---
description: Controlling and configuring Docker using systemd
keywords: docker, daemon, systemd, configuration
redirect_from:
- /articles/host_integration/
- /articles/systemd/
- /engine/admin/systemd/
- /engine/articles/systemd/
title: Configure the daemon with systemd
---
This page describes how to customize daemon settings when using systemd.
## Custom Docker daemon options
Most configuration options for the Docker daemon are set using the `daemon.json`
configuration file. See [Docker daemon configuration overview](./index.md) for
more information.
## Manually create the systemd unit files
When installing the binary without a package manager, you may want to integrate
Docker with systemd. For this, install the two unit files (`service` and
`socket`) from
[the github repository](https://github.com/moby/moby/tree/master/contrib/init/systemd)
to `/etc/systemd/system`.
## HTTP/HTTPS proxy
The Docker daemon uses the `HTTP_PROXY`, `HTTPS_PROXY`, and `NO_PROXY`
environmental variables in its start-up environment to configure HTTP or HTTPS
proxy behavior. You can't configure these environment variables using the
`daemon.json` file.
This example overrides the default `docker.service` file.
If you are behind an HTTP or HTTPS proxy server, for example in corporate
settings, you need to add this configuration in the Docker systemd service file.
> **Note for rootless mode**
>
> The location of systemd configuration files are different when running Docker
> in [rootless mode](../../engine/security/rootless.md). When running in
> rootless mode, Docker is started as a user-mode systemd service, and uses
> files stored in each users' home directory in
> `~/.config/systemd/user/docker.service.d/`. In addition, `systemctl` must be
> executed without `sudo` and with the `--user` flag. Select the _"rootless
> mode"_ tab below if you are running Docker in rootless mode.
1. Create a systemd drop-in directory for the `docker` service:
```console
$ sudo mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/docker.service.d
```
2. Create a file named `/etc/systemd/system/docker.service.d/http-proxy.conf`
that adds the `HTTP_PROXY` environment variable:
```systemd
[Service]
Environment="HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:80"
```
If you are behind an HTTPS proxy server, set the `HTTPS_PROXY` environment
variable:
```systemd
[Service]
Environment="HTTPS_PROXY=https://proxy.example.com:443"
```
Multiple environment variables can be set; to set both a non-HTTPS and a
HTTPs proxy;
```systemd
[Service]
Environment="HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:80"
Environment="HTTPS_PROXY=https://proxy.example.com:443"
```
> **Note**
>
> Special characters in the proxy value, such as `#?!()[]{}`, must be double
> escaped using `%%`. For example:
>
> ```
> [Service]
> Environment="HTTP_PROXY=http://domain%%5Cuser:complex%%23pass@proxy.example.com:8080/"
> ```
3. If you have internal Docker registries that you need to contact without
proxying, you can specify them via the `NO_PROXY` environment variable.
The `NO_PROXY` variable specifies a string that contains comma-separated
values for hosts that should be excluded from proxying. These are the options
you can specify to exclude hosts:
- IP address prefix (`1.2.3.4`)
- Domain name, or a special DNS label (`*`)
- A domain name matches that name and all subdomains. A domain name with a
leading "." matches subdomains only. For example, given the domains
`foo.example.com` and `example.com`:
- `example.com` matches `example.com` and `foo.example.com`, and
- `.example.com` matches only `foo.example.com`
- A single asterisk (`*`) indicates that no proxying should be done
- Literal port numbers are accepted by IP address prefixes (`1.2.3.4:80`) and
domain names (`foo.example.com:80`)
Config example:
```systemd
[Service]
Environment="HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:80"
Environment="HTTPS_PROXY=https://proxy.example.com:443"
Environment="NO_PROXY=localhost,127.0.0.1,docker-registry.example.com,.corp"
```
4. Flush changes and restart Docker
```console
$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
$ sudo systemctl restart docker
```
5. Verify that the configuration has been loaded and matches the changes you
made, for example:
```console
$ sudo systemctl show --property=Environment docker
Environment=HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:80 HTTPS_PROXY=https://proxy.example.com:443 NO_PROXY=localhost,127.0.0.1,docker-registry.example.com,.corp
```
1. Create a systemd drop-in directory for the `docker` service:
```console
$ mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user/docker.service.d
```
2. Create a file named `~/.config/systemd/user/docker.service.d/http-proxy.conf`
that adds the `HTTP_PROXY` environment variable:
```systemd
[Service]
Environment="HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:80"
```
If you are behind an HTTPS proxy server, set the `HTTPS_PROXY` environment
variable:
```systemd
[Service]
Environment="HTTPS_PROXY=https://proxy.example.com:443"
```
Multiple environment variables can be set; to set both a non-HTTPS and a
HTTPs proxy;
```systemd
[Service]
Environment="HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:80"
Environment="HTTPS_PROXY=https://proxy.example.com:443"
```
> **Note**
>
> Special characters in the proxy value, such as `#?!()[]{}`, must be double
> escaped using `%%`. For example:
>
> ```
> [Service]
> Environment="HTTP_PROXY=http://domain%%5Cuser:complex%%23pass@proxy.example.com:8080/"
> ```
3. If you have internal Docker registries that you need to contact without
proxying, you can specify them via the `NO_PROXY` environment variable.
The `NO_PROXY` variable specifies a string that contains comma-separated
values for hosts that should be excluded from proxying. These are the options
you can specify to exclude hosts:
- IP address prefix (`1.2.3.4`)
- Domain name, or a special DNS label (`*`)
- A domain name matches that name and all subdomains. A domain name with a
leading "." matches subdomains only. For example, given the domains
`foo.example.com` and `example.com`:
- `example.com` matches `example.com` and `foo.example.com`, and
- `.example.com` matches only `foo.example.com`
- A single asterisk (`*`) indicates that no proxying should be done
- Literal port numbers are accepted by IP address prefixes (`1.2.3.4:80`) and
domain names (`foo.example.com:80`)
Config example:
```systemd
[Service]
Environment="HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:80"
Environment="HTTPS_PROXY=https://proxy.example.com:443"
Environment="NO_PROXY=localhost,127.0.0.1,docker-registry.example.com,.corp"
```
4. Flush changes and restart Docker
```console
$ systemctl --user daemon-reload
$ systemctl --user restart docker
```
5. Verify that the configuration has been loaded and matches the changes you
made, for example:
```console
$ systemctl --user show --property=Environment docker
Environment=HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:80 HTTPS_PROXY=https://proxy.example.com:443 NO_PROXY=localhost,127.0.0.1,docker-registry.example.com,.corp
```