Fresh Docker Install - Mongo Data Directory Permissions Error

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1

Description

=====> Waiting for /data/db to be owned by uid=1001 (mongodb user) …

This is a brand new Ubuntu VM with full updates and docker installed. I followed the instructions here: GitHub - RocketChat/rocketchat-compose: Docker / Podman Compose

Only change to .env is setting the version to RC Release to 8.1.0

I am not using traefik, so this is my startup command

docker compose -f compose.database.yml -f compose.monitoring.yml -f compose.yml up -d

All containers start as expected.

MongoDB fails to start due to ownership error.

=====> Waiting for /data/db to be owned by uid=1001 (mongodb user) …
=====> /data/db owner is ‘998’ (expected 1001), retrying in 5 seconds…
=====> /data/db ownership OK (1001) - starting MongoDB
=====> Waiting for /data/db to be owned by uid=1001 (mongodb user) …

Checking volume.

docker volume inspect rocketchat-compose_mongodb_data
[
{
“CreatedAt”: “2026-02-10T14:17:41Z”,
“Driver”: “local”,
“Labels”: {
“com.docker.compose.config-hash”: “caa073ef7fac7be083b09f98b53fa7f2b73cc10b8391632bbad8dff346bb86bd”,
“com.docker.compose.project”: “rocketchat-compose”,
“com.docker.compose.version”: “5.0.2”,
“com.docker.compose.volume”: “mongodb_data”
},
“Mountpoint”: “/var/lib/docker/volumes/rocketchat-compose_mongodb_data/_data”,
“Name”: “rocketchat-compose_mongodb_data”,
“Options”: null,
“Scope”: “local”
}
]

Owner was 1001. Added mongodb user with uid 1001 just to test. No change.

root@chat0:/var/lib/docker/volumes/rocketchat-compose_mongodb_data/# ll
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 3 mongodb input 4096 Feb 10 14:17 ./
drwx-----x 3 root root 4096 Feb 10 14:17 ../
drwx------ 3 mongodb root 4096 Feb 10 14:17 .mongodb/

checking _data. Had to manually fix ownership.

root@chat0:/var/lib/docker/volumes/rocketchat-compose_mongodb_data# cd _data/
root@chat0:/var/lib/docker/volumes/rocketchat-compose_mongodb_data/_data# ll
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 3 mongodb input 4096 Feb 10 14:17 ./
drwx-----x 3 root root 4096 Feb 10 14:17 ../
drwx------ 3 root root 4096 Feb 10 14:17 .mongodb/
root@chat0:/var/lib/docker/volumes/rocketchat-compose_mongodb_data/_data# chown -R mongodb .mongodb/
root@chat0:/var/lib/docker/volumes/rocketchat-compose_mongodb_data/_data# ll
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 3 mongodb input 4096 Feb 10 14:17 ./
drwx-----x 3 root root 4096 Feb 10 14:17 ../
drwx------ 3 mongodb root 4096 Feb 10 14:17 .mongodb/

Mongo still hangs on ownership.

=====> Waiting for /data/db to be owned by uid=1001 (mongodb user) …
=====> /data/db ownership OK (1001) - starting MongoDB

Not sure what else to do here. Again, fresh install following the instructions above.

Server Setup Information

  • Version of Rocket.Chat Server: 8.1.0
  • Operating System: Ubuntu 24.04.02
  • Deployment Method: Docker
  • Number of Running Instances: 1
  • DB Replicaset Oplog: N/A
  • NodeJS Version: Whatever is in the docker images
  • MongoDB Version: mongodb-community-server:8.2-ubi8
  • Proxy: N/A
  • Firewalls involved: No

Any additional Information

2

Almost certainly a docker issue, not Rocket.

Try searching the interwebs for something like:

“docker mongo permissions error”