [==================================================>]  1.345kB/1.345kB
5e91304a655b: Loading layer [==================================================>]     219B/219B
Loaded image: java-app:jib

Both options - final steps:

Now that you’ve built and loaded the image into the local registry using one of the options above, inspect the layered structure of the image.

docker history java-app:jib
IMAGE          CREATED        CREATED BY                                      SIZE      COMMENT
bafe5ced0d6f   51 years ago   jib-maven-plugin:3.1.4                          82B       jvm arg files
<missing>      51 years ago   jib-maven-plugin:3.1.4                          2.37kB    classes
<missing>      51 years ago   jib-maven-plugin:3.1.4                          1B        resources
<missing>      51 years ago   jib-maven-plugin:3.1.4                          18.9MB    dependencies

Optional: Perform some small modifications in the code similar to the ones during the Dockerfile exercise. Re-run the build steps and observe the caching and improved performance.

Note: All of the previous examples referenced the jib plugin directly in the maven call. An alternative (and probably the clean way) to the steps above is to add the plugin to your pom.xml:

The <to> tag in the following xml sets the target image path in the image registry. In our case we are using the local registry and thus just providing the image tag.

You can add the following plugin to your pom.xml

<plugin>
    <groupId>com.google.cloud.tools</groupId>
    <artifactId>jib-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>3.3.2</version>
    <configuration>
        <to>
            <image>java-app:jib-v2.0</image>
        </to>
    </configuration>
</plugin>

In this case the invocation looks much simpler.

./mvnw compile jib:dockerBuild

The :build and :buildTar options work accordingly.

It is of course also possible to define custom JVM arguments with Jib. However this is not possible with a plain mvn call. You also can of course apply these settings not during build time, but when starting the container:

docker run --env JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS='-XX:+UseParallelGC -XX:MaxRAMPercentage=75' java-app:jib

5. Cloud-native buildpacks

Cloud-Native Buildpacks

Access the pack CLI and list the suggest builders. A builder includes the buildpacks and environment that will be used for building and running your app.

pack builder suggest

Set a default builder to avoid specifying a builder every time you build. For the examples in this tutorial use the base builder image from Paketo buildpacks.

pack config default-builder paketobuildpacks/builder-jammy-base

Now all is set to build the container image using the buildpack. Simply execute:

pack build java-app:pack

The first invocation will take a long time. The builder image is big as it contains all the logic plus buildpacks.

After it is downloaded can now observe the output - the so-called bill of materials. This gives detailed information about the build.

Should display output like:

===> ANALYZING
...
===> DETECTING
...
===> RESTORING
===> BUILDING
...
===> EXPORTING
...

Successfully built image java-app:pack^

Optimize the build with:

pack build java-app:pack-compressed --env BP_JVM_JLINK_ENABLED=true

If you want to configure specific JVM settings with Paketo Buildpacks you can extend the call to use alternative configuration:

pack build -e BPE_APPEND_JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS='-XX:+UseParallelGC -XX:MaxRAMPercentage=75' -e BPE_DELIM_JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS=' ' java-app:pack

Paketo buildpacks can be configured using different for external configuration (Environment Variables, buildpack.yml, Bindings, Procfiles).

Use an environment variable to configure the JVM version installed by the Java Buildpack and build a new version of the container image

pack build java-app:pack-v2.0 --env BP_JVM_VERSION=11

Observe the usage of (JDK 11.0.19, JRE 11.0.19) in the BUILDING phase of the output.

Get an overview of the built Images

docker images

Using pack it is possible to swap out the underlying OS layers (run image) of an app image with another run image version, without re-building the application.

Rebase app image with a version pinned run image

pack rebase java-app:pack --run-image paketobuildpacks/run:1.3.48-full-cnb

Should display output like:

1.3.48-full-cnb: Pulling from paketobuildpacks/run
83525de54a98: Already exists
c1dbbbd2a415: Pull complete
283105c565ee: Pull complete
7ead7caf102c: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:005e54c4254bd49fa5b0b55fd7b7f16a2654bc6643963dece1cd03f7a0abce24
Status: Downloaded newer image for paketobuildpacks/run:1.3.48-full-cnb
Rebasing java-app:pack on run image paketobuildpacks/run:1.3.48-full-cnb
Saving java-app:pack...
*** Images (a938edc476a8):
      java-app:pack
Rebased Image: a938edc476a85ab53d6aa52a5cc6288c1dffdafd9b3654236cf8b62bbce70a83
Successfully rebased image java-app:pack

6. Paketo with Spring Boot and Maven

Paketo

For a Spring Boot application you can also invoke Paketo Buildpacks directly via maven.

./mvnw spring-boot:build-image -Dspring-boot.build-image.imageName=java-app:paketo

After compiling and testing the code within a standard Maven build, the build-image phase appears in the build log, in which you should observe display output like:

===> DETECTING
...
===> ANALYZING
...
===> RESTORING
===> BUILDING
...
===> EXPORTING
...
Successfully built image 'docker.io/library/java-app:paketo'

Get an overview of the built Images

7. Options

You have now completed the core exercise. Feel free to do some modifications yourself. Suggestions: * Edit the pom.xml and alternate the Java version (8,11,17 have been tested). * Do minor or major code modifications and observe changes * Use dive to analyze the created images.

© Matthias Haeussler. Free for private purposes. (Re)distribution for commercial purposes not allowed without owner permissions.

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Sample code and instructions for steps through different container image build options.

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