Updates

A tag such as nginx:1.27 or postgres:16 can point to a newer image after a while. Docker Manager checks whether the image behind a tag changed and updates the containers that use it. A check only asks the registry; it never downloads or changes anything.

To update one stack now, choose Pull and Deploy in the menu next to its Deploy button.

Update on a scheduleCopy Anchor Link

Docker Manager checks and updates every server with one set of settings. Both schedules are off until you turn them on.

1. Open Updates and press Edit.
2. Choose what it covers: every environment, stack and container outside your stacks is included, also ones you add later. That includes containers started with docker run and those of Compose projects Docker Manager doesn't manage. Uncheck what to leave out; in a long list, filter by name and press Exclude Shown to leave out every match.
3. Turn on the schedules you want:
   • Check Automatically: when to look for newer images.
   • Update Automatically: when to apply what the last check found. Containers then restart without asking.
4. Press Save Changes.

Under Update Window and Health Wait you can limit scheduled updates to certain days and hours, and set how long to wait for an updated container to become healthy (2 minutes by default).

Check and apply by handCopy Anchor Link

The Updates page lists the stacks and containers with a newer image, or a failed check or update. Preview Update in a row shows the services that would be recreated and the new image versions; press Apply Updates to N Services to run it.

Check Now checks everything right away, and Preview Updates → Apply Updates updates everything the last check found. Oldest Check on top says when the stack or container checked longest ago was last checked, so one that wasn't checked for a while doesn't go unnoticed. A stack or container whose images are all Not Eligible (built on the server, or without a registry digest) can't be checked: Up to Date counts it as not eligible, not as unchecked.

In the container list and a stack's services, an icon next to each image shows Update available, Up to date or a failed check. Click it to check again.

Good to know:

• Only services whose image really changed are recreated.
• A stack with Undeployed Changes is still updated, with the settings its services run with now. Its changes stay undeployed until you press Deploy.
• There is no automatic rollback. A failed new image is set aside so it is not tried again. To go back, pin the previous version in compose.yaml and deploy.
• A container Docker Manager didn't create is recreated with all its current settings; only its image changes. The containers of a Compose project Docker Manager doesn't manage are updated one at a time, without Compose's start order: import it as a stack to update it as a whole.
• Never updated: images pinned to a digest (image@sha256:…) or without a tag, services that build their own image or set a pull_policy other than the default missing, Docker Manager's own containers, one-off containers (docker compose run), tasks of Swarm services, and containers with the label docker-manager.update.exclude=true.