The default driver writes every line to a JSON file with no rotation, so a chatty container quietly consumes the host disk and nothing points at it — docker ps looks fine right up until writes start failing.
{
"log-driver": "json-file",
"log-opts": { "max-size": "10m", "max-file": "3" }
}That belongs in /etc/docker/daemon.json so it applies to every container rather than being remembered per docker run. Note the JSON file is also what docker logs reads, so rotation means losing history — which is fine once logs are being shipped and is not fine before. Check du -sh /var/lib/docker/containers on any host that has been up for a while.