Docker Volume not mounting any files

Question

I'm trying to mount my source files to a directory in docker located at /var/dynamo. I'd like to be able to run Docker locally and use my local files as I am working.

with the run command:

docker run -v $(pwd):/var/dynamo -d -t -p 8001:8001 --name dynamo davesrepo/dynamo

with my Dockerfile

FROM python:3.5.1
WORKDIR /var/dynamo
RUN pip3 install tornado
EXPOSE 8001

However, when I bash into the container docker exec -it dynamo /bin/bash and run ls -la the directory is empty!

root@7d3d338891aa:/var/dynamo# ls -la
total 4
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root   40 Dec 29 03:37 .
drwxr-xr-x 24 root root 4096 Dec 29 03:36 ..

Running docker inspect dynamo shows the directory mounted properly

[
{
    "Id": "7d3d338891aae32e001a3bb31d6be17802d238526830396472b011599a97212a",
    "Created": "2015-12-29T03:37:01.416445958Z",
    "Path": "python3",
    "Args": [],
    "State": {
        "Status": "running",
        "Running": true,
        "Paused": false,
        "Restarting": false,
        "OOMKilled": false,
        "Dead": false,
        "Pid": 1314,
        "ExitCode": 0,
        "Error": "",
        "StartedAt": "2015-12-29T03:37:01.516253705Z",
        "FinishedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z"
    },
    "Image": "19697c9b5c7561b113d817821280971f063ea0187c82343c0832348fb6863c9a",
    "ResolvConfPath": "/mnt/sda1/var/lib/docker/containers/7d3d338891aae32e001a3bb31d6be17802d238526830396472b011599a97212a/resolv.conf",
    "HostnamePath": "/mnt/sda1/var/lib/docker/containers/7d3d338891aae32e001a3bb31d6be17802d238526830396472b011599a97212a/hostname",
    "HostsPath": "/mnt/sda1/var/lib/docker/containers/7d3d338891aae32e001a3bb31d6be17802d238526830396472b011599a97212a/hosts",
    "LogPath": "/mnt/sda1/var/lib/docker/containers/7d3d338891aae32e001a3bb31d6be17802d238526830396472b011599a97212a/7d3d338891aae32e001a3bb31d6be17802d238526830396472b011599a97212a-json.log",
    "Name": "/dynamo",
    "RestartCount": 0,
    "Driver": "aufs",
    "ExecDriver": "native-0.2",
    "MountLabel": "",
    "ProcessLabel": "",
    "AppArmorProfile": "",
    "ExecIDs": null,
    "HostConfig": {
        "Binds": [
            "/Users/dave/Sites/davesrepo/dynamo:/var/dynamo"
        ],
        "ContainerIDFile": "",
        "LxcConf": [],
        "Memory": 0,
        "MemoryReservation": 0,
        "MemorySwap": 0,
        "KernelMemory": 0,
        "CpuShares": 0,
        "CpuPeriod": 0,
        "CpusetCpus": "",
        "CpusetMems": "",
        "CpuQuota": 0,
        "BlkioWeight": 0,
        "OomKillDisable": false,
        "MemorySwappiness": -1,
        "Privileged": false,
        "PortBindings": {
            "8001/tcp": [
                {
                    "HostIp": "",
                    "HostPort": "8001"
                }
            ]
        },
        "Links": null,
        "PublishAllPorts": false,
        "Dns": [],
        "DnsOptions": [],
        "DnsSearch": [],
        "ExtraHosts": null,
        "VolumesFrom": null,
        "Devices": [],
        "NetworkMode": "default",
        "IpcMode": "",
        "PidMode": "",
        "UTSMode": "",
        "CapAdd": null,
        "CapDrop": null,
        "GroupAdd": null,
        "RestartPolicy": {
            "Name": "no",
            "MaximumRetryCount": 0
        },
        "SecurityOpt": null,
        "ReadonlyRootfs": false,
        "Ulimits": null,
        "LogConfig": {
            "Type": "json-file",
            "Config": {}
        },
        "CgroupParent": "",
        "ConsoleSize": [
            0,
            0
        ],
        "VolumeDriver": ""
    },
    "GraphDriver": {
        "Name": "aufs",
        "Data": null
    },
    "Mounts": [
        {
            "Source": "/Users/dave/Sites/davesrepo/dynamo",
            "Destination": "/var/dynamo",
            "Mode": "",
            "RW": true
        }
    ],
    "Config": {
        "Hostname": "7d3d338891aa",
        "Domainname": "",
        "User": "",
        "AttachStdin": false,
        "AttachStdout": false,
        "AttachStderr": false,
        "ExposedPorts": {
            "8001/tcp": {}
        },
        "Tty": true,
        "OpenStdin": false,
        "StdinOnce": false,
        "Env": [
            "APP_ENV=development",
            "PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/var/dynamo",
            "PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin",
            "LANG=C.UTF-8",
            "PYTHON_VERSION=3.5.1",
            "PYTHON_PIP_VERSION=7.1.2"
        ],
        "Cmd": [
            "python3"
        ],
        "Image": "davesrepo/dynamo",
        "Volumes": null,
        "WorkingDir": "/var/dynamo",
        "Entrypoint": null,
        "OnBuild": null,
        "Labels": {},
        "StopSignal": "SIGTERM"
    },
    "NetworkSettings": {
        "Bridge": "",
        "SandboxID": "71d99a7d11908a9d1c0156fd33eb3f0ff5ef9f6697bb77103fe2caa1cf488530",
        "HairpinMode": false,
        "LinkLocalIPv6Address": "",
        "LinkLocalIPv6PrefixLen": 0,
        "Ports": {
            "8001/tcp": [
                {
                    "HostIp": "0.0.0.0",
                    "HostPort": "8001"
                }
            ]
        },
        "SandboxKey": "/var/run/docker/netns/71d99a7d1190",
        "SecondaryIPAddresses": null,
        "SecondaryIPv6Addresses": null,
        "EndpointID": "1cc99b0de89700368f31b43248c90ea45cec756712a2bd2ba2dc57293a5d0a72",
        "Gateway": "172.17.0.1",
        "GlobalIPv6Address": "",
        "GlobalIPv6PrefixLen": 0,
        "IPAddress": "172.17.0.2",
        "IPPrefixLen": 16,
        "IPv6Gateway": "",
        "MacAddress": "02:42:ac:11:00:02",
        "Networks": {
            "bridge": {
                "EndpointID": "1cc99b0de89700368f31b43248c90ea45cec756712a2bd2ba2dc57293a5d0a72",
                "Gateway": "172.17.0.1",
                "IPAddress": "172.17.0.2",
                "IPPrefixLen": 16,
                "IPv6Gateway": "",
                "GlobalIPv6Address": "",
                "GlobalIPv6PrefixLen": 0,
                "MacAddress": "02:42:ac:11:00:02"
            }
        }
    }
}
]

Docker version is 1.9.1

Answer 1

You might need to include something like this in Dockerfile, the important is the VOLUME to specify the mountable directories in the container then only -v $(pwd):/var/dynamo will be valid

RUN mkdir -p /var/dynamo
VOLUME /var/dynamo
WORKDIR /var/dynamo

Answer 2

had the same problem and couldn't find any solution online, eventually i found out that i changed my windows password and docker requires windows credentials to mount volumes, you can update it settings > shared drives. just pointing out anther possible solution to those who lost in the void like me for few days

Answer 3

Docker & Virtualbox seem to have an issue with mounting a volume outside of the /Users directory. The only way to fix the issue is to delete the docker machine image, properly set the /Users/yourname directory as the share folder in Virtualbox and create a new docker machine image.

Steps to fix the issue:

1. docker-machine stop dev
2. docker-machine rm dev
3. docker-machine create --driver virtualbox dev
4. eval "$(docker-machine env dev)"
5. docker build -t davesrepo/dynamo -f ./Dockerfile .
6. docker run -v $(pwd):/var/dynamo -d -t -p 8001:8001 --env-file ./dynamo.env --name dynamo davesrepo/dynamo
7. docker exec -it dynamo /bin/bash
8. ls

root@42f9e47fa2de:/var/dynamo# ls Dockerfile README.md __init__.py __pycache__ bin config.ini requirements.txt seed.sql tests

Files!

Answer 4

I use 1.9 and this works fine:

Docker run  -d -t --restart=on-failure:3 -h docker_console -p 8880:80 -v ~/docker_console/var/www:/var/www --name docker_console repo/docker_console

It connects ~/docker_console/var/www on the host to /var/www in the container. What if you use a directory name and not a variable?

Answer 5

It's very strange. I tried to check this issue with my docker 1.6.0 so I created an image similair to yours:

FROM ubuntu:utopic
WORKDIR /var/dynamo
EXPOSE 8001

Then I mounted the $(pwd) to the container and I was able to exchange files between host filesystem and container:

➜  ololo  echo $(pwd)                                                                       
/tmp/ololo
➜  ololo  ls         
Dockerfile  kikiboi
➜  ololo  docker run --rm -it -v $(pwd):/var/dynamo volume_issue bash
root@9b15875997ba:/var/dynamo# ls
Dockerfile  kikiboi
root@9b15875997ba:/var/dynamo# touch container_file
root@9b15875997ba:/var/dynamo# exit
➜  ololo  ls
container_file  Dockerfile  kikiboi

Also you need to ensure that /Users/dave/Sites/davesrepo/dynamo on your host and /var/dynamo inside your container have the same inode number. Use stat utility fot this:

➜  ~  stat -c %i /tmp/ololo
1835031
➜  ~  docker run --rm -it -v /tmp/ololo:/var/dynamo ubuntu:utopic stat -c %i /var/dynamo
1835031