diff --git a/docker/pulsar-all/Dockerfile b/docker/pulsar-all/Dockerfile
index 42431fc94a067..11a67c9272f87 100644
--- a/docker/pulsar-all/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/pulsar-all/Dockerfile
@@ -25,7 +25,19 @@ ARG PULSAR_OFFLOADER_TARBALL
 ADD ${PULSAR_IO_DIR} /connectors
 ADD ${PULSAR_OFFLOADER_TARBALL} /
 RUN mv /apache-pulsar-offloaders-*/offloaders /offloaders
+RUN chmod -R g=u /connectors /offloaders
 
 FROM apachepulsar/pulsar:latest
-COPY --from=pulsar-all /connectors /pulsar/connectors
-COPY --from=pulsar-all /offloaders /pulsar/offloaders
+
+# Need permission to create directories and update file permissions
+USER root
+
+RUN mkdir /pulsar/connectors /pulsar/offloaders && \
+    chown pulsar:root /pulsar/connectors /pulsar/offloaders && \
+    chmod g=u /pulsar/connectors /pulsar/offloaders
+
+# Return to pulsar (non root) user
+USER pulsar
+
+COPY --from=pulsar-all --chown=pulsar:0 /connectors /pulsar/connectors
+COPY --from=pulsar-all --chown=pulsar:0 /offloaders /pulsar/offloaders
diff --git a/docker/pulsar-standalone/Dockerfile b/docker/pulsar-standalone/Dockerfile
index 8555af0646611..55c1fd627e7fe 100644
--- a/docker/pulsar-standalone/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/pulsar-standalone/Dockerfile
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@ FROM apachepulsar/pulsar-dashboard:latest as dashboard
 # Restart from
 FROM openjdk:8-jdk
 
+# Help to make these directories persist between container restarts
+VOLUME  ["/pulsar/conf", "/pulsar/data"]
+
 # Note that the libpq-dev package is needed here in order to install
 # the required python psycopg2 package (for postgresql) later
 RUN apt-get update \
diff --git a/docker/pulsar/Dockerfile b/docker/pulsar/Dockerfile
index 69b8b6768bc60..625895265aa1f 100644
--- a/docker/pulsar/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/pulsar/Dockerfile
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@
 # under the License.
 #
 
-# First create a stage with just the Pulsar tarball and scripts
+# First create a stage with the Pulsar tarball, the scripts, the python client,
+# the cpp client, and the data directory. Then ensure correct file permissions.
 FROM busybox as pulsar
 
 ARG PULSAR_TARBALL
@@ -33,11 +34,25 @@ COPY scripts/pulsar-zookeeper-ruok.sh /pulsar/bin
 COPY scripts/watch-znode.py /pulsar/bin
 COPY scripts/install-pulsar-client-37.sh /pulsar/bin
 
+COPY target/python-client/ /pulsar/pulsar-client
+COPY target/cpp-client/ /pulsar/cpp-client
+
+RUN mkdir /pulsar/data
+
+# In order to support running this docker image as a container on OpenShift
+# the final image needs to give the root group enough permission.
+# The file permissions are maintained when copied into the target image.
+RUN chmod -R g=u /pulsar
+
 ### Create 2nd stage from OpenJDK image
 ### and add Python dependencies (for Pulsar functions)
 
 FROM openjdk:8-jdk-slim
 
+# Create the pulsar group and user to make docker container run as a non root user by default
+RUN groupadd -g 10001 pulsar
+RUN adduser -u 10000 --gid 10001 --disabled-login --disabled-password --gecos '' pulsar
+
 # Install some utilities
 RUN apt-get update \
      && apt-get install -y netcat dnsutils less procps iputils-ping \
@@ -52,21 +67,25 @@ RUN python3.7 get-pip.py
 
 RUN update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python3 10
 
-ADD target/python-client/ /pulsar/pulsar-client
-ADD target/cpp-client/ /pulsar/cpp-client
+# The pulsar directory is staged correctly in the first stage, above.
+# The chown and chmod ensure proper permissions for running as a non root user and non root group
+# as well as running on OpenShift with a random user that is part of the root group
+RUN mkdir /pulsar && chown pulsar:0 /pulsar && chmod g=u /pulsar
+COPY --from=pulsar --chown=pulsar:0 /pulsar /pulsar
+
 RUN echo networkaddress.cache.ttl=1 >> $JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/security/java.security
 RUN apt-get update \
      && apt install -y /pulsar/cpp-client/*.deb \
      && apt-get clean \
      && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
-VOLUME  ["/pulsar/conf", "/pulsar/data"]
-
 ENV PULSAR_ROOT_LOGGER=INFO,CONSOLE
 
-
-COPY --from=pulsar /pulsar /pulsar
 WORKDIR /pulsar
 
+# This script is intentionally run as the root user to make the dependencies
+# available to the root user and the pulsar user
 RUN /pulsar/bin/install-pulsar-client-37.sh
 
+# Switch to the pulsar user to ensure container defaults to run as a non root user
+USER pulsar
diff --git a/site2/docs/getting-started-docker.md b/site2/docs/getting-started-docker.md
index 56cff28df57a9..f8f6a3888054d 100644
--- a/site2/docs/getting-started-docker.md
+++ b/site2/docs/getting-started-docker.md
@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ and follow the instructions for your OS.
 A few things to note about this command:
  * The data, metadata, and configuration are persisted on Docker volumes in order to not start "fresh" every 
 time the container is restarted. For details on the volumes you can use `docker volume inspect <sourcename>`
+ * The pulsar docker image runs as user 10000, by default. In order for the pulsar process to
+ access the mounted volumes, the host volumes (`pulsardata` and `pulsarconf` in this example)
+ must give user 10000 read and write permissions. Alternatively, you can specify the user to run with and then make sure
+ that the host volume gives that user read and write permissions. Otherwise, the process will fail due to insufficient
+ permissions.
  * For Docker on Windows make sure to configure it to use Linux containers
 
 If you start Pulsar successfully, you will see `INFO`-level log messages like this:
diff --git a/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/Dockerfile b/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/Dockerfile
index eaa279a42cd11..579372278c201 100644
--- a/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/Dockerfile
+++ b/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/Dockerfile
@@ -19,6 +19,12 @@
 
 FROM apachepulsar/pulsar-all:latest
 
+# Switch to run as the root user to simplify building container and then running
+# supervisord. Each of the pulsar components are spawned by supervisord and their
+# process configuration files specify that the process will be run as the "pulsar" user
+# However, any processes exec'ing into the containers will run as root, by default.
+USER root
+
 RUN rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* && apt update
 
 RUN apt-get clean && apt-get update && apt-get install -y supervisor vim procps curl git
diff --git a/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/bookie.conf b/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/bookie.conf
index a71cb5c5d3756..f95e2314fbbb8 100644
--- a/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/bookie.conf
+++ b/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/bookie.conf
@@ -24,3 +24,4 @@ stdout_logfile=/var/log/pulsar/bookie.log
 directory=/pulsar
 environment=PULSAR_MEM="-Xmx128M -XX:MaxDirectMemorySize=512M",PULSAR_GC="-XX:+UseG1GC",dbStorage_writeCacheMaxSizeMb="16",dbStorage_readAheadCacheMaxSizeMb="16"
 command=/pulsar/bin/pulsar bookie
+user=pulsar
diff --git a/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/broker.conf b/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/broker.conf
index f8bf8e761398f..bfcf6015a3b9c 100644
--- a/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/broker.conf
+++ b/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/broker.conf
@@ -24,4 +24,5 @@ stdout_logfile=/var/log/pulsar/broker.log
 directory=/pulsar
 environment=PULSAR_MEM="-Xmx128M",PULSAR_GC="-XX:+UseG1GC"
 command=/pulsar/bin/pulsar broker
+user=pulsar
 
diff --git a/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/functions_worker.conf b/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/functions_worker.conf
index 3610b03251884..a023c1ebe297a 100644
--- a/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/functions_worker.conf
+++ b/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/functions_worker.conf
@@ -24,4 +24,5 @@ stdout_logfile=/var/log/pulsar/functions_worker.log
 directory=/pulsar
 environment=PULSAR_MEM="-Xmx128M",PULSAR_GC="-XX:+UseG1GC"
 command=/pulsar/bin/pulsar functions-worker
+user=pulsar
 
diff --git a/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/global-zk.conf b/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/global-zk.conf
index bf56c5b62882a..6503f5f7c1ca5 100644
--- a/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/global-zk.conf
+++ b/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/global-zk.conf
@@ -24,4 +24,5 @@ stdout_logfile=/var/log/pulsar/global-zk.log
 directory=/pulsar
 environment=PULSAR_MEM="-Xmx128M",PULSAR_GC="-XX:+UseG1GC"
 command=/pulsar/bin/pulsar configuration-store
+user=pulsar
 
diff --git a/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/local-zk.conf b/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/local-zk.conf
index 57681937791be..1c98a6bbf5695 100644
--- a/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/local-zk.conf
+++ b/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/local-zk.conf
@@ -24,4 +24,5 @@ stdout_logfile=/var/log/pulsar/local-zk.log
 directory=/pulsar
 environment=PULSAR_MEM="-Xmx128M",PULSAR_GC="-XX:+UseG1GC"
 command=/pulsar/bin/pulsar zookeeper
+user=pulsar
 
diff --git a/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/presto_worker.conf b/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/presto_worker.conf
index 28e3c36661e09..6846ca2666233 100644
--- a/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/presto_worker.conf
+++ b/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/presto_worker.conf
@@ -23,4 +23,5 @@ redirect_stderr=true
 stdout_logfile=/var/log/pulsar/presto_worker.log
 directory=/pulsar
 environment=PULSAR_MEM="-Xmx128M",PULSAR_GC="-XX:+UseG1GC"
-command=/pulsar/bin/pulsar sql-worker start
\ No newline at end of file
+command=/pulsar/bin/pulsar sql-worker start
+user=pulsar
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/proxy.conf b/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/proxy.conf
index 8bc1a53fe4fa8..1bed5a170a43a 100644
--- a/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/proxy.conf
+++ b/tests/docker-images/latest-version-image/conf/proxy.conf
@@ -24,4 +24,5 @@ stdout_logfile=/var/log/pulsar/proxy.log
 directory=/pulsar
 environment=PULSAR_MEM="-Xmx128M",PULSAR_GC="-XX:+UseG1GC"
 command=/pulsar/bin/pulsar proxy
+user=pulsar