Architecture & Design¶

Overview¶

The DevOps Images are built on a layered architecture, starting from a common base layer and extending with cloud-specific tools. All images are multi-architecture, supporting both amd64 and arm64 platforms.

Base Layer Architecture¶

All images start from a common base layer built on Rocky Linux 9:

graph TB
    subgraph "Base Layer (All Images)"
        RL[Rocky Linux 9<br/>Multi-arch: amd64/arm64]

        subgraph "Infrastructure as Code"
            TF[Terraform + tfswitch]
            TG[Terragrunt]
            TFL[TFLint]
            PK[Packer]
        end

        subgraph "Kubernetes Tools"
            KB[kubectl]
            HM[Helm 3]
            K9[k9s]
        end

        subgraph "Development"
            PY[Python 3.12]
            ND[Node.js LTS]
            GT[Git + GitHub CLI]
        end

        subgraph "AI Assistants"
            CL[Claude CLI]
            CD[Codex CLI]
            CP[Copilot CLI]
            GM[Gemini CLI]
        end

        subgraph "Config & Security"
            AN[Ansible + ansible-lint]
            TR[Trivy]
            PC[pre-commit]
            TS[Task]
        end

        subgraph "Database Clients"
            MG[mongosh v6.0]
            PG[PostgreSQL 17]
            MY[MySQL client]
        end

        subgraph "Shells & Utils"
            ZS[Zsh + Oh My Zsh]
            BS[Bash]
            FS[Fish]
            JQ[jq, curl, wget]
        end

        RL --> TF & KB & PY & CL & AN & MG & ZS
    end

    style RL fill:#4A90E2,color:#fff
    style TF fill:#623CE4,color:#fff
    style KB fill:#326CE5,color:#fff
    style PY fill:#3776AB,color:#fff

Image Variants¶

From the base layer, three specialized variants are built:

graph LR
    BASE[Base Layer<br/>~2.5GB] --> ALL[all-devops<br/>+AWS CLI<br/>+gcloud<br/>~3.2GB]
    BASE --> AWS[aws-devops<br/>+AWS CLI<br/>+Session Manager<br/>~2.8GB]
    BASE --> GCP[gcp-devops<br/>+gcloud<br/>+docker-credential-gcr<br/>~2.9GB]

    style BASE fill:#4A90E2,color:#fff
    style ALL fill:#FF6B6B,color:#fff
    style AWS fill:#FF9F43,color:#fff
    style GCP fill:#5F8D4E,color:#fff

Design Philosophy¶

Why Rocky Linux 9?¶

• Enterprise-grade stability: RHEL-compatible, production-ready
• Long-term support: Extended lifecycle for security updates
• Multi-architecture support: Native amd64 and arm64 builds
• Package ecosystem: Robust RPM ecosystem for DevOps tools

Why Zsh as Default?¶

• Developer productivity: Better autocomplete and syntax highlighting
• Oh My Zsh: Rich plugin ecosystem for cloud tools
• Compatibility: Bash scripts still work in Zsh
• Modern defaults: Better interactive experience

Multi-Architecture Strategy¶

All images are built for both amd64 (x86_64) and arm64 (aarch64) architectures, ensuring compatibility with:

• Intel/AMD machines: Traditional x86_64 servers and workstations
• Apple Silicon: M1/M2/M3 Mac devices (arm64 native)
• AWS Graviton: ARM-based EC2 instances
• Cloud development: Consistent experience across platforms

Tool Categories¶

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)¶

Kubernetes & Container Orchestration¶

Cloud Provider CLIs¶

Configuration Management¶

Security & Scanning¶

AI-Powered Development¶

All images include four AI CLI assistants for code generation, review, and troubleshooting:

Development Tools¶

Database Clients¶

Network & Utilities¶

• dig, nslookup - DNS troubleshooting
• ncat, telnet - Network connectivity testing
• curl, wget - HTTP clients
• jq - JSON processing
• tree - Directory visualization
• vim, less - Text editors/pagers

Build Process¶

Multi-Stage Build Strategy¶

graph TD
    START[Dockerfile] --> BASE_BUILD[Base Stage: Rocky Linux 9]
    BASE_BUILD --> TOOLS[Install Base Tools]
    TOOLS --> BRANCH{Target?}

    BRANCH -->|all-devops| AWS_TOOLS[Install AWS Tools]
    BRANCH -->|aws-devops| AWS_TOOLS
    BRANCH -->|gcp-devops| GCP_TOOLS[Install GCP Tools]

    AWS_TOOLS --> GCP_TOOLS_ALL{all-devops?}
    GCP_TOOLS_ALL -->|Yes| GCP_TOOLS
    GCP_TOOLS_ALL -->|No| FINAL_AWS[aws-devops Final]

    GCP_TOOLS --> FINAL_CHECK{all-devops?}
    FINAL_CHECK -->|Yes| FINAL_ALL[all-devops Final]
    FINAL_CHECK -->|No| FINAL_GCP[gcp-devops Final]

    style START fill:#4A90E2,color:#fff
    style FINAL_ALL fill:#FF6B6B,color:#fff
    style FINAL_AWS fill:#FF9F43,color:#fff
    style FINAL_GCP fill:#5F8D4E,color:#fff

Layer Optimization¶

The build process is optimized for layer caching:

1. Base OS packages - Changes rarely
2. Binary downloads - Version updates occasionally
3. Python/Node packages - Moderate update frequency
4. Configuration files - Most frequently changed

This ordering minimizes rebuild time and maximizes cache hits.

Size Comparison¶

Approximate compressed image sizes:

Next Steps¶

• Choose the right image for your use case
• Understand base layer tools in detail
• Explore cloud-specific additions
• Compare all variants side-by-side