rhelcontainer-image

What is the difference between UBI and Atomic Base Image


My company is RHEL customer, and I need base container images for:

  1. Portable CI/CD build environments
  2. Running services with minimal dependencies (Go, Java, Python)

Looking at these 2 docker files, they are identical. Is there any difference in support model, or maintenance?

https://catalog.redhat.com/software/containers/ubi7/ubi-minimal/5c3594f7dd19c775cddfa777?gti-tabs=unauthenticated&container-tabs=dockerfile

https://catalog.redhat.com/software/containers/rhel7/rhel-atomic/58b9d66f4b339a07cca5359e?container-tabs=dockerfile


Solution

  • By the docs of RHEL

    The legacy rhel7-minimal (or rhel7-atomic) and UBI ubi7-minimal images are stripped-down RHEL images to use when a bare-bones base image in desired. RHEL minimal images provide a base for your own container images that is less than half the size of the standard image, while still being able to draw on RHEL software repositories and maintain any compliance requirements your software has.

    BOTH

    ATOMIC

    UBI-MINIMAL

    I personally would choose UBI-Minimal, but, think you should also take a look at the UBI FAQ to know the details, pros and cons of each image depending on your business - https://developers.redhat.com/articles/ubi-faq#ubi_details