Create Auxiliary Image

The createAuxImage command helps build a container image from a given base OS image. Auxiliary images are very small images providing the WDT install files with WDT models, archives, and variables for WebLogic Kubernetes Operator - Auxiliary Images. These images are an alternative approach for including Model-in-Image model files, application archive files, WebLogic Deploying Tooling installation files, or other types of files, in your WebLogic Server Kubernetes Operator environment.

There are a number of optional parameters for this feature. The required option for the command is marked.

Usage: imagetool createAuxImage [OPTIONS]
Parameter Definition Default
--tag (Required) Tag for the final build image. Example: store/oracle/mydomain:1
--additionalBuildCommands Path to a file with additional build commands. For more details, see Additional information.
--additionalBuildFiles Additional files that are required by your additionalBuildCommands. A comma separated list of files that should be copied to the build context. See Additional information.
--builder, -b Executable to process the Dockerfile. Use the full path of the executable if not on your path. Defaults to docker, or, when set, to the value in environment variable WLSIMG_BUILDER.
--buildNetwork Networking mode for the RUN instructions during the image build. See --network for Docker build.
--chown userid:groupid to be used for creating files within the image, such as the WDT installer, WDT model, and WDT archive. If the user or group does not exist in the image, they will be added with useradd/groupadd. oracle:oracle
--dryRun Skip Docker build execution and print the Dockerfile to stdout.
--fromImage Container image to use as a base image when creating a new image. busybox
--httpProxyUrl Proxy for the HTTP protocol. Example: http://myproxy:80 or http:user:passwd@myproxy:8080
--httpsProxyUrl Proxy for the HTTPS protocol. Example: https://myproxy:80 or https:user:passwd@myproxy:8080
--packageManager Override the default package manager for the base image’s operating system. Supported values: APK, APTGET, NONE, YUM, ZYPPER
--platform Set the target platform to build. Supported values: linux/amd64 or linux/arm64.
--pull Always attempt to pull a newer version of base images during the build.
--skipcleanup Do not delete the build context folder, intermediate images, and failed build containers. For debugging purposes.
--target Select the target environment in which the created image will be used. Supported values: Default (Docker/Kubernetes), OpenShift. See Additional information. Default
--wdtArchive A WDT archive ZIP file or comma-separated list of files.
--wdtHome The target folder in the image for the WDT install and models. /auxiliary
--wdtModel A WDT model file or a comma-separated list of files.
--wdtModelHome The target location in the image to copy WDT model, variable, and archive files. {wdtHome}/models
--wdtVariables A WDT variables file or comma-separated list of files.
--wdtVersion WDT version to be installed in the container image in {wdtHome}/weblogic-deploy. For more details, see Additional information. latest

Additional information

--additionalBuildCommands

This is an advanced option that let’s you provide additional commands to the Docker build step.
The input for this parameter is a simple text file that contains one or more of the valid sections. Valid sections for createAuxImage are:

Section Available Variables Build Stage Timing
initial-build-commands None All As root, and before any Image Tool actions.
package-manager-packages None All A list of OS packages, such as ftp gzip, separated by line or space.
final-build-commands AUXILIARY_IMAGE_PATH WDT_HOME WDT_MODEL_HOME Final image After all Image Tool actions are complete, and just before the container image is finalized.

Each section can contain one or more valid Dockerfile commands and would look like the following:

[final-build-commands]
LABEL owner="middleware team"
COPY --chown=oracle:oracle files/my_additional_file.txt /auxiliary

--additionalBuildFiles

This option provides a way to supply additional files to the image build command. All provided files and directories are copied directly under the files subfolder of the build context.
To get those files into the image, additional build commands must be provided using the additionalBuildCommands options. Access to these files using a build command, such as COPY or ADD, should use the original filename with the folder prefix, files/. For example, if the original file was provided as --additionalBuildFiles /scratch/test1/convenience.sh, the Docker build command COPY provided in --additionalBuildCommands should look like COPY --chown=oracle:oracle files/convenience.sh /my/internal/image/location.
Because Image Tool uses multi-stage builds, it is important to place the build command (like COPY) in the appropriate section of the Dockerfile based on when the build needs access to the file. For example, if the file is needed in the final image and not for installation or domain creation steps, use the final-build-commands section so that the COPY command occurs in the final stage of the image build.

--target

The file permissions in the Auxiliary image should match the container image where WebLogic Server is installed. The target option is supplied for Auxiliary images as a convenience to simplify creating images with the same owner:group file permissions. Use the same value for --target when creating images with create and createAuxImage.

Target Default File Permissions Default File Ownership
Default rwxr-x--- oracle:oracle
OpenShift rwxrwx--- oracle:root

--wdtVersion

As of version 1.11.0, you may opt to install WDT and the model files in separate images. By default, the cached wdt_latest version of WDT is installed in the Auxiliary image with the selected models, archives, and variable files. If you use --wdtVersion=none (case insensitive), the auxiliary image will be created without installing WDT.

Use an argument file

You can save all arguments passed for the Image Tool in a file, then use the file as a parameter.

For example, create a file called build_args:

createAuxImage
--tag mydomain:1
--wdtModel ./my_domain.yaml
--wdtArchive ./my_domain.zip

Use it on the command line, as follows:

$ imagetool @/path/to/build_args

Usage scenarios

The following commands assume that the required WDT installer has been downloaded and added to the ImageTool cache. Use the cache command to set it up.

  • Create an image named wdt:1.10 with the latest WebLogic Deploy Tooling version.

    $ imagetool createAuxImage --tag wdt:1.10

  • Create an image named mydomain:1 with the same options as above and add a WDT model and archive.

    $ imagetool create --tag mydomain:1 --wdtModel /path/to/my_domain.yaml --wdtArchive /path/to/my_domain.zip