How to mount directories from a docker-machine to my local host

Question

How can i mount a directory from a docker-machine to my local host machine?

Answer 1

You could do this using the docker-machine mount command.

Using this command,you can mount directories from a machine to your local host, using sshfs.

The notation is machinename:/path/to/dir for the argument; you can also supply an alternative mount point (default is the same dir path).

consider an example:

$ mkdir foo
$ docker-machine ssh dev mkdir foo
$ docker-machine mount dev:/home/docker/foo foo
$ touch foo/bar
$ docker-machine ssh dev ls foo
bar

Now you can use the directory on the machine, for mounting into containers. Any changes done in the local directory, is reflected in the machine too.

$ eval $(docker-machine env dev)
$ docker run -v /home/docker/foo:/tmp/foo busybox ls /tmp/foo
bar
$ touch foo/baz
$ docker run -v /home/docker/foo:/tmp/foo busybox ls /tmp/foo
bar
baz

The files are actually being transferred using sftp (over an ssh connection).

Comments

But, when we stop the docker machine with the command "docker-machine stop <machine-name>" why it erases information from the mount points. You cannot see the information even from the HOST level.

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Please update how will i do this using docker compose file? below is my docker-compose file. i wanted to mount /tmp folder of docker container to C:/<user>/hostFolder of my windows host machine so that what ever file written to /tmp folder will be available to hostFolder of host machine automatically.

version: '3.3'

networks:
   oracle_net:
    external:
      name: oracle_net
      
volumes:
   oravolume10:
    external:
      name: oravolume10
   
      
services:
    oracle_xe:
        image: redbdocker5_configured
        build:
            context: '.\oracle docker'
        hostname: oraclehost
        networks:
            oracle_net:
                aliases:
                    - oraclexe
        ports:
            - "1521:1521"
        volumes:
            - type: volume
              source: oravolume10
              target: /opt/oracle
              
    ruleeditor:
        depends_on:
            - oracle_xe
        image: redocker7_configured
        hostname: ruleeditor6
        container_name: ruleEditor3
        build:
            context: '.\REDocker'
        networks:
            oracle_net:
                aliases:
                    - oraclexe
        ports:
             - "9080:9080"
             - "9450:9450"
        links:
            - oracle_xe 

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below is my docker compose file. I wanted to mount "/tmp" folder of docker container to "C:/<user>/hostfolder" of my windows host machine so that any file written to /tmp folder will be automatically available to "hostfolder" of my host machine.

version: '3.3'

networks:
   oracle_net:
    external:
      name: oracle_net
      
volumes:
   oravolume10:
    external:
      name: oravolume10
   
      
services:
    oracle_xe:
        image: redbdocker5_configured
        build:
            context: '.\oracle docker'
        hostname: oraclehost
        networks:
            oracle_net:
                aliases:
                    - oraclexe
        ports:
            - "1521:1521"
        volumes:
            - type: volume
              source: oravolume10
              target: /opt/oracle
              
    ruleeditor:
        depends_on:
            - oracle_xe
        image: redocker7_configured
        hostname: ruleeditor6
        container_name: ruleEditor3
        build:
            context: '.\REDocker'
        networks:
            oracle_net:
                aliases:
                    - oraclexe
        ports:
             - "9080:9080"
             - "9450:9450"
        links:
            - oracle_xe

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Hi@prassu,

You have written the code properly. In volume, give the source and target folder properly. Also, check the indentation of your code. If you get any error, then paste the error here.

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Hi, I have changed the volume to the docker compose file as follows.

volumes:
            - type: volume
              source: revolume
              target: /tmp

Now when I inspect revolume it shows below

"CreatedAt": "2020-10-27T03:46:37Z",
        "Driver": "local",
        "Labels": {},
        "Mountpoint": "/var/lib/docker/volumes/revolume/_data",
        "Name": "revolume",
        "Options": {},
        "Scope": "local

Now how will I go and check the contents of "/var/lib/docker/volumes/revolume/_data". moreover, I want the files to be copied from /tmp to revolume folder so that files from /tmp folder will be copied to volume.

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Hi@prassu,

You have already mounted your folder. So check inside the _data folder. You can see the same data as /tmp.