How to use this image

All examples in this guide use the public image. If you've mirrored the repository for your own use (for example, to your Docker Hub namespace), update your commands to reference the mirrored image instead of the public one.

For example:

• Public image: dhi.io/<repository>:<tag>
• Mirrored image: <your-namespace>/dhi-<repository>:<tag>

For the examples, you must first use docker login dhi.io to authenticate to the registry to pull the images.

What's included in this opentelemetry-autoinstrumentation-nodejs image

This Docker Hardened opentelemetry-autoinstrumentation-nodejs image includes:

• The OpenTelemetry Node.js auto-instrumentation bundle that the OpenTelemetry Operator ships as its Node.js init image. It is @opentelemetry/auto-instrumentations-node with its production dependencies, built from the operator's autoinstrumentation/nodejs recipe.
• The bundle at /usr/lib/opentelemetry-autoinstrumentation-nodejs, with /autoinstrumentation linked to it. The link is the path the OpenTelemetry Operator copies from.
• cp, which the operator needs to copy the bundle out of this image and into the instrumented workload.

This image is a carrier for the bundle. It does not contain a Node.js runtime. The bundle is loaded by your application's own Node.js process, not by this container.

Run the container

The image has no entry point. Its default command is the same copy the OpenTelemetry Operator injects, so a manual run only needs a volume mounted at /otel-auto-instrumentation-nodejs:

docker run --rm -v otel-nodejs-agent:/otel-auto-instrumentation-nodejs dhi.io/opentelemetry-autoinstrumentation-nodejs:<tag>

To copy the bundle onto the host instead, override the command and mount a host directory that UID 65532 can write to:

mkdir -p otel-nodejs && chmod 0777 otel-nodejs
docker run --rm -v "$(pwd)/otel-nodejs:/out" dhi.io/opentelemetry-autoinstrumentation-nodejs:<tag> cp -r /autoinstrumentation/. /out

The trailing /. in the source path matters. /autoinstrumentation is a symbolic link, and cp copies only the link unless the path ends in /.. For example, cp -r /autoinstrumentation /out leaves only an autoinstrumentation link in /out. docker cp also copies only the link, unless you add -L to follow it. To copy from a stopped container onto the host, use a destination that does not exist yet:

cid=$(docker create dhi.io/opentelemetry-autoinstrumentation-nodejs:<tag>)
docker cp -L "$cid:/autoinstrumentation" ./otel-nodejs-copy
docker rm "$cid"

To load the bundle into a Node.js application, point NODE_OPTIONS at the copied entry point. The volume directory is owned by UID and GID 65532 with mode 0770, so an application that runs as another UID must join group 65532 to read it. The example uses a small app.js that makes one request to its own server and then exits. Create it in the current directory:

cat > app.js <<'EOF'
const http = require('http');
const server = http.createServer((req, res) => res.end('ok')).listen(8080, () => {
  http.get('http://127.0.0.1:8080/', (res) => {
    res.resume();
    res.on('end', () => server.close());
  });
});
EOF

Then run it. The otel-nodejs-agent volume must already hold the bundle from the first example:

docker run --rm --group-add 65532 \
  -e NODE_OPTIONS="--require /otel-auto-instrumentation-nodejs/autoinstrumentation.js" \
  -v otel-nodejs-agent:/otel-auto-instrumentation-nodejs:ro \
  -e OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=my-service -e OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER=console \
  -v "$(pwd)/app.js:/app/app.js:ro" dhi.io/node:22-debian13 node /app/app.js

The Operator does not need this. Its shared volume is an emptyDir, which is root-owned with mode 0777.

Use with the OpenTelemetry Operator

Point the nodejs image of an Instrumentation resource at this image. The operator injects it as an init container that copies the bundle into a shared volume, then sets NODE_OPTIONS on your application container:

apiVersion: opentelemetry.io/v1alpha1
kind: Instrumentation
metadata:
  name: nodejs-instrumentation
spec:
  exporter:
    endpoint: http://otel-collector:4318
  nodejs:
    image: dhi.io/opentelemetry-autoinstrumentation-nodejs:<tag>

Annotate the workload you want instrumented:

metadata:
  annotations:
    instrumentation.opentelemetry.io/inject-nodejs: "true"

The operator sets NODE_OPTIONS to require /otel-auto-instrumentation-nodejs/autoinstrumentation.js and sets OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER=otlp when you have not set it.

Running the init container as nonroot

This image runs as UID 65532. Upstream runs as root, so some clusters that worked with the upstream image need one of these settings:

• A PersistentVolumeClaim target that is root-owned with mode 0755 needs fsGroup on the pod, or the copy fails with cp: cannot create directory ... Permission denied.
• An app container with runAsNonRoot: true and no runAsUser now starts. Upstream was rejected at that point.
• Set spec.initContainerSecurityContext if the init container must run as a different user from the app.

Operator versions up to v0.96.0 are not supported with this image. Those versions use cp -a, which exits 1 on the volume root.

Configure the application

The bundle is configured through environment variables on the instrumented application container, not on this image. The most commonly used ones are below; see the Node.js SDK configuration docs⁠ for the full set.

OTEL_NODE_RESOURCE_DETECTORS=all probes cloud metadata endpoints at startup. In a cluster outside those clouds, set it to env,host,os,process so startup does not stall on unreachable endpoints.

FIPS variants

The fips tags carry OS-level FIPS posture and the STIG scan. This image performs no cryptography itself: the bundle is JavaScript that the operator copies into your workload, and its crypto runs in that application's Node.js process through OpenSSL. The bundle is identical in FIPS and non-FIPS tags. To cover the instrumentation's own operations, run the instrumented application on a FIPS Node.js image, such as dhi.io/node:22-debian13-fips.

Image variants

Docker Hardened Images come in different variants depending on their intended use. Image variants are identified by their tag.

• Runtime variants are designed to run your application in production. These images are intended to be used either directly or as the FROM image in the final stage of a multi-stage build. These images typically:

  • Run as a nonroot user
  • Do not include a shell or a package manager
  • Contain only the minimal set of libraries needed to run the app

• Build-time variants typically include dev in the tag name and are intended for use in the first stage of a multi-stage Dockerfile. These images typically:

  • Run as the root user
  • Include a shell and package manager
  • Are used to build or compile applications

• FIPS variants include fips in the variant name and tag. They come in both runtime and build-time variants. These variants use cryptographic modules that have been validated under FIPS 140, a U.S. government standard for secure cryptographic operations. For example, usage of MD5 fails in FIPS variants.

To view the image variants and get more information about them, select the Tags tab for this repository, and then select a tag.

Migrate to a Docker Hardened Image

To migrate your application to a Docker Hardened Image, you must update your Dockerfile. At minimum, you must update the base image in your existing Dockerfile to a Docker Hardened Image. This and a few other common changes are listed in the following table of migration notes.

The following steps outline the general migration process.

1. Find hardened images for your app.

   A hardened image may have several variants. Inspect the image tags and find the image variant that meets your needs.

2. Update the base image in your Dockerfile.

   Update the base image in your application's Dockerfile to the hardened image you found in the previous step. For framework images, this is typically going to be an image tagged as dev because it has the tools needed to install packages and dependencies.

3. For multi-stage Dockerfiles, update the runtime image in your Dockerfile.

   To ensure that your final image is as minimal as possible, you should use a multi-stage build. All stages in your Dockerfile should use a hardened image. While intermediary stages will typically use images tagged as dev, your final runtime stage should use a non-dev image variant.

4. Install additional packages

   Docker Hardened Images contain minimal packages in order to reduce the potential attack surface. You may need to install additional packages in your Dockerfile. Inspect the image variants to identify which packages are already installed.

   Only images tagged as dev typically have package managers. You should use a multi-stage Dockerfile to install the packages. Install the packages in the build stage that uses a dev image. Then, if needed, copy any necessary artifacts to the runtime stage that uses a non-dev image.

   For Alpine-based images, you can use apk to install packages. For Debian-based images, you can use apt-get to install packages.

Troubleshooting migration

The following are common issues that you may encounter during migration.

General debugging

The hardened images intended for runtime don't contain a shell nor any tools for debugging. The recommended method for debugging applications built with Docker Hardened Images is to use Docker Debug⁠ to attach to these containers. Docker Debug provides a shell, common debugging tools, and lets you install other tools in an ephemeral, writable layer that only exists during the debugging session.

Permissions

By default image variants intended for runtime, run as the nonroot user. Ensure that necessary files and directories are accessible to the nonroot user. You may need to copy files to different directories or change permissions so your application running as the nonroot user can access them.

Privileged ports

Non-dev hardened images run as a nonroot user by default. As a result, applications in these images can't bind to privileged ports (below 1024) when running in Kubernetes or in Docker Engine versions older than 20.10. To avoid issues, configure your application to listen on port 1025 or higher inside the container, even if you map it to a lower port on the host. For example, docker run -p 80:8080 my-image will work because the port inside the container is 8080, and docker run -p 80:81 my-image won't work because the port inside the container is 81.

No shell

By default, image variants intended for runtime don't contain a shell. Use dev images in build stages to run shell commands and then copy any necessary artifacts into the runtime stage. In addition, use Docker Debug to debug containers with no shell.

Entry point

Docker Hardened Images may have different entry points than images such as Docker Official Images. Use docker inspect to inspect entry points for Docker Hardened Images and update your Dockerfile if necessary.