Overview

This guide explains how to change Docker's default container deployment path from /var/lib/docker to a custom directory.

This process involves stopping Docker services, creating a new directory, migrating existing data, and updating Docker configuration.

Note: Please take the necessary snapshot before performing the activity.

Configuration Steps

1: Stop the Docker services.

systemctl stop docker

2: Create the Directory with proper permissions where it's required.

mkdir -p /docker_data

chown root:root /docker_data

chmod 711 /docker_data

3: If it's an existing environment, follow the steps below.

If it's a new environment and you have not deployed any containers yet, you can skip to step 4

rsync -aP /var/lib/docker/ /docker_data/

4: Create or add the content in the JSON file (vi /etc/docker/daemon.json).

{ "data-root": "/docker_data"

}

5: Restart the Docker services.

systemctl start docker

To verify the custom path of containers:

docker info | grep 'Docker Root Dir'

Docker Root Dir: /docker_data

If required, you can remove the old data located in /var/lib/docker to utilize the space.