How do you get around the size limitation of Docker.qcow2 in the Docker for Mac?

Question

I have a large (100gb+) database that I'm trying to run with the official postgres image.

I can't store the data in a docker volume because the ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/com.docker.driver.amd64-linux/Docker.qcow2 file in Docker for Mac has a size limitation of about 60gb.

I'm hesitant to mount a host directory as a volume because file access in mounted host directory volumes is much slower than regular volumes.

These are some useful links that go into more detail on these issues:

• This discusses the size limitation of the Docker.qcow2 file
• This also discusses the size limitation of the Docker.qcow2 file
• This discusses the mounted host directory volume speed issue
• This gives a nice description of how to replace the Docker.qcow2 file with a file that can grow larger
• This discusses how the Docker.qcow2 file doesn't shrink as its contents are removed (this isn't directly related, but can further complicate the problem)

Do you all just eat the speed loss and mount a host directory? Do you manually create a qcow2 file that can grow larger with qemu (if you do this, do you need to maintain this file between upgrades)? Do you do something else to handle this issue?

Answer 1

The following script delete and re-create a new shrinked Docker.qcow2 file preserving the images passed as arguments.

https://blog.mrtrustor.net/post/clean-docker-for-mac/

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

For a situation like this, I would definitely recommend creating a qcow image that can grow larger.

It is a relatively straightforward process, and you get the performance benefits that are generally quite necessary when running a large database.