How to delete postgres database within docker container

Question

I am trying to figure out how to completely remove a docker container with a postgres database and rebuild using docker-compose?

I created a server and database container using docker-compose. The database did not get set up how I wanted, so I would like to remove the database and rebuild. I assumed the easiest solution, given it is brand new would be to stop the container from running, remove the container and then run docker-compose again.

I have followed those steps, do not see any of the containers. I do not see any volumes associated with the containers. However, when I run docker-compose it appears to be using the postgres database that was previously created?

Here is what my docker-compose files consists of with user/password/db name extracted.

services:
  server:
    image: "node:10"
    user: "node"
    working_dir: /home/node/app
    volumes:
      - ./:/home/node/app
    ports:
      - 3030:3030
    command: "npm start"
    depends_on:
      - db
  db:
    image: postgres:latest
    restart: always
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: [user] 
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: [password]
      POSTGRES_DB: [db_name]
    volumes:
      - ./data/postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data

I expected that by using:

docker stop [container] to stop the container, then docker rm [container] to remove the container

I could rebuild fresh with docker-compose up

user3980196 · Accepted Answer · 2020-09-18 04:02:32Z

18

You can list the volumes used by docker with this command:

docker volume ls

Then, if needed, you can inspect the volumes to find which one your database uses:

docker volume inspect xyzvolumename

After locating the volume used by your database, delete it for a fresh start:

docker volume rm locatedvolumename

answered Sep 18, 2020 at 4:02

user3980196

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Comments

Adiii · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-23 17:01:29Z

10

Docker stop and docker rm will not work untill you remove bind mount volume from your docker-compose.

Remove this from your docker-compose

     - ./data/postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data

or delete everything from host directory inside

./data/postgres

answered Sep 23, 2019 at 17:01

Adiii

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2 Comments

gditsch Over a year ago

I deleted the information from ./data/postres , which for my situation was ideal.

gditsch Over a year ago

This article was also helpful to get more of an understanding on how docker is handling volumes set up within compose: linux.com/tutorials/docker-volumes-and-networks-compose

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