Introduction

There's no reason to be limited to either hardware, virtual, or cloud birds, you can run Canaries in Docker containers too! This brings a bunch of interesting properties, including the ability to have your container orchestrator preload settings on your birds, and maintain a fixed number of Canaries no matter the performance of any individual node in your container cluster.

Of course, they are also the perfect way to get a heads up when someone compromises one container and is snooping around the other pods.

This page describes the requirements for Docker birds, how to get them enabled for your Console, how to run them, and the differences between Docker birds and regular birds.

Requirements for Docker Birds

There are very few requirements to run Docker birds. Your Console will need to have Docker enabled by our support team (see above), and you need to have a container environment capable of running standard Docker images. Docker birds are known to run in these environments:

• Kubernetes 1.18
• Kubernetes 1.22
• Docker Desktop for Mac 20.10.8
• Docker Engine 18.09.6, 20.10.8

These are only the environments that Docker birds were tested in; it is very likely the birds will run in additional environments where Docker is the underlying container engine. The birds are shipped in V2 (schema version 2) format, which was introduced in 2016 with the release of Docker 1.10.

Enabling Docker Birds

In contrast to the various cloud platforms, we don't need any information from you except your consent and a willingness to explore. Give us the word, and we'll get your Docker birds added to your Console. Once our Support team confirms that Docker is enabled for your Console, you're good to go.

Where are the images hosted?

The Docker images are hosted in a private repo at Docker Hub. When we enable Docker Canaries for you, we generate unique Docker Hub credentials for your Console, which allow you to pull our private images.

Launching Docker Birds

After Docker birds have been enabled on your Console, head over to How do I launch a Docker Canary? for a step-by-step guide.

Customising your Docker Bird

Docker Canaries have a few tricks up their sleeves. You can pass in configuration data that lets the bird launch with services already enabled (in contrast to other bird types where you need to wait for the device to first be commissioned on the Console.) You can also persist configuration across container restarts in certain circumstances.

For these and more, see the Customising Docker Birds page.

Limitations

Docker Canaries do not support the portscan modules, Windows File Share module, or remote webroot uploads as well as DNS over HTTPS. (DoH)