# Managing ServiceControl RavenDB instances via Containers

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When ServiceControl is hosted in containers, the [`particular/servicecontrol-ravendb` image](https://hub.docker.com/r/particular/servicecontrol-ravendb) provides the database storage to the Error and Audit instances.

The database container extends the [official RavenDB container](https://hub.docker.com/r/ravendb/ravendb) and is provided to ensure compatibility with ServiceControl instances. In other words, for any version `x.y.z` version of ServiceControl, the same version `x.y.z` of the database container should be used to ensure data storage compatibility.

> [!NOTE]
The NServiceBus license covers the license for the embedded RavenDB that ships with ServiceControl. A separate RavenDB license is not required in this case.

> [!WARNING]
> A single database container should not be shared between multiple ServiceControl instances in production scenarios.

## Basic usage

This minimal example creates a database container using `docker run`:


```shell
docker run -d --name servicecontrol-db \
    -v db-config:/opt/RavenDB/config \
    -v db-data:/opt/RavenDB/Server/RavenData \
    particular/servicecontrol-ravendb:latest
```


Once the database container is running, the connection string `http://servicecontrol-db:8080` can be used for the `RAVENDB_CONNECTIONSTRING` value for an [Error instance](/servicecontrol/servicecontrol-instances/deployment/containers.md) or [Audit instance](/servicecontrol/audit-instances/deployment/containers.md).

## Required settings


A volume must be mounted to `/opt/RavenDB/Server/RavenData` to provide persistent storage for database contents between container updates. Failure to specify a path for the volume will result in loss of all data when the container is removed.


> [!NOTE]
> RavenDB has specific requirements about the types of storage it supports. See the [RavenDB deployment storage considerations documentation](https://ravendb.net/docs/article-page/6.2/csharp/start/installation/deployment-considerations#storage-considerations) for more information.
> 
> If providing these storage requirements is not possible, it is also possible to connect to an external, separately-licensed RavenDB server. The external server must be using the same Major and Minor version noted in the version map below.

## Additional settings

As the ServiceControl RavenDB container extends the official RavenDB container, additional configuration details can be found in the RavenDB Docker container documentation, according to this version map:

| ServiceControl Versions | RavenDB Version | Container Documentation |
|:-:|:-:|:-:|
| 6.x | 6.2 | [RavenDB 6.2 container docs](https://ravendb.net/docs/article-page/6.2/csharp/start/containers/general-guide)
| 5.4 to 5.11 | 5.4 | [RavenDB 5.4 container docs](https://ravendb.net/docs/article-page/5.4/csharp/start/installation/running-in-docker-container) |

> [!NOTE]
> The [RavenDB container overview on Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com/r/ravendb/ravendb) is specific to the most recent version of RavenDB which may not match the version used by ServiceControl.

> [!NOTE]
> To host ServiceControl and ServicePulse in Azure Container Apps, use Service Control v6 with [RavenDB Cloud](https://ravendb.net/cloud) for hosting the database