diff --git a/manual/docker/deploy_seafile_with_docker.md b/manual/docker/deploy_seafile_with_docker.md
index 20cdeee3..d6ffa4b0 100644
--- a/manual/docker/deploy_seafile_with_docker.md
+++ b/manual/docker/deploy_seafile_with_docker.md
@@ -104,6 +104,34 @@ seafile:
 
 ```
 
+### Use an existing mysql-server
+
+If you want to use an existing mysql-server, you can modify the `docker-compose.yml` as follows
+
+```yml
+services:
+  #db:
+    #image: mariadb:10.11
+    #...
+
+  seafile:
+    ...
+    environment:
+        ...
+        - DB_HOST=192.168.0.2
+        - DB_ROOT_PASSWD=mysql_root_password
+        ...
+    depends_on:
+      #- db
+      - memcached
+```
+
+* The entire db chapter needs to be removed
+* The host of MySQL (DB_HOST)
+* The password of MySQL root (DB_ROOT_PASSWD)
+* db in depends_on chapter needs to be removed
+* DB_ROOT_PASSWD is needed during installation. Later, after Seafile is installed, the user `seafile` will be used to connect to the mysql-server (in conf/seafile.conf). You can remove the `DB_ROOT_PASSWD`.
+
 ### Modify Seafile server configurations
 
 The config files are under `shared/seafile/conf`. You can modify the configurations according to [Seafile manual](https://manual.seafile.com/)
diff --git a/manual/docker/pro-edition/deploy_seafile_pro_with_docker.md b/manual/docker/pro-edition/deploy_seafile_pro_with_docker.md
index e04d570b..b6f13c1f 100644
--- a/manual/docker/pro-edition/deploy_seafile_pro_with_docker.md
+++ b/manual/docker/pro-edition/deploy_seafile_pro_with_docker.md
@@ -217,6 +217,34 @@ seafile:
 
 ```
 
+## Use an existing mysql-server
+
+If you want to use an existing mysql-server, you can modify the `docker-compose.yml` as follows
+
+```yml
+services:
+  #db:
+    #image: mariadb:10.11
+    #...
+
+  seafile:
+    ...
+    environment:
+        ...
+        - DB_HOST=192.168.0.2
+        - DB_ROOT_PASSWD=mysql_root_password
+        ...
+    depends_on:
+      #- db
+      - memcached
+```
+
+* The entire db chapter needs to be removed
+* The host of MySQL (DB_HOST)
+* The password of MySQL root (DB_ROOT_PASSWD)
+* db in depends_on chapter needs to be removed
+* When Seafile is installed, the user `seafile` will be used to connect to the mysql-server (in conf/seafile.conf). You can remove the `DB_ROOT_PASSWD`.
+
 ## Seafile directory structure
 
 ### `/shared`