diff --git a/.env.sample b/.env.sample
index b74e48d371c..47ed2e0c24e 100644
--- a/.env.sample
+++ b/.env.sample
@@ -177,9 +177,13 @@ CACHE_BUSTING_STATIC_ENABLED=False
 
 MEMCACHED_ENABLED=False
 MEMCACHED_BACKEND=django.core.cache.backends.memcached.MemcachedCache
-MEMCACHED_LOCATION=127.0.0.1:11211
+MEMCACHED_LOCATION=memcached:11211
 MEMCACHED_LOCK_EXPIRE=3600
 MEMCACHED_LOCK_TIMEOUT=10
+#
+# Options for memcached binary, e.g. -vvv to log all requests and cache hits
+#
+MEMCACHED_OPTIONS=
 
 MAX_DOCUMENT_SIZE=200
 CLIENT_RESULTS_LIMIT=5
diff --git a/.env_dev b/.env_dev
index 6119f68ebd6..c5ef4c58b63 100644
--- a/.env_dev
+++ b/.env_dev
@@ -177,9 +177,13 @@ CACHE_BUSTING_STATIC_ENABLED=False
 
 MEMCACHED_ENABLED=False
 MEMCACHED_BACKEND=django.core.cache.backends.memcached.MemcachedCache
-MEMCACHED_LOCATION=127.0.0.1:11211
+MEMCACHED_LOCATION=memcached:11211
 MEMCACHED_LOCK_EXPIRE=3600
 MEMCACHED_LOCK_TIMEOUT=10
+#
+# Options for memcached binary, e.g. -vvv to log all requests and cache hits
+#
+MEMCACHED_OPTIONS=
 
 MAX_DOCUMENT_SIZE=200
 CLIENT_RESULTS_LIMIT=5
diff --git a/.env_local b/.env_local
index 48cba183d81..492022d6d3d 100644
--- a/.env_local
+++ b/.env_local
@@ -177,9 +177,13 @@ CACHE_BUSTING_STATIC_ENABLED=False
 
 MEMCACHED_ENABLED=False
 MEMCACHED_BACKEND=django.core.cache.backends.memcached.MemcachedCache
-MEMCACHED_LOCATION=127.0.0.1:11211
+MEMCACHED_LOCATION=memcached:11211
 MEMCACHED_LOCK_EXPIRE=3600
 MEMCACHED_LOCK_TIMEOUT=10
+#
+# Options for memcached binary, e.g. -vvv to log all requests and cache hits
+#
+MEMCACHED_OPTIONS=
 
 MAX_DOCUMENT_SIZE=200
 CLIENT_RESULTS_LIMIT=5
diff --git a/.env_test b/.env_test
index fb1910d57b1..cfbc1098d97 100644
--- a/.env_test
+++ b/.env_test
@@ -186,9 +186,13 @@ CACHE_BUSTING_STATIC_ENABLED=False
 
 MEMCACHED_ENABLED=False
 MEMCACHED_BACKEND=django.core.cache.backends.memcached.MemcachedCache
-MEMCACHED_LOCATION=127.0.0.1:11211
+MEMCACHED_LOCATION=memcached:11211
 MEMCACHED_LOCK_EXPIRE=3600
 MEMCACHED_LOCK_TIMEOUT=10
+#
+# Options for memcached binary, e.g. -vvv to log all requests and cache hits
+#
+MEMCACHED_OPTIONS=
 
 MAX_DOCUMENT_SIZE=200
 CLIENT_RESULTS_LIMIT=5
diff --git a/docker-compose-test.yml b/docker-compose-test.yml
index 762183a5eac..14a4b999fab 100644
--- a/docker-compose-test.yml
+++ b/docker-compose-test.yml
@@ -68,6 +68,19 @@ services:
       - statics:/mnt/volumes/statics
     restart: unless-stopped
 
+  # memcached service
+  memcached:
+    image: memcached:alpine
+    container_name: memcached4${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}
+    command: memcached ${MEMCACHED_OPTIONS}
+    restart: on-failure
+    healthcheck:
+      test: nc -z 127.0.0.1 11211
+      interval: 30s
+      timeout: 30s
+      retries: 5
+      start_period: 30s
+
   # Gets and installs letsencrypt certificates
   letsencrypt:
     image: geonode/letsencrypt:latest
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 853231d824a..36d6d196fe2 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -46,6 +46,19 @@ services:
     entrypoint: ["/usr/src/geonode/entrypoint.sh"]
     command: "celery-cmd"
 
+  # memcached service
+  memcached:
+    image: memcached:alpine
+    container_name: memcached4${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}
+    command: memcached ${MEMCACHED_OPTIONS}
+    restart: on-failure
+    healthcheck:
+      test: nc -z 127.0.0.1 11211
+      interval: 30s
+      timeout: 30s
+      retries: 5
+      start_period: 30s
+
   # Nginx is serving django static and media files and proxies to django and geonode
   geonode:
     image: geonode/nginx:1.25.1
diff --git a/entrypoint.sh b/entrypoint.sh
index 6bb062b910e..bcb925467f7 100755
--- a/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/entrypoint.sh
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ invoke () {
 
 # Start cron && memcached services
 service cron restart
-service memcached restart
 
 echo $"\n\n\n"
 echo "-----------------------------------------------------"
diff --git a/scripts/docker/base/ubuntu/Dockerfile b/scripts/docker/base/ubuntu/Dockerfile
index 13ca38d20c4..8e406212798 100644
--- a/scripts/docker/base/ubuntu/Dockerfile
+++ b/scripts/docker/base/ubuntu/Dockerfile
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ RUN mkdir -p /usr/src/geonode
 ## Enable postgresql-client-15
 RUN apt-get update -y && apt-get install curl wget unzip gnupg2 -y
 RUN wget --quiet -O - https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | apt-key add -
-# will install python3.10 
+# will install python3.10
 RUN apt-get install lsb-core -y
 RUN echo "deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/ `lsb_release -cs`-pgdg main" |tee  /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list
 
@@ -32,8 +32,7 @@ RUN pip3 install uwsgi \
     && pip install pip --upgrade \
     && pip install pygdal==$(gdal-config --version).* flower==0.9.4
 
-# Activate "memcached"
-RUN apt-get install -y memcached
+# Install "sherlock" to be used with "memcached"
 RUN pip install sherlock
 
 # Cleanup apt update lists