Docker/Podman file storage locations

Default file storage locations used by CAST Imaging analysis nodes on Docker and Podman

Overview

When analyzing your applications, each CAST Imaging analysis-node will need to store various data, for example:

logs
extensions
source code
temporary files

The table below explains where these folders will be located by default.

Starting release 3.6.0-funcrel, the imaging-services component also requires access to delivery, deploy, common-data folders.

Locations

Folder	Default path	Remarks
`delivery`	On machine(s) where `analysis-node` is installed: `/opt/cast/shared/delivery`	Contains reference information about applications and the various source code deliveries that have occurred for a given application. For a single machine install or where only one single `analysis-node` is installed, this can be left as is, however for future-proofing, CAST highly recommends using a mounted network folder that all `analysis-nodes` and `imaging-service` can access (see details below). For a distributed/multi-node deployment, a mounted network folder that all `analysis-nodes` and `imaging-service` can access is required, e.g. the parent `/opt/cast/shared` folder can be mounted to a network folder on a NAS or SAN (note that only the SMB (Server Message Block) protocol is supported) or you can use NFS shares as described in Setting up an NFS Share on Linux.
`deploy`	On machine(s) where `analysis-node` is installed: `/opt/cast/shared/deploy`	Used to store certain types of source code which require further extraction and processing before analysis, such as `.castextraction` files or `.PDS` dump files. For a single machine install or where only one single `analysis-node` is installed, this can be left as is, however for future-proofing, CAST highly recommends using a mounted network folder that all `analysis-nodes` and `imaging-service` can access (see details below). For a distributed/multi-node deployment, a mounted network folder that all `analysis-nodes` and `imaging-service` can access is required, e.g. the parent `/opt/cast/shared` folder can be mounted to a network folder on a NAS or SAN (note that only the SMB (Server Message Block) protocol is supported) or you can use NFS shares as described in Setting up an NFS Share on Linux..
`common-data`	On machine(s) where `analysis-node` is installed: `/opt/cast/shared/common-data`	A common location used for node related data (logs, backup, source code upload and other folders used by the node). For a single machine install or where only one single `analysis-node` is installed, this can be left as is, however for future-proofing, CAST highly recommends using a mounted network folder that all `analysis-nodes` and `imaging-service` can access (see details below). For a distributed/multi-node deployment, a mounted network folder that all `analysis-nodes` and `imaging-service` can access is required, e.g. the parent `/opt/cast/shared` folder can be mounted to a network folder on a NAS or SAN (note that only the SMB (Server Message Block) protocol is supported) or you can use NFS shares as described in Setting up an NFS Share on Linux.
`Logs`	On machine(s) where `analysis-node` is installed: `/opt/cast/core/CAST/Logs`	Used for storing all technical logs produced by the node with regard to code delivery/analysis activities. One sub-folder folder will be created per application onboarded in CAST Imaging. The log files will contain the path and the name of the source file. For some warning messages (e.g.: syntax error), the path of the source code involved in the warning is shown in the log. Must always be located on the node machine and is required on each node.
`LISA` / `LTSA`	On machine(s) where `analysis-node` is installed: `/opt/cast/core/CASTMS/LISA` and `opt/cast/core/CASTMS/LTSA`	Location to store temporary files generated during the analysis process on each node: Large Intermediate Storage Area (LISA) - cleaned on completion of each analysis. Large Temporary Storage Area (LTSA) - is permanent and contains preprocessed source code files, archive files for analysis etc. Some technology extensions need to preprocess the source code before performing the analysis. In this case, the source code that will be analyzed is stored in the LISA folder. Must always be located on the node machine and is required on each node.
`extensions`	On machine(s) where `analysis-node` is installed: `/opt/cast/core/Extensions`	Used for storing CAST technology extensions obtained by CAST Imaging from https://extend.castsoftware.com . Must always be located on the node machine and is required on each node.

Service logs

Available in ≥ 3.6.8-funcrel

The imaging-services and dashboards components write their logs to the host rather than keeping them inside the container, so that they survive a restart and can be collected without docker logs. These are the service logs of the components themselves, distinct from the analysis logs the analysis-node produces in the Logs folder described above.

Component	Default path	Remarks
`imaging-services`	`$INSTALL_DIR/imaging-services/logs` (for example `/opt/cast/imaging-services/logs`)	One subfolder per service: `auth-service`, `console`, `control-panel`, `gateway` and `sso`. To store the logs on a different host path, set `IMAGING_LOGS_HOST_MACHINE` in the `.env` file of the `imaging-services` component
`dashboards`	`/opt/cast/imaging-dashboards/logs`	The logs of the `dashboards` component

Each folder holds the current log plus one compressed file per previous day, for example gateway.log alongside gateway.log.2026-09-22.0.gz.

No action is required when you update to 3.6.8-funcrel: the installer and the update script create the folders and set their permissions on both Docker and Podman, and logs already present are left untouched.
The folders are granted to the unprivileged user the containers run as, 65532. Where you relocate them, the new location must be writable by that user or the services cannot start.

Embedded database storage

Available in ≥ 3.6.4-funcrel

When the embedded PostgreSQL instance is used (DB_MODE=embedded), its data is stored in the Docker named volume cast-imaging-db-data on the machine running imaging-services.

Volume	Default path	Remarks
`cast-imaging-db-data`	`$INSTALL_DIR/cast-imaging-db-data/data` (for example `/opt/cast/cast-imaging-db-data/data`)	Holds the data files for the embedded PostgreSQL instance. To store the data on a different host path, set `CAST_IMAGING_DB_DATA_VOLUME_PATH` in `configuration.conf` - the installer appends `/cast-imaging-db-data/data` to the value you provide. See Installation variables. This applies to fresh installations only - during an update/upgrade the existing location is retained to preserve data.

cast-imaging-db-data is a bind-backed named volume: the path under /var/lib/docker/volumes/cast-imaging-db-data/ contains only Docker metadata, while the actual database files are stored at the configured host path. Verify the active location with docker volume inspect cast-imaging-db-data.