example volume permissions problem

Dockerfile

FROM ubuntu:14.04

RUN mkdir /vol
RUN useradd elasticsearch
RUN echo "elasticsearch:elasticsearch" | chpasswd
RUN chown elasticsearch:elasticsearch /vol

VOLUME /vol

USER elasticsearch
CMD bash

Build an image from this file with:

docker build -t="volume_test" .

Create a directory locally with permissions set to 600 (assuming you're not elasticsearch on your local host):

mkdir ~/vol
chmod 600 ~/vol

Run the volume_test image, mounting ~/vol as the /vol volume:

docker run -it -v ~/vol:/vol volume_test

Then try to do anything to /vol:

elasticsearch@volume_test:/$ cd /vol
bash: cd: /vol: Permission denied