Managing Docker Container Volumes

UnderstandingDockerVolume.md

How to manage docker container volumes.

Volumes are the preferred mechanism for persisting data generated by and used by Docker containers. A volume allows data to persist, even when a container is deleted. Volumes can be used to share data between the host and the container(s).

By mounting a volume you can achive to

• Pull data from a container.
• Push data to a container.
• Share data between containers.

Please note that, arguments prefixed with @(at) in below commands must be replaced with actual values.

Option 1: Docker volume by specifying a host directory

docker run -it --name [@container-name] -v [@directory-in-host-machine]:/[@directory-available-in-container] [@image-name] /bin/bash

Option 2: Use docker's volume create command

Step 1: Create a volume

docker volume create --name [@volume-name]

Step 2: Use volume when starting container

docker run -it --name [@container-name] -v [@volume-name]:/[@directory-available-in-container] [@image-name] /bin/bash

Option 3: Using Dockerfile

Step 1: Create a simple Dockerfile with and volume by Volume directive

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/aspnet:3.1

# create a volume
VOLUME /@directory-in-the-container

Step 2: Build and image

docker build -t [@image-name] .

Step 3: Use volume when starting container

docker run -it --name [@container-name] [@image-name] /bin/bash

Step 4: Use docker inspect command to see destination(directory in the container) and source(directory on the host machine) folders for created volume

docker inspect [@container-name]