container-openvpn/docs/faqs.md

Frequently Asked Questions

Why not keep everything in one image?

The run-time image (kylemanna/openvpn) is intended to be an ephemeral image. Nothing should be saved in it so that it can be re-downloaded and re-run when updates are pushed (i.e. newer version of OpenVPN or even Debian). The data container contains all this data and is attached at run time providing a safe home.

If it was all in one container, an upgrade would require a few steps to extract all the data, perform some upgrade import, and re-run. This technique is also prone to people losing their EasyRSA PKI when they forget where it was. With everything in the data container upgrading is as simple as re-running docker pull kylemanna/openvpn and then docker run ... kylemanna/openvpn.