Normally when I work with SQL instances within containers I treat them as throw-away objects. Any modifications that I make to the databases within will be lost when I drop the container.

However, what if I want to persist the data that I have in my containers? Well, there are options to do just that. One method is to mount a directory from the host into a container.

Full documentation can be found here but I’ll run through an example step-by-step here.

First create a directory on the host that we will mount into the container: –

mkdir D:\SQLServer

And now build a container using the -v flag to mount the directory: –

docker run -d -p 15789:1433 -v D:\SQLServer:C:\SQLServer --env ACCEPT_EULA=Y --env sa_password=Testing11@@ --name testcontainer microsoft/mssql-server-windows

So that’s built us a container running an empty instance of SQL Server with the D:\SQLServer directory on the host mounted as C:\SQLServer in the container.

Update – April 2018
Loopback has now been enabled for Windows containers, so we can use localhost,15789 to connect locally. You can read more about it here

Now, let’s create a database on the drive that we’ve mounted in the container. First grab the container private IP (as we’re connecting locally on the host): –

docker inspect testcontainer

And use it to connect to the SQL instance within the container:-

Now create the database with its files in the mounted directory : –

USE [master];
GO

CREATE DATABASE [TestDB]
	ON PRIMARY 
(NAME = N'TestDB', FILENAME = N'C:\SQLServer\TestDB.mdf')
	LOG ON 
(NAME = N'TestDB_log', FILENAME = N'C:\SQLServer\TestDB_log.ldf')
GO

And let’s create a simple table with some data: –

USE [TestDB];
GO

CREATE TABLE dbo.testtable
(ID INT);
GO

INSERT INTO dbo.testtable
(ID)
VALUES
(10);
GO 100

Cool, if we check the directory on the host, we’ll see the database’s files: –

OK, now let’s blow that container away: –

docker stop testcontainer

docker rm testcontainer

If you check the host, the directory with the database files should still be there.

Now, let’s create another container, mounting the directory back in: –

docker run -d -p 15799:1433 -v D:\SQLServer:C:\SQLServer --env ACCEPT_EULA=Y --env sa_password=Testing11@@ --name testcontainer2 microsoft/mssql-server-windows

Same as before, grab the private IP and connect into SQL Server: –

No database! Of course, we need to attach it! So…

And there it is!

Cool, so a database created in one container has been attached into a SQL instance running in another. Notice that I didn’t detach the database before stopping and then dropping the container. Now, that doesn’t mean that the process of shutting down a container stops the SQL instance gracefully. It’d be interesting to see what happens if a container is stopped whilst queries are running, I bet if we deleted the container without stopping it first the database would be corrupt.

Anyway, using the -v flag to mount directories from the host into a container is one way of persisting data when using docker.

Thanks for reading!

A question that regularly comes up when I talk about containers is, “can you specify where the containers/images live on the host?”

This is a good question as the install for docker is great because it’s so simple but bad because well, you don’t get many options to configure.

It makes sense that you’d want to move the containers/images off the C:\ drive for many reasons such as leaving the drive for the OS only but also, say you have a super fast SSD on your host that you want to utilise? OK, spinning up containers is quick but that doesn’t mean we can’t make it faster!

So, can you move the location of container and images on the host?

Well, yes!

There’s a switch that you can use when starting up the docker service that will allow you to specify the container/image backend. That switch is -g

Now, I’ve gone the route of not altering the existing service but creating a new one with the -g switch. Mainly because I’m testing and like rollback options but also because I found it easier to do it this way.

So the default location for containers and images is: – C:\ProgramData\docker

OK, let’s run through the commands to create a new service pointing the container/images backend to a custom location.

First we’ll create a new directory on the new drive to host the containers (I’m going to use a location on the E: drive on my host as I’m working in Azure and D: is assigned to the temporary storage drive): –

new-item E:\Containers -type directory

Now stop the existing docker service and disable it: –

stop-service Docker

set-service Docker -StartupType Disabled

get-service Docker

Now we’re going to create a new service pointing the container backend to the new location: –

new-service -name Docker2 -BinaryPathName "C:\Program Files\docker\dockerd.exe -g E:\Containers --run-service" -StartupType Automatic

Now start the new service up: –

start-service Docker2

get-service Docker2

And check the new location: –

Cool, the service has generated the required folder structure upon startup and any new images/containers will be stored here.

Once thing to mention is that if you have images and containers in the old location they won’t be available to the new service. I’ve tried copying the files and folder in C:\ProgramData\docker to the new location but keep getting access denied errors on the windowsfilter folder.

To be honest, I haven’t spent much time on that as if you want to migrate your images from the old service to the new one you can export out and then load in by following the instructions here.

Thanks for reading!