MongoDB docker container "Failed to unlink socket file"

Question

I have MongoDB as docker container When I restarted the server and tried to start the container it kept restarting forever.

I got the container log as follows

The main problem is Failed to unlink socket file /tmp/mongodb-27017.sock Operation not permitted

I found many solutions to this problem, but all of them are based on the idea that I'm using the mongod service, which isn't my case.

I'm using a docker container and I can't run commands on this container until it is running. Sadly this error doesn't let the container start and keeps restarting.

I found the issue on the official bug tracker of MongoDB since version 3.6, but also it doesn't have any solution.

I also found a similar question on DigitalOcean support with no luck to find a solution.

Answer 1

Warning!! When you create a MogoDB container, You should always link the directory /data/db inside your container to be on the host using Volumes.

In case /data/db isn't linked to a volume, you will lose your data.

Try to stop the container using docker stop <container>

then remove it completely using docker rm <container>

then re-build using docker build or docker-compose build depends on your usage

Note: Whenever you remove the container it's data will be removed along with it. so make sure that you have a recent backup with the database.