This page also contains important information about [migrating from earlier Docker container versions](#migrate-from-previous-docker-containers-versions).
This is the default image. This image is based on the popular [Alpine Linux project](http://alpinelinux.org), available in [the alpine official image](https://hub.docker.com/_/alpine). Alpine Linux is much smaller than most distribution base images, and thus leads to slimmer and more secure images.
This variant is highly recommended when security and final image size being as small as possible is desired. The main caveat to note is that it does use [musl libc](http://www.musl-libc.org) instead of [glibc and friends](http://www.etalabs.net/compare_libcs.html), so certain software might run into issues depending on the depth of their libc requirements. However, most software doesn't have an issue with this, so this variant is usually a very safe choice.
This image is based on [Ubuntu](https://ubuntu.com/), available in [the Ubuntu official image](https://hub.docker.com/_/ubuntu). This is an alternative image for those who prefer an [Ubuntu](https://ubuntu.com/) based image and/or who are dependent on certain tooling not available for Alpine.
You can run the latest Grafana version, run a specific version, or run an unstable version based on the master branch of the [grafana/grafana GitHub repository](https://github.com/grafana/grafana).
For every successful build of the master branch, we update the `grafana/grafana:master` and `grafana/grafana:master-ubuntu` tags. Additionally, two new tags are created, `grafana/grafana-dev:master-<commit hash>` and `grafana/grafana-dev:master-<commit hash>-ubuntu`, which includes the hash of the Git commit that was built. Use these to get access to the latest master builds of Grafana.
When running Grafana master in production, we *strongly* recommend that you use the `grafana/grafana-dev:master-<commit hash>` tag. This tag guarantees that you use a specific version of Grafana instead of whatever was the most recent commit at the time.
For a list of available tags, check out [grafana/grafana](https://hub.docker.com/r/grafana/grafana/tags/) and [grafana/grafana-dev](https://hub.docker.com/r/grafana/grafana-dev/tags/).
You can install official and community plugins listed on the Grafana [plugins page](https://grafana.com/grafana/plugins) or from a custom URL.
### Install official and community Grafana plugins
Pass the plugins you want installed to Docker with the `GF_INSTALL_PLUGINS` environment variable as a comma-separated list. This sends each plugin name to `grafana-cli plugins install ${plugin}` and installs them when Grafana starts.
> If you need to specify the version of a plugin, then you can add it to the `GF_INSTALL_PLUGINS` environment variable. Otherwise, the latest will be assumed. For example: `-e "GF_INSTALL_PLUGINS=grafana-clock-panel 1.0.1,grafana-simple-json-datasource 1.3.5"`.
## Build and run a Docker image with pre-installed plugins
You can build your own customized image that includes plugins. This saves time if you are creating multiple images and you want them all to have the same plugins installed on build.
In the [Grafana GitHub repository](https://github.com/grafana/grafana/tree/master/packaging/docker) there is a folder called `custom/` which includes two Dockerfiles, `Dockerfile` and `ubuntu.Dockerfile`, that can be used to build a custom Grafana image. It accepts `GRAFANA_VERSION`, `GF_INSTALL_PLUGINS`, and `GF_INSTALL_IMAGE_RENDERER_PLUGIN` as build arguments.
> If you need to specify the version of a plugin, you can add it to the `GF_INSTALL_PLUGINS` build argument. Otherwise, the latest will be assumed. For example: `--build-arg "GF_INSTALL_PLUGINS=grafana-clock-panel 1.0.1,grafana-simple-json-datasource 1.3.5"`
The [Grafana Image Renderer plugin]({{< relref "../administration/image_rendering/#grafana-image-renderer-plugin" >}}) does not currently work if it is installed in Grafana Docker image. You can build a custom Docker image by using the `GF_INSTALL_IMAGE_RENDERER_PLUGIN` build argument. This installs additional dependencies needed for the Grafana Image Renderer plugin to run.
Grafana Docker image now comes in two variants, one [Alpine](http://alpinelinux.org) based and one [Ubuntu](https://ubuntu.com/) based, see [Image Variants](#image-variants) for details.
Previously `/var/lib/grafana`, `/etc/grafana` and `/var/log/grafana` were defined as volumes in the `Dockerfile`. This led to the creation of three volumes each time a new instance of the Grafana container started, whether you wanted it or not.
You should always be careful to define your own named volume for storage, but if you depended on these volumes, then you should be aware that an upgraded container will no longer have them.
**Warning**: When migrating from an earlier version to 5.1 or later using Docker compose and implicit volumes, you need to use `docker inspect` to find out which volumes your container is mapped to so that you can map them to the upgraded container as well. You will also have to change file ownership (or user) as documented below.
In Grafana v5.1, we changed the ID of the Grafana user. Unfortunately this means that files created prior to v5.1 won't have the correct permissions for later versions. We made this change so that it would be more likely that the Grafana users ID would be unique to Grafana. For example, on Ubuntu 16.04 `104` is already in use by the syslog user.
There are two possible solutions to this problem. Either you start the new container as the root user and change ownership from `104` to `472`, or you start the upgraded container as user `104`.
The commands below runs bash inside the Grafana container with your volume mapped in. This makes it possible to modify the file ownership to match the new container. Always be careful when modifying permissions.
Refer to the [Getting Started]({{< relref "../guides/getting_started/" >}}) guide for information about logging in, setting up data sources, and so on.
Refer to [Configure a Grafana Docker image]({{< relref "configure-docker.md" >}}) page for details on options for customizing your environment, logging, database, and so on.
Refer to the [Configuration]({{< relref "configuration.md" >}}) page for details on options for customizing your environment, logging, database, and so on.
