What is Docker Volume?

Docker volumes decouple data storage from container lifecycles. Without volumes, all data inside a container is lost when it is removed. Volumes are stored on the host filesystem and managed by Docker. Types include named volumes (managed by Docker, portable), bind mounts (map host directories into containers), and tmpfs mounts (in-memory only). Named volumes are preferred for production — they support volume drivers for remote storage (NFS, AWS EBS), can be shared between containers, and are backed up independently. Docker Compose defines volumes declaratively, and Kubernetes uses Persistent Volumes for similar functionality at scale.