Watchtower replacement recommendations

What are you using to update your Docker images?

41 points · 26 comments · view on lemmy.world

26 Comments

frongt@lemmy.zip · 14 pts · 139d
FrederikNJS@piefed.zip · 12 pts · 139d (1 reply)

https://docs.renovatebot.com/

All my docker images are in code in Github.

Renovate makes a PR when there are image or helm chart updates.

ArgoCD sees the PR merge and applies to Kubernetes.

For a few special cases I use ArgoCD-image-updater.

HybridSarcasm@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 139d

+1 for Renovate. It's not a drop-in replacement for Watchtower, but it allowed me to create a robust CI/CD pipeline. And, it can be centrally run, instead of having Watchtower running on every Docker host I have.

Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 139d (5 replies)

Dockhand can search for updates but you have to install them manually. Which I prefer anyway, plus Dockhand also replaced Portainer/Komodo for me.

badlotus@discuss.online · 2 pts · 139d (1 reply)

Even better, Dockhand can send notifications when updates are available. I used to be a Watchtower user with nightly updates until one of my services became unavailable the next day due to a breaking change. Now I look at the update notification and apply manually through Dockhand after reviewing to make sure the update is good. Dockhand also can run Gripe and/or Trivy vulnerability scans on new images so you know approximately how many CVEs you’re adding to your network with each new or updated container! 🤣 I liked Portainer a lot but have grown to like Dockhand a lot. I’m having some issues with updates and vulnerability scanning on Hawser nodes so I’ve also tried Komodo and Arcane. Not sure which I’ll end up with long-term, but Dockhand is my favorite overall. What’s your opinion on these tools? Have you run into any issues with Dockhand?

Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 138d

I haven't tried Arcane. I prefer Komodo's interface over Portainer but Portainer worked better for me. I was running Portainer and Dockpeek for updates but Dockhand has replaced both, and IMO the interface is even better than Komodo's. I'm still learning, there are features I don't know much about like stack management, which I still do manually.

niisyth@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 138d

In the same boat but with Arcane

diminou@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 139d (1 reply)

You have en option to install them automatically in the settings or per container

Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 138d

Good to know. Personally I prefer to review the changelogs before updating, though.

K3can@lemmy.radio · 8 pts · 139d

Quadlets. Auto update and auto rollback if the new image fails to start. Plus easier management overall, too.

Brewchin@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 138d

After too many wild rides with Watchtower auto-nuking services, thanks to breaking changes (migrations, DB updates, deployment changes, etc), I switched to What's Up Docker and pin the version for all of my containers.

WUD lets me know when something has an update, so I periodically go through their release notes and do the update(s) manually. Usually as simple as read the notes, changes version in compose, down (or pull), then "up -d". But this approach has saved my bacon multiple times.

I've seen there are other solutions - of varying degrees of promises vs delivery - but most of my stuff is long term and stable. My approach maintains all that.

lIlIllIlIIIllIlIlII@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 139d (1 reply)

Im using Komodo for deployong and auto updates.

Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 134d

I am really liking komodo so far. I need to understand how the builder works and I think it will be perfect for what I need.

Nibodhika@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 138d

I theoretically have Diun setup, but realistically I just run my Ansible playbook weekly and have most containers set to latest. The exceptions being things that sometimes need special steps when upgrading such as Immich or critical stuff I want special attention such as Athelia/Authentik, for those I subscribe to their releases via RSS so I can update them easily, which usually is just changing a value in my Ansible configuration, but if extra changes are needed I can adapt them.

whysofurious@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 138d

I generally don't update automatically, I currently use WUD. It works fine for image checking and notifications and had no need to change it for now, but I am thinking of trying dockhand too.

sznowicki@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 138d

In reality for me it’s German CERT sending me emails that my n8n is again out of date with tons of CVEs.

yardratianSoma@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 138d

I use dockwatch, but not for automatic updates. I just update after reviewing the changelog and user reports.

BlackEco@lemmy.blackeco.com · 2 pts · 139d

I'm thinking of using Dockcheck. It's not a drop-in replacement for Watchtower, but you probably can wip up a quick systemd service to run it.

irmadlad@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 139d

Never used it, but TugTainer. I use the fork of Watchtower and run it with '--run-once' '--cleanup'. You can run it and let it update your containers as soon as an update is available, but I just like to run it manually.

GreenKnight23@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 138d (1 reply)

is there something wrong with watchtower I missed?

Tywele@piefed.social · 2 pts · 138d

It’s not maintained anymore but there is a fork. Someone else posted the link.

hoppolito@mander.xyz · 1 pts · 138d

While I’m a big proponent of version pinning your critical services, if you’re running stuff in docker swarm shepherd is a solid service updater for the less critical things.

northernlights@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 138d

I just use my free portainer business for 3 nodes to show in the containers view which ones are outdated, and I check it regularly. Really whish there could be some kind of notification but oh well. I also follow the releases for all the projects I self host so I know when to check. Automating this makes me too nervous for comfort.

ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 133d

A corn job that run pull on then up -d on my docker compose file.

MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 134d

Komodo.

eco_game@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 139d

I don't use it anymore as I switched to TrueNAS which has the functionality built in, but I used to use docking-station.