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bitnami/kong

Verified Publisher

By VMware

Updated 2 days ago

Bitnami container image for Kong

Image
API Management
Integration & Delivery
Security
16

1M+

Bitnami package for Kong

What is Kong?

Kong is an open source Microservice API gateway and platform designed for managing microservices requests of high-availability, fault-tolerance, and distributed systems.

Overview of Kong Trademarks: This software listing is packaged by Bitnami. The respective trademarks mentioned in the offering are owned by the respective companies, and use of them does not imply any affiliation or endorsement.

TL;DR

docker run --name kong bitnami/kong:latest

Why use Bitnami Images?

  • Bitnami closely tracks upstream source changes and promptly publishes new versions of this image using our automated systems.
  • With Bitnami images the latest bug fixes and features are available as soon as possible.
  • Bitnami containers, virtual machines and cloud images use the same components and configuration approach - making it easy to switch between formats based on your project needs.
  • All our images are based on minideb -a minimalist Debian based container image that gives you a small base container image and the familiarity of a leading Linux distribution- or scratch -an explicitly empty image-.
  • All Bitnami images available in Docker Hub are signed with Notation. Check this post to know how to verify the integrity of the images.
  • Bitnami container images are released on a regular basis with the latest distribution packages available.

Looking to use Kong in production? Try VMware Tanzu Application Catalog, the commercial edition of the Bitnami catalog.

Why use a non-root container?

Non-root container images add an extra layer of security and are generally recommended for production environments. However, because they run as a non-root user, privileged tasks are typically off-limits. Learn more about non-root containers in our docs.

Only latest stable branch maintained in the free Bitnami catalog

Starting December 10th 2024, only the latest stable branch of any container will receive updates in the free Bitnami catalog. To access up-to-date releases for all upstream-supported branches, consider upgrading to Bitnami Premium. Previous versions already released will not be deleted. They are still available to pull from DockerHub.

Please check the Bitnami Premium page in our partner Arrow Electronics for more information.

Supported tags and respective Dockerfile links

Learn more about the Bitnami tagging policy and the difference between rolling tags and immutable tags in our documentation page.

You can see the equivalence between the different tags by taking a look at the tags-info.yaml file present in the branch folder, i.e bitnami/ASSET/BRANCH/DISTRO/tags-info.yaml.

Subscribe to project updates by watching the bitnami/containers GitHub repo.

Get this image

The recommended way to get the Bitnami Kong Docker Image is to pull the prebuilt image from the Docker Hub Registry.

docker pull bitnami/kong:latest

To use a specific version, you can pull a versioned tag. You can view the list of available versions in the Docker Hub Registry.

docker pull bitnami/kong:[TAG]

If you wish, you can also build the image yourself by cloning the repository, changing to the directory containing the Dockerfile and executing the docker build command. Remember to replace the APP, VERSION and OPERATING-SYSTEM path placeholders in the example command below with the correct values.

git clone https://github.com/bitnami/containers.git
cd bitnami/APP/VERSION/OPERATING-SYSTEM
docker build -t bitnami/APP:latest .

Connecting to other containers

Using Docker container networking, a different server running inside a container can easily be accessed by your application containers and vice-versa.

Containers attached to the same network can communicate with each other using the container name as the hostname.

Using the Command Line

Step 1: Create a network

docker network create kong-network --driver bridge

Step 2: Launch the Kong container within your network

Use the --network <NETWORK> argument to the docker run command to attach the container to the kong-network network.

docker run --name kong-node1 --network kong-network bitnami/kong:latest

Step 3: Run another containers

We can launch another containers using the same flag (--network NETWORK) in the docker run command. If you also set a name to your container, you will be able to use it as hostname in your network.

Configuration

Environment variables

Customizable environment variables

NameDescriptionDefault Value
KONG_MIGRATEPerform Kong database migration.no
KONG_EXIT_AFTER_MIGRATEExit Kong after performing the database migration.no
KONG_PROXY_LISTEN_ADDRESSListen address for Kong proxy daemon.0.0.0.0
KONG_PROXY_HTTP_PORT_NUMBERHTTP port of the Kong proxy daemon.8000
KONG_PROXY_HTTPS_PORT_NUMBERHTTPS port of the Kong proxy daemon.8443
KONG_ADMIN_LISTEN_ADDRESSListen address for Kong admin daemon.0.0.0.0
KONG_ADMIN_HTTP_PORT_NUMBERHTTP port of the Kong admin daemon.8001
KONG_ADMIN_HTTPS_PORT_NUMBERHTTPS port of the Kong admin daemon.8444
KONG_NGINX_DAEMONSet silent log streams for the nginx daemon.off
KONG_PROXY_LISTENKong proxy listen address.${KONG_PROXY_LISTEN_ADDRESS}:${KONG_PROXY_HTTP_PORT_NUMBER}, ${KONG_PROXY_LISTEN_ADDRESS}:${KONG_PROXY_HTTPS_PORT_NUMBER} ssl
KONG_PROXY_LISTEN_OVERRIDEOverride proxy listen.no
KONG_ADMIN_LISTENKong admin listen address.${KONG_ADMIN_LISTEN_ADDRESS}:${KONG_ADMIN_HTTP_PORT_NUMBER}, ${KONG_ADMIN_LISTEN_ADDRESS}:${KONG_ADMIN_HTTPS_PORT_NUMBER} ssl
KONG_ADMIN_LISTEN_OVERRIDEOverride admin listen.no
KONG_DATABASESelect database for Kong.postgres
KONG_PG_PASSWORDPostgreSQL password for Kong.nil

Read-only environment variables

NameDescriptionValue
KONG_BASE_DIRKong installation directory.${BITNAMI_ROOT_DIR}/kong
KONG_CONF_DIRKong configuration directory.${KONG_BASE_DIR}/conf
KONG_DEFAULT_CONF_DIRKong configuration directory.${KONG_BASE_DIR}/conf.default
KONG_CONF_FILEKong configuration file.${KONG_CONF_DIR}/kong.conf
KONG_DEFAULT_CONF_FILEKong default configuration file.${KONG_CONF_DIR}/kong.conf.default
KONG_INITSCRIPTS_DIRKong directory for init scripts./docker-entrypoint-initdb.d
KONG_SERVER_DIRDirectory where Kong Openresty instance is created.${KONG_BASE_DIR}/server
KONG_PREFIXKong installation directory.${KONG_SERVER_DIR}
KONG_DEFAULT_SERVER_DIRDirectory with default Kong Openresty instance files.${KONG_BASE_DIR}/server.default
KONG_LOGS_DIRDirectory where Kong logs are stored.${KONG_SERVER_DIR}/logs
KONG_DAEMON_USERKong system user.kong
KONG_DAEMON_GROUPKong system group.kong

Additionally, this container also supports configuring Kong via environment values starting with KONG_. For instance, by setting the KONG_LOG_LEVEL environment variable, Kong will take into account this value rather than the property set in kong.conf. It is recommended to set the following environment variables:

  • KONG_DATABASE: Database type used. Valid values: postgres or off. Default: postgres
  • For PostgreSQL database: KONG_PG_HOST, KONG_PG_PORT, KONG_PG_TIMEOUT, KONG_PG_USER, KONG_PG_PASSWORD.

Check the official Kong Configuration Reference for the full list of configurable properties.

Full configuration

The image looks for Kong the configuration file in /opt/bitnami/kong/conf/kong.conf, which you can overwrite using your own custom configuration file.

docker run --name kong \
  -e KONG_DATABASE=off \
  -v /path/to/kong.conf:/opt/bitnami/kong/conf/kong.conf \
  bitnami/kong:latest

or using Docker Compose:

version: '2'

services:
  kong:
    image: 'bitnami/kong:latest'
    ports:
      - '8000:8000'
      - '8443:8443'
    environment:
      # Assume we don't want data persistence for simplicity purposes
      - KONG_DATABASE=off
    volumes:
      - /path/to/kong.conf:/opt/bitnami/kong/conf/kong.conf

Logging

The Bitnami Kong Docker image sends the container logs to stdout. To view the logs:

docker logs kong

You can configure the containers logging driver using the --log-driver option if you wish to consume the container logs differently. In the default configuration docker uses the json-file driver.

Customize this image

The Bitnami Kong Docker image is designed to be extended so it can be used as the base image for your custom API service.

Extend this image

Before extending this image, please note it is possible there are certain ways you can configure Kong using the original:

If your desired customizations cannot be covered using the methods mentioned above, extend the image. To do so, create your own image using a Dockerfile with the format below:

FROM bitnami/kong
### Put your customizations below
...

Here is an example of extending the image with the following modifications:

  • Install the vim editor
  • Modify the Kong configuration file
  • Modify the ports used by Kong
  • Change the user that runs the container
FROM bitnami/kong

### Change user to perform privileged actions
USER 0
### Install 'vim'
RUN install_packages vim
### Revert to the original non-root user
USER 1001

### Disable anonymous reports
## Keep in mind it is possible to do this by setting the KONG_ANONYMOUS_REPORTS=off environment variable
RUN sed -i -r 's/#anonymous_reports = on/anonymous_reports = off/' /opt/bitnami/kong/conf/kong.conf

### Modify the ports used by Kong by default
## It is also possible to change these environment variables at runtime
ENV KONG_PROXY_HTTP_PORT_NUMBER=8080
ENV KONG_ADMIN_HTTP_PORT_NUMBER=8081
EXPOSE 8080 8081 8443 8444

### Modify the default container user
USER 1002

Based on the extended image, you can use a Docker Compose file like the one below to add other features:

  • Configure Kong via environment variables
  • Override the entire kong.conf configuration file
version: '2'
services:
  kong:
    build: .
    ports:
      - '80:8080'
      - '443:8443'
    volumes:
      - ./config/kong.conf:/opt/bitnami/kong/conf/kong.conf
    environment:
      # Assume we don't want data persistence for simplicity purposes
      - KONG_DATABASE=off
volumes:
  data:
    driver: local

Maintenance

Upgrade this image

Bitnami provides up-to-date versions of Kong, including security patches, soon after they are made upstream. We recommend that you follow these steps to upgrade your container.

Step 1: Get the updated image

docker pull bitnami/kong:latest

Step 2: Stop the running container

Stop the currently running container using the command

docker stop kong

Step 3: Remove the currently running container

docker rm -v kong

Step 4: Run the new image

Re-create your container from the new image.

docker run --name kong bitnami/kong:latest

Using docker-compose.yaml

Please be aware this file has not undergone internal testing. Consequently, we advise its use exclusively for development or testing purposes. For production-ready deployments, we highly recommend utilizing its associated Bitnami Helm chart.

If you detect any issue in the docker-compose.yaml file, feel free to report it or contribute with a fix by following our Contributing Guidelines.

Contributing

We'd love for you to contribute to this container. You can request new features by creating an issue or submitting a pull request with your contribution.

Issues

If you encountered a problem running this container, you can file an issue. For us to provide better support, be sure to fill the issue template.

License

Copyright © 2025 Broadcom. The term "Broadcom" refers to Broadcom Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

Docker Pull Command

docker pull bitnami/kong
Bitnami