Networking with standalone containers
Estimated reading time: 18 minutesThis series of tutorials deals with networking for standalone Docker containers. For networking with swarm services, see Networking with swarm services. If you need to learn more about Docker networking in general, see the overview.
This topic includes three different tutorials. You can run each of them on Linux, Windows, or a Mac, but for the last two, you need a second Docker host running elsewhere.
-
Use the default bridge network demonstrates how to use the default
bridge
network that Docker sets up for you automatically. This network is not the best choice for production systems. -
Use user-defined bridge networks shows how to create and use your own custom bridge networks, to connect containers running on the same Docker host. This is recommended for standalone containers running in production.
Although overlay networks are generally used for swarm services, Docker 17.06 and higher allow you to use an overlay network for standalone containers. That’s covered as part of the tutorial on using overlay networks.
Use the default bridge network
In this example, you start two different alpine
containers on the same Docker
host and do some tests to understand how they communicate with each other. You
need to have Docker installed and running.
-
Open a terminal window. List current networks before you do anything else. Here’s what you should see if you’ve never added a network or initialized a swarm on this Docker daemon. You may see different networks, but you should at least see these (the network IDs will be different):
$ docker network ls NETWORK ID NAME DRIVER SCOPE 17e324f45964 bridge bridge local 6ed54d316334 host host local 7092879f2cc8 none null local
The default
bridge
network is listed, along withhost
andnone
. The latter two are not fully-fledged networks, but are used to start a container connected directly to the Docker daemon host’s networking stack, or to start a container with no network devices. This tutorial will connect two containers to thebridge
network. -
Start two
alpine
containers runningash
, which is Alpine’s default shell rather thanbash
. The-dit
flags mean to start the container detached (in the background), interactive (with the ability to type into it), and with a TTY (so you can see the input and output). Since you are starting it detached, you won’t be connected to the container right away. Instead, the container’s ID will be printed. Because you have not specified any--network
flags, the containers connect to the defaultbridge
network.$ docker run -dit --name alpine1 alpine ash $ docker run -dit --name alpine2 alpine ash
Check that both containers are actually started:
$ docker container ls CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES 602dbf1edc81 alpine "ash" 4 seconds ago Up 3 seconds alpine2 da33b7aa74b0 alpine "ash" 17 seconds ago Up 16 seconds alpine1
-
Inspect the
bridge
network to see what containers are connected to it.$ docker network inspect bridge [ { "Name": "bridge", "Id": "17e324f459648a9baaea32b248d3884da102dde19396c25b30ec800068ce6b10", "Created": "2017-06-22T20:27:43.826654485Z", "Scope": "local", "Driver": "bridge", "EnableIPv6": false, "IPAM": { "Driver": "default", "Options": null, "Config": [ { "Subnet": "172.17.0.0/16", "Gateway": "172.17.0.1" } ] }, "Internal": false, "Attachable": false, "Containers": { "602dbf1edc81813304b6cf0a647e65333dc6fe6ee6ed572dc0f686a3307c6a2c": { "Name": "alpine2", "EndpointID": "03b6aafb7ca4d7e531e292901b43719c0e34cc7eef565b38a6bf84acf50f38cd", "MacAddress": "02:42:ac:11:00:03", "IPv4Address": "172.17.0.3/16", "IPv6Address": "" }, "da33b7aa74b0bf3bda3ebd502d404320ca112a268aafe05b4851d1e3312ed168": { "Name": "alpine1", "EndpointID": "46c044a645d6afc42ddd7857d19e9dcfb89ad790afb5c239a35ac0af5e8a5bc5", "MacAddress": "02:42:ac:11:00:02", "IPv4Address": "172.17.0.2/16", "IPv6Address": "" } }, "Options": { "com.docker.network.bridge.default_bridge": "true", "com.docker.network.bridge.enable_icc": "true", "com.docker.network.bridge.enable_ip_masquerade": "true", "com.docker.network.bridge.host_binding_ipv4": "0.0.0.0", "com.docker.network.bridge.name": "docker0", "com.docker.network.driver.mtu": "1500" }, "Labels": {} } ]
Near the top, information about the
bridge
network is listed, including the IP address of the gateway between the Docker host and thebridge
network (172.17.0.1
). Under theContainers
key, each connected container is listed, along with information about its IP address (172.17.0.2
foralpine1
and172.17.0.3
foralpine2
). -
The containers are running in the background. Use the
docker attach
command to connect toalpine1
.$ docker attach alpine1 / #
The prompt changes to
#
to indicate that you are theroot
user within the container. Use theip addr show
command to show the network interfaces foralpine1
as they look from within the container:# ip addr show 1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN qlen 1 link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00 inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever inet6 ::1/128 scope host valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever 27: eth0@if28: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP,M-DOWN> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP link/ether 02:42:ac:11:00:02 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff inet 172.17.0.2/16 scope global eth0 valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever inet6 fe80::42:acff:fe11:2/64 scope link valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
The first interface is the loopback device. Ignore it for now. Notice that the second interface has the IP address
172.17.0.2
, which is the same address shown foralpine1
in the previous step. -
From within
alpine1
, make sure you can connect to the internet by pinginggoogle.com
. The-c 2
flag limits the command to twoping
attempts.# ping -c 2 google.com PING google.com (172.217.3.174): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 172.217.3.174: seq=0 ttl=41 time=9.841 ms 64 bytes from 172.217.3.174: seq=1 ttl=41 time=9.897 ms --- google.com ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 9.841/9.869/9.897 ms
-
Now try to ping the second container. First, ping it by its IP address,
172.17.0.3
:# ping -c 2 172.17.0.3 PING 172.17.0.3 (172.17.0.3): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 172.17.0.3: seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.086 ms 64 bytes from 172.17.0.3: seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.094 ms --- 172.17.0.3 ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 0.086/0.090/0.094 ms
This succeeds. Next, try pinging the
alpine2
container by container name. This will fail.# ping -c 2 alpine2 ping: bad address 'alpine2'
-
Detach from
alpine1
without stopping it by using the detach sequence,CTRL
+p
CTRL
+q
(hold downCTRL
and typep
followed byq
). If you wish, attach toalpine2
and repeat steps 4, 5, and 6 there, substitutingalpine1
foralpine2
. -
Stop and remove both containers.
$ docker container stop alpine1 alpine2 $ docker container rm alpine1 alpine2
Remember, the default bridge
network is not recommended for production. To
learn about user-defined bridge networks, continue to the
next tutorial.
Use user-defined bridge networks
In this example, we again start two alpine
containers, but attach them to a
user-defined network called alpine-net
which we have already created. These
containers are not connected to the default bridge
network at all. We then
start a third alpine
container which is connected to the bridge
network but
not connected to alpine-net
, and a fourth alpine
container which is
connected to both networks.
-
Create the
alpine-net
network. You do not need the--driver bridge
flag since it’s the default, but this example shows how to specify it.$ docker network create --driver bridge alpine-net
-
List Docker’s networks:
$ docker network ls NETWORK ID NAME DRIVER SCOPE e9261a8c9a19 alpine-net bridge local 17e324f45964 bridge bridge local 6ed54d316334 host host local 7092879f2cc8 none null local
Inspect the
alpine-net
network. This shows you its IP address and the fact that no containers are connected to it:$ docker network inspect alpine-net [ { "Name": "alpine-net", "Id": "e9261a8c9a19eabf2bf1488bf5f208b99b1608f330cff585c273d39481c9b0ec", "Created": "2017-09-25T21:38:12.620046142Z", "Scope": "local", "Driver": "bridge", "EnableIPv6": false, "IPAM": { "Driver": "default", "Options": {}, "Config": [ { "Subnet": "172.18.0.0/16", "Gateway": "172.18.0.1" } ] }, "Internal": false, "Attachable": false, "Containers": {}, "Options": {}, "Labels": {} } ]
Notice that this network’s gateway is
172.18.0.1
, as opposed to the default bridge network, whose gateway is172.17.0.1
. The exact IP address may be different on your system. -
Create your four containers. Notice the
--network
flags. You can only connect to one network during thedocker run
command, so you need to usedocker network connect
afterward to connectalpine4
to thebridge
network as well.$ docker run -dit --name alpine1 --network alpine-net alpine ash $ docker run -dit --name alpine2 --network alpine-net alpine ash $ docker run -dit --name alpine3 alpine ash $ docker run -dit --name alpine4 --network alpine-net alpine ash $ docker network connect bridge alpine4
Verify that all containers are running:
$ docker container ls CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES 156849ccd902 alpine "ash" 41 seconds ago Up 41 seconds alpine4 fa1340b8d83e alpine "ash" 51 seconds ago Up 51 seconds alpine3 a535d969081e alpine "ash" About a minute ago Up About a minute alpine2 0a02c449a6e9 alpine "ash" About a minute ago Up About a minute alpine1
-
Inspect the
bridge
network and thealpine-net
network again:$ docker network inspect bridge [ { "Name": "bridge", "Id": "17e324f459648a9baaea32b248d3884da102dde19396c25b30ec800068ce6b10", "Created": "2017-06-22T20:27:43.826654485Z", "Scope": "local", "Driver": "bridge", "EnableIPv6": false, "IPAM": { "Driver": "default", "Options": null, "Config": [ { "Subnet": "172.17.0.0/16", "Gateway": "172.17.0.1" } ] }, "Internal": false, "Attachable": false, "Containers": { "156849ccd902b812b7d17f05d2d81532ccebe5bf788c9a79de63e12bb92fc621": { "Name": "alpine4", "EndpointID": "7277c5183f0da5148b33d05f329371fce7befc5282d2619cfb23690b2adf467d", "MacAddress": "02:42:ac:11:00:03", "IPv4Address": "172.17.0.3/16", "IPv6Address": "" }, "fa1340b8d83eef5497166951184ad3691eb48678a3664608ec448a687b047c53": { "Name": "alpine3", "EndpointID": "5ae767367dcbebc712c02d49556285e888819d4da6b69d88cd1b0d52a83af95f", "MacAddress": "02:42:ac:11:00:02", "IPv4Address": "172.17.0.2/16", "IPv6Address": "" } }, "Options": { "com.docker.network.bridge.default_bridge": "true", "com.docker.network.bridge.enable_icc": "true", "com.docker.network.bridge.enable_ip_masquerade": "true", "com.docker.network.bridge.host_binding_ipv4": "0.0.0.0", "com.docker.network.bridge.name": "docker0", "com.docker.network.driver.mtu": "1500" }, "Labels": {} } ]
Containers
alpine3
andalpine4
are connected to thebridge
network.$ docker network inspect alpine-net [ { "Name": "alpine-net", "Id": "e9261a8c9a19eabf2bf1488bf5f208b99b1608f330cff585c273d39481c9b0ec", "Created": "2017-09-25T21:38:12.620046142Z", "Scope": "local", "Driver": "bridge", "EnableIPv6": false, "IPAM": { "Driver": "default", "Options": {}, "Config": [ { "Subnet": "172.18.0.0/16", "Gateway": "172.18.0.1" } ] }, "Internal": false, "Attachable": false, "Containers": { "0a02c449a6e9a15113c51ab2681d72749548fb9f78fae4493e3b2e4e74199c4a": { "Name": "alpine1", "EndpointID": "c83621678eff9628f4e2d52baf82c49f974c36c05cba152db4c131e8e7a64673", "MacAddress": "02:42:ac:12:00:02", "IPv4Address": "172.18.0.2/16", "IPv6Address": "" }, "156849ccd902b812b7d17f05d2d81532ccebe5bf788c9a79de63e12bb92fc621": { "Name": "alpine4", "EndpointID": "058bc6a5e9272b532ef9a6ea6d7f3db4c37527ae2625d1cd1421580fd0731954", "MacAddress": "02:42:ac:12:00:04", "IPv4Address": "172.18.0.4/16", "IPv6Address": "" }, "a535d969081e003a149be8917631215616d9401edcb4d35d53f00e75ea1db653": { "Name": "alpine2", "EndpointID": "198f3141ccf2e7dba67bce358d7b71a07c5488e3867d8b7ad55a4c695ebb8740", "MacAddress": "02:42:ac:12:00:03", "IPv4Address": "172.18.0.3/16", "IPv6Address": "" } }, "Options": {}, "Labels": {} } ]
Containers
alpine1
,alpine2
, andalpine4
are connected to thealpine-net
network. -
On user-defined networks like
alpine-net
, containers can not only communicate by IP address, but can also resolve a container name to an IP address. This capability is called automatic service discovery. Let’s connect toalpine1
and test this out.alpine1
should be able to resolvealpine2
andalpine4
(andalpine1
, itself) to IP addresses.$ docker container attach alpine1 # ping -c 2 alpine2 PING alpine2 (172.18.0.3): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 172.18.0.3: seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.085 ms 64 bytes from 172.18.0.3: seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.090 ms --- alpine2 ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 0.085/0.087/0.090 ms # ping -c 2 alpine4 PING alpine4 (172.18.0.4): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 172.18.0.4: seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.076 ms 64 bytes from 172.18.0.4: seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.091 ms --- alpine4 ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 0.076/0.083/0.091 ms # ping -c 2 alpine1 PING alpine1 (172.18.0.2): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 172.18.0.2: seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.026 ms 64 bytes from 172.18.0.2: seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.054 ms --- alpine1 ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 0.026/0.040/0.054 ms
-
From
alpine1
, you should not be able to connect toalpine3
at all, since it is not on thealpine-net
network.# ping -c 2 alpine3 ping: bad address 'alpine3'
Not only that, but you can’t connect to
alpine3
fromalpine1
by its IP address either. Look back at thedocker network inspect
output for thebridge
network and findalpine3
’s IP address:172.17.0.2
Try to ping it.# ping -c 2 172.17.0.2 PING 172.17.0.2 (172.17.0.2): 56 data bytes --- 172.17.0.2 ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100% packet loss
Detach from
alpine1
using detach sequence,CTRL
+p
CTRL
+q
(hold downCTRL
and typep
followed byq
). -
Remember that
alpine4
is connected to both the defaultbridge
network andalpine-net
. It should be able to reach all of the other containers. However, you will need to addressalpine3
by its IP address. Attach to it and run the tests.$ docker container attach alpine4 # ping -c 2 alpine1 PING alpine1 (172.18.0.2): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 172.18.0.2: seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.074 ms 64 bytes from 172.18.0.2: seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.082 ms --- alpine1 ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 0.074/0.078/0.082 ms # ping -c 2 alpine2 PING alpine2 (172.18.0.3): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 172.18.0.3: seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.075 ms 64 bytes from 172.18.0.3: seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.080 ms --- alpine2 ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 0.075/0.077/0.080 ms # ping -c 2 alpine3 ping: bad address 'alpine3' # ping -c 2 172.17.0.2 PING 172.17.0.2 (172.17.0.2): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 172.17.0.2: seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.089 ms 64 bytes from 172.17.0.2: seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.075 ms --- 172.17.0.2 ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 0.075/0.082/0.089 ms # ping -c 2 alpine4 PING alpine4 (172.18.0.4): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 172.18.0.4: seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.033 ms 64 bytes from 172.18.0.4: seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.064 ms --- alpine4 ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 0.033/0.048/0.064 ms
-
As a final test, make sure your containers can all connect to the internet by pinging
google.com
. You are already attached toalpine4
so start by trying from there. Next, detach fromalpine4
and connect toalpine3
(which is only attached to thebridge
network) and try again. Finally, connect toalpine1
(which is only connected to thealpine-net
network) and try again.# ping -c 2 google.com PING google.com (172.217.3.174): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 172.217.3.174: seq=0 ttl=41 time=9.778 ms 64 bytes from 172.217.3.174: seq=1 ttl=41 time=9.634 ms --- google.com ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 9.634/9.706/9.778 ms CTRL+p CTRL+q $ docker container attach alpine3 # ping -c 2 google.com PING google.com (172.217.3.174): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 172.217.3.174: seq=0 ttl=41 time=9.706 ms 64 bytes from 172.217.3.174: seq=1 ttl=41 time=9.851 ms --- google.com ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 9.706/9.778/9.851 ms CTRL+p CTRL+q $ docker container attach alpine1 # ping -c 2 google.com PING google.com (172.217.3.174): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 172.217.3.174: seq=0 ttl=41 time=9.606 ms 64 bytes from 172.217.3.174: seq=1 ttl=41 time=9.603 ms --- google.com ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 9.603/9.604/9.606 ms CTRL+p CTRL+q
-
Stop and remove all containers and the
alpine-net
network.$ docker container stop alpine1 alpine2 alpine3 alpine4 $ docker container rm alpine1 alpine2 alpine3 alpine4 $ docker network rm alpine-net
Other networking tutorials
Now that you have completed the networking tutorials for standalone containers, you might want to run through these other networking tutorials: