Persist (local) dynamoDB data in volumes lack permission - unable to open database file

Question

I am trying to persist the data that is stored in my local dynamodb instance. I want to containerize the whole application in separate containers.

This is my docker-compose.yml:

version: '3.8'

services:
  dynamodb:
    image: amazon/dynamodb-local:latest
    command: -jar DynamoDBLocal.jar -sharedDb -dbPath /var/lib/dynamodb/data
    volumes:
        - dynamodb_data:/var/lib/dynamodb/data
    ports:
        - "8000:8000"

"translation-api":
    build: "./application"
    ports:
    - 5000:5000
    volumes:
    - ./application:/app
    depends_on: 
        - dynamodb
    environment:
        AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: 'DUMMYIDEXAMPLE'
        AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: 'DUMMYEXAMPLEKEY'

volumes:
  dynamodb_data:

It works great on one of my machines (windows), but when I git clone my project to two of my other computers (one Ubuntu one Windows) I get the following error code:

dynamodb_1         | May 14, 2021 10:39:52 AM com.almworks.sqlite4java.Internal log
dynamodb_1         | WARNING: [sqlite] SQLiteQueue[shared-local-instance.db]: stopped abnormally, reincarnating in 3000ms
dynamodb_1         | May 14, 2021 10:39:55 AM com.almworks.sqlite4java.Internal log
dynamodb_1         | WARNING: [sqlite] cannot open DB[40]: com.almworks.sqlite4java.SQLiteException: [14] unable to open database file
dynamodb_1         | May 14, 2021 10:39:55 AM com.almworks.sqlite4java.Internal log
dynamodb_1         | SEVERE: [sqlite] SQLiteQueue[shared-local-instance.db]: error running job queue
dynamodb_1         | com.almworks.sqlite4java.SQLiteException: [14] unable to open database file
dynamodb_1         |    at com.almworks.sqlite4java.SQLiteConnection.open0(SQLiteConnection.java:1480)
dynamodb_1         |    at com.almworks.sqlite4java.SQLiteConnection.open(SQLiteConnection.java:282)
dynamodb_1         |    at com.almworks.sqlite4java.SQLiteConnection.open(SQLiteConnection.java:293)
dynamodb_1         |    at com.almworks.sqlite4java.SQLiteQueue.openConnection(SQLiteQueue.java:464)
dynamodb_1         |    at com.almworks.sqlite4java.SQLiteQueue.queueFunction(SQLiteQueue.java:641)
dynamodb_1         |    at com.almworks.sqlite4java.SQLiteQueue.runQueue(SQLiteQueue.java:623)
dynamodb_1         |    at com.almworks.sqlite4java.SQLiteQueue.access$000(SQLiteQueue.java:77)
dynamodb_1         |    at com.almworks.sqlite4java.SQLiteQueue$1.run(SQLiteQueue.java:205)
dynamodb_1         |    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)

I imagine there is a problem with my docker-compose where I try to store the dynamodb volume data in "/var/lib/dynamodb/data" as it might lack the proper permissions to do so. If so, I am asking for assistance in how to solve the permission error. Please help out!

(end goal is to persist data in my local dynamodb instance)

Answer 1

I found the solution in this question

For some reason, the dynamodb service needs to act as the root user to write to the volume. So just add user: root to your dynamodb service.

dynamodb:
  image: amazon/dynamodb-local:latest
  command: -jar DynamoDBLocal.jar -sharedDb -dbPath ./data
  volumes:
      - dynamodb_data:/var/lib/dynamodb/data
  ports:
      - "8000:8000"
  user: root

Note that you can also use the the relative -dbPath ./data in the command.