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title Guidance for using the official Microsoft Artifact Registry (MAR) endpoints
description This articles provides information about the official endpoints of Microsoft Artifact Registry (MAR) and provides guidance how to use the REST and CDN endpoints to pull official Microsoft artifacts around the world.
ms.topic guidance
ms.date 04/01/2025
ms.author ttruong
author terencet-dev
ms.custom

Guidance for using the official Microsoft Artifact Registry (MAR) endpoints

Microsoft Artifact Registry (also known as Microsoft Container Registry or MCR) is an implementation of the OCI Distribution Specification which delivers artifacts, such as container images, helm charts and other assets distributed by Microsoft. The Distribution Spec linked above defines two endpoints:

  • Registry Endpoint: Providing content discovery. This is also referred to as REST Endpoint and it is the endpoint users are most familiar with when pulling an image; for example: docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/windows/servercore:1909. The registry endpoint is load balanced across multiple worldwide regions, providing reliable and consistent access to the MAR artifacts catalog.
  • Data Endpoint: Providing content delivery. As a registry client discovers the content required, it negotiates a set of content URLs, pulling from the data endpoint. To provide reliable delivery of content, the data endpoint is backed by regional CDN endpoints.

Official FQDNs for MAR

To access Registry Endpoint and MAR discovery UI, the following FQDNs should be used.

Purpose Protocol Target FQDN
Registry Endpoint and MAR discovery UI https mcr.microsoft.com
Data Endpoint https *.data.mcr.microsoft.com
Registry Endpoint for China Region https mcr.azure.cn
Data Endpoint for China Region https *.data.mcr.azure.cn

Note

The China region endpoints (mcr.azure.cn and *.data.mcr.azure.cn) are counterparts to (mcr.microsoft.com and *.data.mcr.microsoft.com).

Note

MAR provides global coverage through Azure Traffic Manager for the registry endpoint, with regional CDNs managed by Azure Front Door for the data endpoints. Over time, MAR team will continue adding regional endpoints to ensure the best performance for our customers. Check the MAR Firewall Rules article for details how to configure your firewall rules.

MAR Registry Endpoint Locations

MAR registry REST endpoints are available in the following nine locations:

  • Asia East
  • Asia South East
  • China East 3
  • China North 3
  • Europe North
  • Europe West
  • US Central
  • US East
  • US West
  • US West 2
  • US West-Central

MAR Data Endpoint Locations

MAR uses Azure Front Door CDN point of presence (POP) locations to provide reliable delivery of Microsoft content. Single CDN POP location can have multiple nodes serving the MAR content. To obtain the list of CDN POP locations for MAR use the following articles from Azure Front Door:

Use of Mirrors

MAR delivers content via the official REST and data endpoints listed above. The data endpoints are backed by the Azure Front Door CDN POP locations around the world. MAR does not provide official mirrors for serving content.

Microsoft does not endorse any mirrors that serve MAR content and highly encourages its customers to use the official endpoints. The use of mirrors may result in altered content and supply chain exploits.

Support

If you experience issues with pulling artifact from MAR, contact Microsoft Support. You can also submit an issue in the official MAR GitHub repository.