docker swarm unlock key is lost

Question

Hi I've lost the docker swarm key. I know it can't be recovered. However Is there a way to delete existing swarm at least ? Or would I be not able to use that machine with docker ever again ?

Answer 1

Based on the documentation there is a parameter called --force-new-cluster. This could help in your case since it says it force creates new cluster from current state. (Im not 100% sure about the key).

"Nuke it" is always an option. That means you stop the docker process

systemctl stop docker

and then you remove the contents of the /var/lib/docker/swarm (or docker_base_location/swarm). And then restart the dockerdaemon:

systemctl start docker

and then you should be able to simply create new swarm with docker swarm init command