---
description: How do we connect docker containers within and across hosts ?
keywords: network, networking, iptables, user-defined networks, bridge, firewall, ports
redirect_from:
- /engine/userguide/networking/dockernetworks/
- /articles/networking/
title: Docker container networking
---

This section provides an overview of Docker's default networking behavior,
including the type of networks created by default and how to create your own
user-defined networks. It also describes the resources required to create
networks on a single host or across a cluster of hosts.

For details about how Docker interacts with `iptables` on Linux hosts, see
[Docker and `iptables`](#docker-and-iptables).

## Default networks

When you install Docker, it creates three networks automatically. You can list
these networks using the `docker network ls` command:

```
$ docker network ls

NETWORK ID          NAME                DRIVER
7fca4eb8c647        bridge              bridge
9f904ee27bf5        none                null
cf03ee007fb4        host                host
```

These three networks are built into Docker. When
you run a container, you can use the `--network` flag to specify which networks
your container should connect to.

The `bridge` network represents the `docker0` network present in all Docker
installations. Unless you specify otherwise with the `docker run
--network=<NETWORK>` option, the Docker daemon connects containers to this
network by default. You can see this bridge as part of a host's network stack by
using the `ip addr show` command (or short form, `ip a`) on the host. (The
`ifconfig` command is deprecated. It may also work or give you a `command not
found` error, depending on your system.)

```bash
$ ip addr show

docker0   Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 02:42:47:bc:3a:eb
          inet addr:172.17.0.1  Bcast:0.0.0.0  Mask:255.255.0.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::42:47ff:febc:3aeb/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:9001  Metric:1
          RX packets:17 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:1100 (1.1 KB)  TX bytes:648 (648.0 B)
```

> Running on Docker for Mac or Docker for Windows?
>
> If you are using Docker for Mac (or running Linux containers on Docker for Windows), the
`docker network ls` command will work as described above, but the
`ip addr show` and `ifconfig` commands may be present, but will give you information about
the IP addresses for your local host, not Docker container networks.
This is because Docker uses network interfaces running inside a thin VM,
instead of on the host machine itself.
>
> To use the `ip addr show` or `ifconfig` commands to browse Docker
networks, log on to a [Docker machine](/machine/overview.md) such as a
local VM or on a cloud provider like a
[Docker machine on AWS](/machine/examples/aws.md) or a
[Docker machine on Digital Ocean](/machine/examples/ocean.md).
You can use `docker-machine ssh <machine-name>` to log on to your
local or cloud hosted machines, or a direct `ssh` as described
on the cloud provider site.

The `none` network adds a container to a container-specific network stack. That
container lacks a network interface. Attaching to such a container and looking
at its stack you see this:

```bash
$ docker attach nonenetcontainer

root@0cb243cd1293:/# cat /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1	localhost
::1	localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0	ip6-localnet
ff00::0	ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1	ip6-allnodes
ff02::2	ip6-allrouters
root@0cb243cd1293:/# ifconfig
lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

root@0cb243cd1293:/#
```

>**Note**: You can detach from the container and leave it running with `CTRL-p CTRL-q`.

The `host` network adds a container on the host's network stack. As far as the
network is concerned, there is no isolation between the host machine and the
container. For instance, if you run a container that runs a web server on port
80 using host networking, the web server is available on port 80 of the host
machine.

The `none` and `host` networks are not directly configurable in Docker.
However, you can configure the default `bridge` network, as well as your own
user-defined bridge networks.


### The default bridge network

The default `bridge` network is present on all Docker hosts. If you do not
specify a different network, new containers are automatically connected to the
default `bridge` network.

The `docker network inspect` command returns information about a network:

```none
$ docker network inspect bridge

[
   {
       "Name": "bridge",
       "Id": "f7ab26d71dbd6f557852c7156ae0574bbf62c42f539b50c8ebde0f728a253b6f",
       "Scope": "local",
       "Driver": "bridge",
       "IPAM": {
           "Driver": "default",
           "Config": [
               {
                   "Subnet": "172.17.0.1/16",
                   "Gateway": "172.17.0.1"
               }
           ]
       },
       "Containers": {},
       "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": "9001"
       },
       "Labels": {}
   }
]
```

Run the following two commands to start two `busybox` containers, which are each
connected to the default `bridge` network.

```bash
$ docker run -itd --name=container1 busybox

3386a527aa08b37ea9232cbcace2d2458d49f44bb05a6b775fba7ddd40d8f92c

$ docker run -itd --name=container2 busybox

94447ca479852d29aeddca75c28f7104df3c3196d7b6d83061879e339946805c
```

Inspect the `bridge` network again after starting two containers. Both of the
`busybox` containers are connected to the network. Make note of their IP
addresses, which will be different on your host machine than in the example
below.

```none
$ docker network inspect bridge

{[
    {
        "Name": "bridge",
        "Id": "f7ab26d71dbd6f557852c7156ae0574bbf62c42f539b50c8ebde0f728a253b6f",
        "Scope": "local",
        "Driver": "bridge",
        "IPAM": {
            "Driver": "default",
            "Config": [
                {
                    "Subnet": "172.17.0.1/16",
                    "Gateway": "172.17.0.1"
                }
            ]
        },
        "Containers": {
            "3386a527aa08b37ea9232cbcace2d2458d49f44bb05a6b775fba7ddd40d8f92c": {
                "EndpointID": "647c12443e91faf0fd508b6edfe59c30b642abb60dfab890b4bdccee38750bc1",
                "MacAddress": "02:42:ac:11:00:02",
                "IPv4Address": "172.17.0.2/16",
                "IPv6Address": ""
            },
            "94447ca479852d29aeddca75c28f7104df3c3196d7b6d83061879e339946805c": {
                "EndpointID": "b047d090f446ac49747d3c37d63e4307be745876db7f0ceef7b311cbba615f48",
                "MacAddress": "02:42:ac:11:00:03",
                "IPv4Address": "172.17.0.3/16",
                "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": "9001"
        },
        "Labels": {}
    }
]
```

Containers connected to the default `bridge` network can communicate with each
other by IP address. **Docker does not support automatic service discovery on the
default bridge network. If you want containers to be able to resolve IP addresses
by container name, you should use _user-defined networks_ instead**. You can link
two containers together using the legacy `docker run --link` option, but this
is not recommended in most cases.

You can `attach` to a running `container` to see how the network looks from
inside the container. You are connected as `root`, so your command prompt is
a `#` character.

```none
$ docker attach container1

root@3386a527aa08:/# ifconfig

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 02:42:AC:11:00:02
          inet addr:172.17.0.2  Bcast:0.0.0.0  Mask:255.255.0.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::42:acff:fe11:2/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:9001  Metric:1
          RX packets:16 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:1296 (1.2 KiB)  TX bytes:648 (648.0 B)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
```

From inside the container, use the `ping` command to test the network connection
to the IP address of the other container.

```none
root@3386a527aa08:/# ping -w3 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=0.096 ms
64 bytes from 172.17.0.3: seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.080 ms
64 bytes from 172.17.0.3: seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.074 ms

--- 172.17.0.3 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 0.074/0.083/0.096 ms
```

Use the `cat` command to view the `/etc/hosts` file on the container. This shows
the hostnames and IP addresses the container recognizes.

```
root@3386a527aa08:/# cat /etc/hosts

172.17.0.2	3386a527aa08
127.0.0.1	localhost
::1	localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0	ip6-localnet
ff00::0	ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1	ip6-allnodes
ff02::2	ip6-allrouters
```

To detach from the `container1` container and leave it running, use the keyboard
sequence **CTRL-p CTRL-q**. If you wish, attach to `container2` and repeat the
commands above.

The default `docker0` bridge network supports the use of port mapping and
`docker run --link` to allow communications among containers in the `docker0`
network. This approach is not recommended. Where possible, you should use
[user-defined bridge networks](#user-defined-networks) instead.

## User-defined networks

It is recommended to use user-defined bridge networks to control which
containers can communicate with each other, and also to enable automatic DNS
resolution of container names to IP addresses. Docker provides default **network
drivers** for creating these networks. You can create a new **bridge network**,
**overlay network** or **MACVLAN network**. You can also create a **network
plugin** or **remote network** for complete customization and control.

You can create as many networks as you need, and you can connect a container to
zero or more of these networks at any given time. In addition, you can connect
and disconnect running containers from networks without restarting the
container. When a container is connected to multiple networks, its external
connectivity is provided via the first non-internal network, in lexical order.

The next few sections describe each of Docker's built-in network drivers in
greater detail.

### Bridge networks

A `bridge` network is the most common type of network used in Docker. Bridge
networks are similar to the default `bridge` network, but add some new features
and remove some old abilities. The following examples create some bridge
networks and perform some experiments on containers on these networks.

```none
$ docker network create --driver bridge isolated_nw

1196a4c5af43a21ae38ef34515b6af19236a3fc48122cf585e3f3054d509679b

$ docker network inspect isolated_nw

[
    {
        "Name": "isolated_nw",
        "Id": "1196a4c5af43a21ae38ef34515b6af19236a3fc48122cf585e3f3054d509679b",
        "Scope": "local",
        "Driver": "bridge",
        "IPAM": {
            "Driver": "default",
            "Config": [
                {
                    "Subnet": "172.21.0.0/16",
                    "Gateway": "172.21.0.1/16"
                }
            ]
        },
        "Containers": {},
        "Options": {},
        "Labels": {}
    }
]

$ docker network ls

NETWORK ID          NAME                DRIVER
9f904ee27bf5        none                null
cf03ee007fb4        host                host
7fca4eb8c647        bridge              bridge
c5ee82f76de3        isolated_nw         bridge

```

After you create the network, you can launch containers on it using the
`docker run --network=<NETWORK>` option.

```none
$ docker run --network=isolated_nw -itd --name=container3 busybox

8c1a0a5be480921d669a073393ade66a3fc49933f08bcc5515b37b8144f6d47c

$ docker network inspect isolated_nw
[
    {
        "Name": "isolated_nw",
        "Id": "1196a4c5af43a21ae38ef34515b6af19236a3fc48122cf585e3f3054d509679b",
        "Scope": "local",
        "Driver": "bridge",
        "IPAM": {
            "Driver": "default",
            "Config": [
                {}
            ]
        },
        "Containers": {
            "8c1a0a5be480921d669a073393ade66a3fc49933f08bcc5515b37b8144f6d47c": {
                "EndpointID": "93b2db4a9b9a997beb912d28bcfc117f7b0eb924ff91d48cfa251d473e6a9b08",
                "MacAddress": "02:42:ac:15:00:02",
                "IPv4Address": "172.21.0.2/16",
                "IPv6Address": ""
            }
        },
        "Options": {},
        "Labels": {}
    }
]
```

The containers you launch into this network must reside on the same Docker host.
Each container in the network can immediately communicate with other containers
in the network. Though, the network itself isolates the containers from external
networks.

![An isolated network](images/bridge_network.png)

Within a user-defined bridge network, linking is not supported. You can
[expose and publish container ports](#exposing-and-publishing-ports) on
containers in this network. This is useful if you want to make a portion of the
`bridge` network available to an outside network.

![Bridge network](images/network_access.png)

A bridge network is useful in cases where you want to run a relatively small
network on a single host. You can, however, create significantly larger networks
by creating an `overlay` network.

### The `docker_gwbridge` network

The `docker_gwbridge` is a local bridge network which is automatically created by Docker
in two different circumstances:

- When you initialize or join a swarm, Docker creates the `docker_gwbridge` network and
  uses it for communication among swarm nodes on different hosts.

- When none of a container's networks can provide external connectivity, Docker connects
  the container to the `docker_gwbridge` network in addition to the container's other
  networks, so that the container can connect to external networks or other swarm nodes.

You can create the `docker_gwbridge` network ahead of time if you need a custom configuration,
but otherwise Docker creates it on demand. The following example creates the `docker_gwbridge`
network with some custom options.

```bash
$ docker network create --subnet 172.30.0.0/16 \
                        --opt com.docker.network.bridge.name=docker_gwbridge \
			--opt com.docker.network.bridge.enable_icc=false \
			docker_gwbridge
```

The `docker_gwbridge` network is always present when you use `overlay` networks.

### Overlay networks in swarm mode

You can create an overlay network on a manager node running in swarm mode
without an external key-value store. The swarm makes the overlay network
available only to nodes in the swarm that require it for a service. When you
create a service that uses the overlay network, the manager node automatically
extends the overlay network to nodes that run service tasks.

To learn more about running Docker Engine in swarm mode, refer to the
[Swarm mode overview](../../swarm/index.md).

The example below shows how to create a network and use it for a service from a
manager node in the swarm:

```bash.
$ docker network create \
  --driver overlay \
  --subnet 10.0.9.0/24 \
  my-multi-host-network

400g6bwzd68jizzdx5pgyoe95

$ docker service create --replicas 2 --network my-multi-host-network --name my-web nginx

716thylsndqma81j6kkkb5aus
```

Only swarm services can connect to overlay networks, not standalone containers.
For more information about swarms, see
[Docker swarm mode overlay network security model](overlay-security-model.md) and
[Attach services to an overlay network](../../swarm/networking.md).

### An overlay network without swarm mode

If you are not using Docker Engine in swarm mode, the `overlay` network requires
a valid key-value store service. Supported key-value stores include Consul,
Etcd, and ZooKeeper (Distributed store). Before creating a network in this way,
you must install and configure your chosen key-value store service. The Docker
hosts that you intend to network and the service must be able to communicate.

> **Note**: Docker Engine running in swarm mode is not compatible with networking
> with an external key-value store.

This way of using overlay networks is not recommended for most Docker users. It
can be used with standalone swarms and may be useful to system developers
building solutions on top of Docker. It may be deprecated in the future. If you
think you may need to use overlay networks in this way, see
[this guide](get-started-overlay.md).

### Custom network plugins

If your needs are not addressed by any of the above network mechanisms, you can
write your own network driver plugin, using Docker's plugin infrastructure.
The plugin will run as a separate process on the host which runs the Docker
daemon. Using network plugins is an advanced topic.

Network plugins follow the same restrictions and installation rules as other
plugins. All plugins use the plugin API, and have a lifecycle that encompasses
installation, starting, stopping, and activation.

Once you have created and installed a custom network driver, you can create
a network which uses that driver with the `--driver` flag.

```bash
$ docker network create --driver weave mynet
```

You can inspect the network, connect and disconnect containers from it, and
remove it. A specific plugin may have specific requirements in order to be
used. Check that plugin's documentation for specific information. For more
information on writing plugins, see
[Extending Docker](../../extend/legacy_plugins.md) and
[Writing a network driver plugin](../../extend/plugins_network.md).

### Embedded DNS server

Docker daemon runs an embedded DNS server which provides DNS resolution among
containers connected to the same user-defined network, so that these containers
can resolve container names to IP addresses. If the embedded DNS server is
unable to resolve the request, it will be forwarded to any external DNS servers
configured for the container. To facilitate this when the container is created,
only the embedded DNS server reachable at `127.0.0.11` will be listed in the
container's `resolv.conf` file. For more information on embedded DNS server on
user-defined networks, see
[embedded DNS server in user-defined networks](configure-dns.md)

## Exposing and publishing ports

In Docker networking, there are two different mechanisms that directly involve
network ports: exposing and publishing ports. This applies to the default bridge
network and user-defined bridge networks.

- You expose ports using the `EXPOSE` keyword in the Dockerfile or the
  `--expose` flag to `docker run`. Exposing ports is a way of documenting which
  ports are used, but does not actually map or open any ports. Exposing ports
  is optional.
- You publish ports using the `PUBLISH` keyword in the Dockerfile or the
  `--publish` flag to `docker run`. This tells Docker which ports to open on the
  container's network interface. When a port is published, it is mapped to an
  available high-order port (higher than `30000`) on the host machine, unless
  you specify the port to map to on the host machine at runtime. You cannot
  specify the port to map to on the host machine in the Dockerfile, because
  there is no way to guarantee that the port will be available on the host
  machine where you run the image.

  This example publishes port 80 in the container to a random high
  port (in this case, `32768`) on the host machine. The `-d` flag causes the
  container to run in the background so you can issue the `docker ps`
  command.

  ```bash
  $ docker run -it -d -p 80 nginx

  $ docker ps

  64879472feea        nginx               "nginx -g 'daemon ..."   43 hours ago        Up About a minute   443/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32768->80/tcp   blissful_mclean

  ```

  The next example specifies that port 80 should be mapped to port 8080 on the
  host machine. It will fail if port 8080 is not available.

  ```bash
  $ docker run -it -d -p 8080:80 nginx

  $ docker ps

  b9788c7adca3        nginx               "nginx -g 'daemon ..."   43 hours ago        Up 3 seconds        80/tcp, 443/tcp, 0.0.0.0:8080->80/tcp   goofy_brahmagupta
  ```

## Use a proxy server with containers

If your container needs to use an HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP proxy server, you can
configure it in different ways:

- In Docker 17.07 and higher, you can configure the Docker client to pass
  proxy information to containers automatically.

- In Docker 17.06 and lower, you must set appropriate environment variables
  within the container. You can do this when you build the image (which makes
  the image less portable) or when you create or run the container.

### Configure the Docker Client

{% include edge_only.md section="option" %}

1.  On the Docker client, create or edit the file `~/.config.json` in the
    home directory of the user which starts containers. Add JSON such as the
    following, substituting the type of proxy with `httpsproxy` or `ftpproxy` if
    necessary, and substituting the address and port of the proxy server. You
    can configure multiple proxy servers at the same time.

    You can optionally exclude hosts or ranges from going through the proxy
    server by setting a `noProxy` key to one or more comma-separated IP
    addresses or hosts. Using the `*` character as a wildcard is supported, as
    shown in this example.

    ```json
    {
      "proxies":
      {
        "httpProxy": "http://127.0.0.1:3001",
        "noProxy": "*.test.example.com,.example2.com"
      }
    }
    ```

    Save the file.

2.  When you create or start new containers, the environment variables will be
    set automatically within the container.

### Set the environment variables manually

When you build the image, or using the `--env` flag when you create or run the
container, you can set one or more of the following variables to the appropriate
value. This method makes the image less portable, so if you have Docker 17.07
or higher, you should [configure the Docker client](#configure-the-docker-client)
instead.

| Variable      | Dockerfile example                               | `docker run` Example                                |
|:--------------|:-------------------------------------------------|:----------------------------------------------------|
| `HTTP_PROXY`  | `ENV HTTP_PROXY "http://127.0.0.1:3001"`         | `--env HTTP_PROXY "http://127.0.0.1:3001"`          |
| `HTTPS_PROXY` | `ENV HTTPS_PROXY "https://127.0.0.1:3001"`       | `--env HTTPS_PROXY "https://127.0.0.1:3001"`        |
| `FTP_PROXY`   | `ENV FTP_PROXY "ftp://127.0.0.1:3001"`           | `--env FTP_PROXY "ftp://127.0.0.1:3001"`            |
| `NO_PROXY`    | `ENV NO_PROXY "*.test.example.com,.example2.com" | `--env NO_PROXY "*.test.example.com,.example2.com"` |

## Links

Before Docker included user-defined networks, you could use the Docker `--link`
feature to allow a container to resolve another container's name to an IP
address, and also give it access to the linked container's environment variables.
Where possible, you should avoid using the legacy `--link` flag.

When you create links, they behave differently when you use the default `bridge`
network or when you use user-defined bridge networks. For more information,
see [Legacy Links](default_network/dockerlinks.md) for link feature
in default `bridge` network and the
[linking containers in user-defined networks](work-with-networks.md#linking-containers-in-user-defined-networks)
for links functionality in user-defined networks.

## Docker and iptables

Linux hosts use a kernel module called `iptables` to manage access to network
devices, including routing, port forwarding, network address translation (NAT),
and other concerns. Docker modifies `iptables` rules when you start or stop
containers which publish ports, when you create or modify networks or attach
containers to them, or for other network-related operations.

Full discussion of `iptables` is out of scope for this topic. To see which
`iptables` rules are in effect at any time, you can use `iptables -L`. Multiple
tables exist, and you can list a specific table, such as `nat`, `prerouting`, or
`postrouting`, using a command such as `iptables -t nat -L`. For full
documentation about `iptables`, see
[netfilter/iptables](https://netfilter.org/documentation/){: target="_blank" class="_" }.

Typically, `iptables` rules are created by an initialization script or a daemon
process such as `firewalld`. The rules do not persist across a system reboot, so
the script or utility must run when the system boots, typically at run-level 3
or directly after the network is initialized. Consult the networking
documentation for your Linux distribution for suggestions about the appropriate
way to make `iptables` rules persistent.

Docker dynamically manages `iptables` rules for the daemon, as well as your
containers, services, and networks. In Docker 17.06 and higher, you can add
rules to a new table called `DOCKER-USER`, and these rules will be loaded before
any rules Docker creates automatically. This can be useful if you need to
pre-populate `iptables` rules that need to be in place before Docker runs.

## Related information

- [Work with network commands](work-with-networks.md)
- [Get started with multi-host networking](get-started-overlay.md)
- [Managing Data in Containers](../../tutorials/dockervolumes.md)
- [Docker Machine overview](/machine)
- [Docker Swarm overview](/swarm)
- [Investigate the LibNetwork project](https://github.com/docker/libnetwork)
