---
description: Configuring and troubleshooting the Docker daemon
keywords: docker, daemon, configuration, troubleshooting
redirect_from:
- /engine/articles/configuring/
- /engine/admin/configuring/
title: Configure and troubleshoot the Docker daemon
---

After successfully installing Docker and starting Docker, the `dockerd` daemon
runs with its default configuration. This topic shows how to customize
the configuration, start the daemon manually, and troubleshoot and debug the
daemon if you run into issues.

## Start the daemon using operating system utilities

The command to start Docker depends on your operating system. Check the correct
page under [Install Docker](/engine/installation/index.md). To configure Docker
to start automatically at system boot, see
[Configure Docker to start on boot](/engine/installation/linux/linux-postinstall.md#configure-docker-to-start-on-boot).

## Start the daemon manually

Typically, you start Docker using operating system utilities. For debugging
purposes, you can start Docker manually using the `dockerd` command. You
may need to use `sudo`, depending on your operating system configuration. When
you start Docker this way, it runs in the foreground and sends its logs directly
to your terminal.

```bash
$ dockerd

INFO[0000] +job init_networkdriver()
INFO[0000] +job serveapi(unix:///var/run/docker.sock)
INFO[0000] Listening for HTTP on unix (/var/run/docker.sock)
...
...
```

To stop Docker when you have started it manually, issue a `Ctrl+C` in your
terminal.

## Configure the Docker daemon

The daemon includes many configuration options, which you can pass as flags
when starting Docker manually, or set in the `daemon.json` configuration file.
The second method is recommended because those configuration changes persist
when you restart Docker.

See [dockerd](/engine/reference/commandline/dockerd.md) for a full list of
configuration options.

Here is an example of starting the Docker daemon manually with some configuration
options:

```bash
$ dockerd -D --tls=true --tlscert=/var/docker/server.pem --tlskey=/var/docker/serverkey.pem -H tcp://192.168.59.3:2376
```

This command enables debugging (`-D`), enables TLS (`-tls`), specifies the server
certificate and key (`--tlscert` and `--tlskey`), and specifies the network
interface where the daemon listens for connections (`-H`).

A better approach is to put these options into the `daemon.json` file and
restart Docker. This method works for every Docker platform. The following
`daemon.json` example sets all the same options as the above command:

```json
{
  "debug": true,
  "tls": true,
  "tlscert": "/var/docker/server.pem",
  "tlskey": "/var/docker/serverkey.pem",
  "hosts": ["tcp://192.168.59.3:2376"]
}
```

Many specific configuration options are discussed throughout the Docker
documentation. Some places to go next include:

- [Automatically start containers](/engine/admin/host_integration.md)
- [Limit a container's resources](/engine/admin/resource_constraints.md)
- [Configure storage drivers](/engine/userguide/storagedriver/index.md)
- [Container security](/engine/security/index.md)

### Troubleshoot conflicts between the `daemon.json` and startup scripts

If you use a `daemon.json` file and also pass options to the `dockerd`
command manually or using start-up scripts, and these options conflict,
Docker will fail to start with an error such as:

```none
unable to configure the Docker daemon with file /etc/docker/daemon.json:
the following directives are specified both as a flag and in the configuration
file: hosts: (from flag: [unix:///var/run/docker.sock], from file: [tcp://127.0.0.1:2376])
```

If you see an error similar to this one and you are starting the daemon manually with flags,
you may need to adjust your flags or the `daemon.json` to remove the conflict.

> **Note**: If you see this specific error, continue to the
> [next section](#use-the-hosts-eky-in-daemon-json-with-systemd) for a workaround.

If you are starting Docker using your operating system's init scripts, you may
need to override the defaults in these scripts in ways that are specific to the
operating system.

#### Use the hosts key in daemon.json with systemd

One notable example of a configuration conflict that is difficult to troubleshoot
is when you want to specify a different daemon address from
the default. Docker listens on a socket by default. On Debian and Ubuntu systems using `systemd`),
this means that a `-H` flag is always used when starting `dockerd`. If you specify a
`hosts` entry in the `daemon.json`, this causes a configuration conflict (as in the above message)
and Docker fails to start.

To work around this problem, create a new file `/etc/systemd/system/docker.service.d/docker.conf` with
the following contents, to remove the `-H` argument that is used when starting the daemon by default.

```none
[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/bin/dockerd
```

There are other times when you might need to configure `systemd` with Docker, such as
[configuring a HTTP or HTTPS proxy](https://docs.docker.com/engine/admin/systemd/#httphttps-proxy).

> **Note**: If you override this option and then do not specify a `hosts` entry in the `daemon.json`
> or a `-H` flag when starting Docker manually, Docker will fail to start.

Run `sudo systemctl daemon-reload` before attempting to start Docker. If Docker starts
successfully, it is now listening on the IP address specified in the `hosts` key of the
`daemon.json` instead of a socket.

> **Important**: Setting `hosts` in the `daemon.json` is not supported on Docker for Windows
> or Docker for Mac.
{:.important}

## Troubleshoot the daemon

You can enable debugging on the daemon to learn about the runtime activity of
the daemon and to aid in troubleshooting. If the daemon is completely
non-responsive, you can also
[force a full stack trace](#force-a-full-stack-trace-to-be-logged) of all
threads to be added to the daemon log by sending the `SIGUSR` signal to the
Docker daemon.

### Out Of Memory Exceptions (OOME)

If your containers attempt to use more memory than the system has available,
you may experience an Out Of Memory Exception (OOME) and a container, or the
Docker daemon, might be killed by the kernel OOM killer. To prevent this from
happening, ensure that your application runs on hosts with adequate memory and
see
[Understand the risks of running out of memory](/engine/admin/resource_constraints.md#understand-the-risks-of-running-out-of-memory).

### Read the logs

The daemon logs may help you diagnose problems. The logs may be saved in one of
a few locations, depending on the operating system configuration and the logging
subsystem used:

| Operating system      | Location                                                                                 |
|:----------------------|:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| RHEL, Oracle Linux    | `/var/log/messages`                                                                      |
| Debian                | `/var/log/daemon.log`                                                                    |
| Ubuntu 16.04+, CentOS | Use the command `journalctl -u docker.service`                                           |
| Ubuntu 14.10-         | `/var/log/upstart/docker.log`                                                            |
| macOS                 | `~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/com.docker.driver.amd64-linux/console-ring` |
| Windows               | `AppData\Local`                                                                          |


### Enable debugging

There are two ways to enable debugging. The recommended approach is to set the
`debug` key to `true` in the `daemon.json` file. This method works for every
Docker platform.

1.  Edit the `daemon.json` file, which is usually located in `/etc/docker/`.
    You may need to create this file, if it does not yet exist. On macOS or
    Windows, do not edit the file directly. Instead, go to
    **Preferences** / **Daemon** / **Advanced**.

2.  If the file is empty, add the following:

    ```json
    {
      "debug": true
    }
    ```

    If the file already contains JSON, just add the key `"debug": true`, being
    careful to add a comma to the end of the line if it is not the last line
    before the closing bracket. Also verify that if the `log-level` key is set,
    it is set to either `info` or `debug`. `info` is the default, and possible
    values are `debug`, `info`, `warn`, `error`, `fatal`.

3.  Send a `HUP` signal to the daemon to cause it to reload its configuration.
    On Linux hosts, use the following command.

    ```bash
    $ sudo kill -SIGHUP $(pidof dockerd)
    ```

    On Windows hosts, restart Docker.

Instead of following this procedure, you can also stop the Docker daemon and
restart it manually with the `-D` flag. However, this may result in Docker
restarting with a different environment than the one the hosts' startup scripts
will create, and this may make debugging more difficult.

### Force a stack trace to be logged

If the daemon is unresponsive, you can force a full stack trace to be logged
by sending a `SIGUSR1` signal to the daemon.

- **Linux**:

  ```bash
  $ sudo kill -SIGUSR1 $(pidof dockerd)
  ```

- **Windows Server**:

  Download [docker-signal](https://github.com/jhowardmsft/docker-signal).

  Run the executable with the flag `--pid=<PID of daemon>`.

This will force a stack trace to be logged but will not stop the daemon.
Daemon logs will show the stack trace or the path to a file containing the
stack trace if it was logged to a file.

The daemon will continue operating after handling the `SIGUSR1` signal and
dumping the stack traces to the log. The stack traces can be used to determine
the state of all goroutines and threads within the daemon.

### View stack traces

The Docker daemon log can be viewed by using one of the following methods:

- By running `journalctl -u docker.service` on Linux systems using `systemctl`
- `/var/log/messages`, `/var/log/daemon.log`, or `/var/log/docker.log` on older
  Linux systems
- By running `Get-EventLog -LogName Application -Source Docker -After (Get-Date).AddMinutes(-5) | Sort-Object Time` on Docker EE for Windows Server

> **Note**: It is not possible to manually generate a stack trace on Docker for
> Mac or Docker for Windows. However, you can click the Docker taskbar icon and
> choose **Diagnose and feedback** to send information to Docker if you run into
> issues.

Look in the Docker logs for a message like the following:

```none
...goroutine stacks written to /var/run/docker/goroutine-stacks-2017-06-02T193336z.log
...daemon datastructure dump written to /var/run/docker/daemon-data-2017-06-02T193336z.log
```

The locations where Docker saves these stack traces and dumps depends on your
operating system and configuration. You may be able to get useful diagnostic
information straight from the stack traces and dumps. Otherwise, you can provide
this information to Docker for help diagnosing the problem.


## Check whether Docker is running

The operating-system independent way to check whether Docker is running is to
ask Docker, using the `docker info` command.

You can also use operating system utilities, such as
`sudo systemctl is-active docker` or `sudo status docker` or
`sudo service docker status`, or checking the service status using Windows
utilities.

Finally, you can check in the process list for the `dockerd` process, using
commands like `ps` or `top`.