How to run amd64 Docker images on the arm64 host platform?

Before knowing how to run amd64 docker images on the arm64 host platform, we must know what this means. There is a term called multi-architecture or multi-platform docker container images. These images contain the ability to run on various base or host architectures provided at the time of containerization of the images.

Need of Multiplatform images

Suppose you are a DevOps engineer and you have to prepare a web-server for an IT company. You have an amd64 host platform but when you handed over the image to the company you came to know that the company only works on the amr64 host platform. Even though you prepared the web-server very well but it will fail to work on the arm machine because the container image is specifically built for the amd64 architecture. This problem introduces us to the world of multi-architecture docker images.

How to Check the Architecture of the Images?

Commands for Ubuntu, Alpine, Busybox, and Raspbian images.

Example

$ docker run ubuntu uname -m
output:
x86_64

$ docker run alpine uname -m
output:
x86_64

$ docker run busybox uname -m
output:
x86_64

#docker run raspbian/stretch uname -m
armv7l

Creating Multiplatform Images

Stepwise execute the below process for creating a multiplatform image using the dockerfile and the docker builder functionality provided by the docker daemon.

Step 1: Create a dockerfile for the image building.

Here we have created a minimalistic dockerfile.

Example

#Here we will use the busybox as the base image
FROM busybox:latest
RUN echo "hello this is busybox"
CMD ["uname" "-m"]

Step 2: Build the created Dockerfile

Now we will build this dockerfile using the buildx functionality. Usually, we create images using the “docker build” but here we will use “docker buildx” because it provides the developer much more flexibility in building.

Example

$ docker buildx build \
--platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 \
--push \
-t <dockerhub_Username>/buildx_image_new .

Output

[+] Building 34.0s (16/16) FINISHED
 => [internal] booting buildkit                                                               4.4s
 => => pulling image moby/buildkit:buildx-stable-1                                                 3.2s
 => => creating container buildx_buildkit_mynewbuilder0                                             1.2s
 => [internal] load .dockerignore                                                              0.1s
 => => transferring context: 2B                                                               0.0s
 => [internal] load build definition from Dockerfile                                                0.1s
 => => transferring dockerfile: 162B                                                            0.1s
 => [linux/arm64 internal] load metadata for docker.io/library/busybox:latest                             8.3s
 => [linux/arm/v6 internal] load metadata for docker.io/library/busybox:latest                            7.6s
 => [linux/amd64 internal] load metadata for docker.io/library/busybox:latest                             8.4s
 => [auth] library/busybox:pull token for registry-1.docker.io                                        0.0s
 => [linux/amd64 1/2] FROM docker.io/library/busybox:latest@sha256:fcd85228d7a25feb59f101ac3a955d27c80df4ad824d65  0.1s
 => => resolve docker.io/library/busybox:latest@sha256:fcd85228d7a25feb59f101ac3a955d27c80df4ad824d65f5757a954831  0.1s
 => [linux/arm64 1/2] FROM docker.io/library/busybox:latest@sha256:fcd85228d7a25feb59f101ac3a955d27c80df4ad824d65  0.1s
 => => resolve docker.io/library/busybox:latest@sha256:fcd85228d7a25feb59f101ac3a955d27c80df4ad824d65f5757a954831  0.1s
 => [linux/arm/v6 1/2] FROM docker.io/library/busybox:latest@sha256:fcd85228d7a25feb59f101ac3a955d27c80df4ad824d6  3.2s
 => => resolve docker.io/library/busybox:latest@sha256:fcd85228d7a25feb59f101ac3a955d27c80df4ad824d65f5757a954831  0.1s
 => => sha256:1f034cc8a3763179d1066acbd5441a02c518c2697c7615def9a6edce981b70d1 953.68kB / 953.68kB             3.0s
 => => extracting sha256:1f034cc8a3763179d1066acbd5441a02c518c2697c7615def9a6edce981b70d1                    0.1s
 => CACHED [linux/arm64 2/2] RUN echo "hello this is busybox"                                         0.0s
 => CACHED [linux/amd64 2/2] RUN echo "hello this is busybox"                                         0.0s
 => [linux/arm/v6 2/2] RUN echo "hello this is busybox"                                             0.3s
 => exporting to image                                                                     17.4s
 => => exporting layers                                                                     0.1s
 => => exporting manifest sha256:ff2057bc3b087bf2b731a0063b44f74d24a2b5e48ee9902547421574d7ec9bf9              0.0s
 => => exporting config sha256:e4550dd445e9e1fe2cbe5c18fb745f795cf8fe9e0d17309be9664e33c2ef8d9a               0.0s
 => => exporting manifest sha256:360c05bf0afe9057b778991d1ed29a5fead857f67b555d58ef4a2db39caf5532              0.0s
 => => exporting config sha256:b8c5096ae3829ec9e0a02d73654a15883f31fab05189039e3d680d637d642761               0.0s
 => => exporting manifest sha256:cd5f9f98ba829e12c82ab63b1be7432a70125aadbb9a89dc51609d6e9cee6a23              0.0s
 => => exporting config sha256:2c550e8596608e89b705738ee6e20543bede26bff74fcf2a82baad72ae215a48               0.0s
 => => exporting manifest list sha256:d74f387cab65b336185b91491aff79c263018fb6d1acd6e0a7c37537333cc1e3          0.0s
 => => pushing layers                                                                      13.6s
 => => pushing manifest for docker.io/<dockerhub_Username>//buildx_image_new:latest@sha256:d74f387cab65b336185b91491aff79c  3.5s
 => [auth] <dockerhub_Username>//buildx_image_new:pull,push token for registry-1.docker.io                          0.0s
 => [auth] <dockerhub_Username>//buildx_image:pull <dockerhub_Username>//buildx_image_new:pull,push token for registry-1.docker.io   0.0s

Now go to the docker hub and log into your username and check in the repository if any image is present with the name you uploaded or pushed.

If you face any problem in the above command execution then first login to your docker hub on the terminal using the “docker login” command and then enter “username” and “password” according.

Using the above steps we have created a multiplatform docker image on an “amd64” host architecture. Now we can use this docker image on “linux/amd64” and also on “linux/arm64”.

Create Container on amd Host Platform

By using the below-given commands you can now create a busybox container on the amd host platform. First, you need to pull the image to the host machine using “docker pull” then you can containerize using “docker run”.Use the same docker hub username you used during the creation of the image and push it to the repository.

Example 1

$ docker pull <dockerhub_Username>/buildx_image_new

Output

Using default tag: latest
latest: Pulling from <dockerhub_Username>/buildx_image_new
Digest: sha256:d74f387cab65b336185b91491aff79c263018fb6d1acd6e0a7c37537333cc1e3
Status: Downloaded newer image for <dockerhub_Username>/buildx_image_new:latest
docker.io/<dockerhub_Username>/buildx_image_new:latest

Let’s check if the image is pulled from the repository.

Example 2

$docker images

Output

<dockerhub_Username>/buildx_image_new latest e4550dd445e9 5 days ago 1.24MB

After the image has been pulled successfully, let's run this image on this amd system.

Example 3

$ docker run –it \
--name host_amd64 \
<dockerhub_Username>/buildx_image

Output

x86_64

Create a container on arm Host Platform

Here we have used a Raspberry pi because it works on the arm architecture.

Step 1: Install the docker client and docker container on the raspbian OS.

First, update and upgrade the apt-get repository.

$sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Now download the get_docker.sh script.

$curl -fsSL get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh

Check if the script is downloaded or not using “ls”.

$ls

Now execute this script to install docker on the raspberry pi machine.

$sh get-docker.sh

Now you need to append the raspbian user to the docker group.

$sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Restart the raspbian OS to execute all the changes.

$sudo restart

Step 2: Now pull the same docker image

Example

$ docker pull <dockerhub_Username>/buildx_image

Output

Using default tag: latest
latest: Pulling from <dockerhub_Username>/buildx_image_new
1f034cc8a376: Pull complete
92d2a98e1f6d: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:d74f387cab65b336185b91491aff79c263018fb6d1acd6e0a7c37537333cc1e3
Status: Downloaded newer image for <dockerhub_Username>/buildx_image_new:latest
docker.io/<dockerhub_Username>/buildx_image_new:latest

Step 3: Now run this docker image

Example

$ docker run –it \
--name host_arm \
<dockerhub_Username>/buildx_image

Output

armv7l

This is the way to run amd created images on the arm host platform. If this does not run the image on the raspbian os then check the architecture of the raspberry pi using the command “uname –m” and add this architecture during the creation of the “buildx image”.