Moving location of Docker images

[Kubernetes]

Hi there,

I tried to organize storage on my VPS better by moving Docker Images to a Hetzner Volume (SSD, Mountpoint) according to this guide https://docs.cloudron.io/storage/#docker-images

Unfortunately it took neverending when executing systemctl start docker

Finally I lost my nerves and reverted all previous changes and at least after rebooting the VPS my Cloudron was working again as before.

I just would like to know if that part of the documentation should still be valid and applicable?

Cheers,
Mike

[nebulon]

That should still work yes. Did you happen to catch any errors from the docker daemon startup? Also it will redownload all images, which may take a very long time depending on the amount of installed apps.

[Kubernetes]

I didn't see any errors. A second ssh connection and systemctl status docker was looking okay, but Dashboard was timing out. I guess you are right and loading and recreating the images might consuming the time. I was not expecting a long wait because the guide mentions to update the version to trigger re-download and creation of the images. Probably I will try again tomorrow with some more patience.

[Kubernetes]

I retried this morning and it did work on my Cloudron instance. It just takes a couple of minutes until all the images are pulled. I am still not sure if the command systemctl start docker is really required, because it never give back control - since CPU, Disk and Network usage was idle for some minutes I decided to perform the reboot of the VPS and everything went fine then.

One question regarding disaster recovery. When I do need to restore my Cloudron from VPS Snapshot, the new location of /var/lib/docker is not in the Snapshot anymore because I am using a Hetzner Volume for it. When the Volume is not destroyed I guess there wont be any problem when writing back the snapshot. But what happens when the Volume has been destroyed? I assume that Cloudron will just need to pull all the docker image stuff again? Is there anything that I should know before the worst case may happen?

[nebulon]

systemctl start docker is required as the guide stops it initially. Why it didn't exit in your case, not sure. Probably systemd for some reason thinks it is still starting. Either way the start was already triggered, so it is safe to exit that command early.

And yes, images should be re-pulled.

[girish]

I would not move docker images to an external storage especially a network mounted one . While this might work, docker images is just the source code, it's best to keep it near the CPU and have a setup where the storage is 100% available .

[Kubernetes]

I understand your concerns, but in this case it is a Hetzner Volume which is mounted as a local SSD Disk. I guess in this case you agree that it is ok?

[nebulon]

Should probably be fine then, but those things are impossible to give good advice without real experience. If you use it, would be great if you can give feedback then how things are working.

[Kubernetes]

@nebulon I will build up real experience and report here