I use following command to run a docker container, and map a directory from host(/root/database) to container(/tmp/install/database):
# docker run -it --name oracle_install -v /root/database:/tmp/install/database bofm/oracle12c:preinstall bash
But in container, I find I can't use ls to list contents in /tmp/install/database/ though I am root and have all privileges:
[root@77eb235aceac /]# cd /tmp/install/database/
[root@77eb235aceac database]# ls
ls: cannot open directory .: Permission denied
[root@77eb235aceac database]# id
uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root)
[root@77eb235aceac database]# cd ..
[root@77eb235aceac install]# ls -alt
......
drwxr-xr-x. 7 root root 4096 Jul 7 2014 database
I check /root/database in host, and all things seem OK:
[root@localhost ~]# ls -lt
......
drwxr-xr-x. 7 root root 4096 Jul 7 2014 database
Why does docker container prompt "Permission denied"?
Update:
The root cause is related to SELinux. Actually, I met similar issue last year.
A permission denied within a container for a shared directory could be due to the fact that this shared directory is stored on a device. By default containers cannot access any devices. Adding the option $docker run --privileged allows the container to access all devices and performs Kernel calls. This is not considered as secure.
A cleaner way to share device is to use the option docker run --device=/dev/sdb (if /dev/sdb is the device you want to share).
From the man page:
--device=[] Add a host device to the container (e.g. --device=/dev/sdc:/dev/xvdc:rwm) --privileged=true|false Give extended privileges to this container. The default is false. By default, Docker containers are “unprivileged” (=false) and cannot, for example, run a Docker daemon inside the Docker container. This is because by default a container is not allowed to access any devices. A “privileged” container is given access to all devices. When the operator executes docker run --privileged, Docker will enable access to all devices on the host as well as set some configuration in AppArmor to allow the container nearly all the same access to the host as processes running outside of a container on the host.
I got answer from a comment under: Why does docker container prompt Permission denied?
man docker-run gives the proper answer:
Labeling systems like SELinux require that proper labels are placed on volume content mounted into a container. Without a label, the security system might prevent the processes running inside the container from using the content. By default, Docker does not change the labels set by the OS.
To change a label in the container context, you can add either of two suffixes :z or :Z to the volume mount. These suffixes tell Docker to relabel file objects on the shared volumes. The z option tells Docker that two containers share the volume content. As a result, Docker labels the content with a shared content label. Shared volume labels allow all containers to read/write content. The Z option tells Docker to label the content with a private unshared label. Only the current container can use a private volume.
For example:
docker run -it --name oracle_install -v /root/database:/tmp/install/database:z ...
I had a similar issue when sharing an nfs mount point as a volume using docker-compose. I was able to resolve the issue with:
docker-compose up --force-recreate
Eventhough you found the issue, this may help someone else.