Docker: Error Response From Daemon: Missing Or Empty Contents-Length Header

Docker is a great tool for deploying software, but it’s not perfect and runs into random glitches and bugs. That’s what keeps developers on their toes. Sometimes, a docker pull will fail due to an error titled “Docker: Error response from daemon: missing or empty contents-length header.”

The Content-Length header of an upload request must contain a numeric value of zero or an empty string. This header is used to identify the state of the upload progress and the uuid of the upload. If the header is empty or missing, it is a non-recoverable error. To fix this, include the ‘digest’ parameter in your PUT request. For more information on how to include the Digest header, read the “Completed Upload” section of the documentation.

Docker provides multiple logging mechanisms, called logging drivers. By default, the json-file logging driver is used. However, users can set up their own logging drivers. The json-file logging driver caches container logs in JSON internally.

Ensure that your Docker daemons support synchronizing udev by setting the udev sync support flag. This flag allows the daemon to be reached by remote hosts. If udev sync support is enabled, the corresponding libdm and kernel driver support deferred device removal.

Ensure that you have a secure connection by enabling SSH encryption for access. Docker’s default port binding increases security risks. It’s better to set a custom port for Docker. Using the default port will allow non-root users to gain root access on the host. Using a port that is controlled by a user’s firewall will prevent this from happening.

If you’re receiving an HTTP 401 Unauthorized response, it’s important to check that the endpoint you’re trying to reach implements V2 API. If it doesn’t, you may need to authenticate against different resources instead.

The default storage driver for Linux containers is lcow, while those for Windows images use windowsfilter. If you’re using an alternative storage driver, specify it with the -storage-driver flag. You can also use fuse-overlayfs. Both drivers use a file system containing multiple layers of data.