EAP 8 Runtime vs Builder image container images tools in OpenShift

Solution Verified - Updated

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Application Platform
    • 8.x
  • Red hat OpenShift Container Platform (OCP)
    • 4.x

Issue

  • How does EAP 8 images builder vs runtime compare
  • Is there any major difference on the EAP 8 images?

Resolution

Regarding the fundamental difference between runtime and builder images, see the solution What is the difference between Builder and Runtime images in Red Hat Container Catalog?.
However, in terms of base image: EAP 8 runtime is built against the minimal ubi 8 image so it won't have some tools, such as tar, which is used to copy files from the container. Example:

sh-4.4$ ps
sh: ps: command not found
sh-4.4$ aux
sh: aux: command not found
sh-4.4$ top
sh: top: command not found
sh-4.4$ grep
Usage: grep [OPTION]... PATTERN [FILE]...
Try 'grep --help' for more information.

That's given:

## START target image jboss-eap-8/eap8-openjdk17-runtime-openshift-rhel8:1.0.1.GA
## \
    FROM registry.access.redhat.com/ubi8/ubi-minimal <-----------

EAP 7 was based on just ubi images, on EAP 8 runtime got reduced size, in relation to difference of images:

  • EAP 7 runtime image doesn't have - starting the EAP 7 runtime image will result in
  • EAP 7 builder image does have the full server

Root Cause

EAP 8 runtime comes with ubi-minimal. Not ubi (main) base image, this has implications on the tools one can use it.
The EAP 8 builder image does not contain a server, whereas the EAP 7 builder image contains a server. The runtime image doesn't contain an EAP 7 server.
See the solution Empty /opt/eap (/opt/server) directory in EAP 8 runtime image for more details on EAP builder image vs runtime image. EAP 8.1 Images will bring a few of those tools, such as tar.

Diagnostic Steps

  1. If seeing ERROR *** No installed Server, exiting *** when deploying EAP 8 - pod logs, remember EAP 8 doesn't contain a server. Even the builder image does not contain a server.
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