Deploying to production in <5m with our hosted container builder

The text discusses the process of reducing Docker image build times from around 10 minutes to approximately 3 minutes for a software development company. It explains how the company's CI/CD pipeline relied heavily on Docker layer caching, but inconsistent performance led them to investigate further. They discovered that CircleCI's Docker Layer Caching feature was not effectively sharing cached layers across multiple build steps due to issues with networked filesystems. To resolve this issue, the company provisioned a dedicated machine with an attached SSD and enough capacity for all their build needs. This allowed them to store all build layers on one large, fast disk. They then connected from CircleCI using SSH to remotely access the Docker builder. The results were significantly faster builds, with the worst builds finishing in under 2 minutes. The author concludes by stating that while this solution may not be perfect for everyone, it has more mileage than most will realize and is a worthwhile investment if it helps the development team move faster.