Connect from one Docker container to the other one - docker

I am running a Java app inside a Docker container which is supposed to connect MySQL inside the other container. Trying multiple options suggested in the forms, nothing really works. Here is my Docker Compose file:
version: "3"
services:
app:
build:
context: ./
dockerfile: /src/main/docker/Dockerfile
image: app1
environment:
- DB_HOST=Imrans-MacBook-Pro.local
- DB_PORT=3306
ports:
- 8080:8080
networks:
- backend
depends_on:
- mysql
mysql:
image: mysql:5.7.20
hostname: mysql
environment:
- MYSQL_USER=root
- MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD=yes
- MYSQL_DATABASE=app1
ports:
- 3306:3306
command: mysqld --lower_case_table_names=1 --skip-ssl --character_set_server=utf8 --explicit_defaults_for_timestamp
networks:
- backend
networks:
backend:
driver: bridge
Where DB_HOST=Imrans-MacBook-Pro.local is my laptop's name. This did not work. Some suggest that the container name can be used so tried DB_HOST= mysql, never worked.
The only thing works from times to time when I pass the laptop's IP address, which is not I want to do. So, what is a good way to create communication between those containers?

The mysql is running in the container so there are two things that you should consider here:
If the mysql is running in the container then you will need to link the app container to the mysql container. This will allow them to talk to
each other using docker's inter container communication. The containers talk to each other using hostnames to resolve their respective internal IP addresses. See later in my answer I will show you how to get the two containers to communicate with each other using a compose file.
The mysql container should make use of a docker volume to store the database. This will allow you to store the database and related files on the file system of the host (server or machine where the containers are running on). The docker volume will then be mounted as a directory in the container. Thus the container can now read and write to a directory on the machine where the docker containers are running on. This means that even if the containers are all deleted or removed you will still have the database data persist. Here is a nice beginner friendly article on docker volumes and using them with MySQL:
https://severalnines.com/blog/mysql-docker-containers-understanding-basics
Container communication using only docker without compose:
You have container "app" and "mysql", you want to be able to access "app" on localhost and you want "app" to be able to connect to mysql. How are you gonna do this?
1. You need to expose a port for container "app" so we can access it on localhost. The docker containers have their own internal network and it is closed to you unless you expose some ports with docker.
You need to link the "mysql" container to "app" without exposing "mysql" 's ports to the rest of the world.
This config should work for what you want to achieve:
version: "2"
services:
app:
build:
context: ./
dockerfile: /src/main/docker/Dockerfile
image: app1:latest
links:
- mysql
environment:
- DB_HOST=mysql
# This is the hostname that app will reach the mysql container on.
# If you do with app container:
# docker exec -it <app container id> bash
# # apt-get update -y && apt-get install iputils-ping -y
#
# Then you should be able to ping mysql container with:
#
# # ping -c 2 mysql
- DB_PORT=3306
ports:
- 8080:8080
# You will access "app" on localhost:8080 in your browser. If this is running on your own machine.
mysql: #hostname actually gets set here so no need to set it later
image: mysql:5.7.20
environment:
- MYSQL_USER=root
- MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD=yes
- MYSQL_DATABASE=app1
# Remember to use a volume if you would like this container's data to persist or if you would like
# to restore a database backup.
command: mysqld --lower_case_table_names=1 --skip-ssl --character_set_server=utf8 --explicit_defaults_for_timestamp
Now you can just start it up with:
$ docker-compose up
If you ran this before then just make sure to run this first before running docker-compose up:
$ docker-compose down
Let me know if that helps.

I have, in the past, gotten this to work without explicitly setting the host networking part in Docker Compose. Because Docker images inside a Docker Compose File are put into a Docker Network with each other, you really shouldn't have to do anything to get this to work: by default you should be able to attach into the container for your Spring app and be able to ping mysql and have it work out.

DB host should be localhost or 127.0.0.1

Related

Why is that I am able to access container outside the bridge network?

I started mysqldb from a docker container . I was surprised that I could connect it via the localhost using the below command
mysql -uroot -proot -P3306 -h localhost
I thought the docker containers that start on the bridge network and wont be available outside that network. How is that mysql CLI is able to connect to this instance
Below is my docker compose that runs the mysqldb-docker instance
version: '3.8'
services:
mysqldb-docker:
image: 'mysql:8.0.27'
restart: 'unless-stopped'
ports:
- "3306:3306"
environment:
- MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=root
- MYSQL_PASSWORD=root
- MYSQL_DATABASE=reco-tracker-dev
volumes:
- mysqldb:/var/lib/mysql
reco-tracker-docker:
image: 'reco-tracker-docker:v1'
ports:
- "8083:8083"
environment:
- SPRING_DATASOURCE_USERNAME=root
- SPRING_DATASOURCE_PASSWORD=root
- SPRING_DATASOURCE_URL="jdbc:mysql://mysqldb-docker:3306/reco-tracker-dev"
depends_on: [mysqldb-docker]
env_file:
- ./.env
volumes:
mysqldb:
You have published the port(s). That means you can reach them on the host system on the published port.
By default, when you create or run a container using docker create or docker run, it does not publish any of its ports to the outside world. To make a port available to services outside of Docker, or to Docker containers which are not connected to the container’s network, use the --publish or -p flag. This creates a firewall rule which maps a container port to a port on the Docker host to the outside world.
The critical section in your config is the below. You have added a ports key to your service. This is composes way to publish ports. The left part is the port where you publish it to on the host system. The right part is where the container actually listens on.
ports:
- "3306:3306"
Also keep in mind that when you start compose, a default network is created that joins all container in the compose stack. That's why These containers can find each other, with the service name and/or container name as hostname.
You don't need to publish the port(s) like you did in order for them to be able to communicate. I guess that's why you did it. You can and probably should remove any port mapping from internal services, if possible. This will add extra security to your setup, because then it behaves like you describe. Only containers in the same network find each other.

How to reference Docker container in ConnectionString

I have 2 docker images, one for my backend and one for a mock database. I want to spin up these two images separately and link the backend to the database. To do this I have a connection string in my backend like so Data Source=192.168.99.100;Catalog=DB name;Integrated Security=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=True"; where 192.168.99.100 is the IP of my default Docker machine where the database container is running. So on my Windows machine this works perfectly and the backend container can communicate with the database which is running on another container. However, when some of my colleagues who use Mac and Linux use the same images they can't get the link to work because they obviously don't have the same IP for their Docker machine.
Is there any way to reference the database in the connection string so that it is the same no matter where it is running? For example use the name of the database container, instead of the IP or something similar?
You can also do this using plain docker. Basically you just need to create a bridge network, and then attach both containers to it.
Eg:
docker network create --driver=bridge mynetwork
docker run --network=mynetwork --name mydb mydb:latest
docker run --network=mynetwork --name myapp myapp:latest
Then inside the myapp container you can reference the database container using the hostname mydb (same as with docker-compose). You can still expose ports in the myapp container to your host using -p 3000:3000, etc
Further reading: https://docs.docker.com/network/bridge/
You can use docker-compose services to achieve what you are looking for. Here is a simplified example docker-compose.yml file:
version: "3.5"
services:
db:
container_name: mock_db
restart: "no"
build: ./mock_db
expose:
- 5432 (or whatever your port is)
env_file: .env
command: your-command
server:
container_name: my_server
build: ./server
env_file: .env
ports:
- "8443:8443"
command: your-command
You can then reference the service name (in this case db) as the ip/url part of your connection string.
You can read more about docker-compose configuration options here

Dynamically add docker container ip in Dockerfile ( redis)

How do I dynamically add container ip in other Dockerfile ( I am running two container a) Redis b) java application .
I need to pass redis url on run time to my java arguments
Currently I am manually checking the redis ip and copying it in Dockerfile. and later creating new image using redis ip for java application.
docker run --name my-redis -d redis
docker inspect -f '{{range .NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.IPAddress}}{{end}}' my-redis
IN Dockerfile (java application)
CMD ["-Dspring.redis.host=172.17.0.2", "-jar", "/apps/some-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar"]
Can I use any script to update the DockerFile or can use any environment variable.
you can assign a static ip address to your dokcer container when you run it, following the steps:
1 - create custom network:
docker network create --subnet=172.17.0.0/16 redis-net
2 - run the redis container to use the specified network, and assign the ip address:
docker run --net redis-net --ip 172.17.0.2 --name my-redis -d redis
by then you have the static ip address 172.17.0.2 for my-redis container, you don't need to inspect it anymore.
3 - now it is possible to run the java appication container but it must use the same network:
docker run --net redis-net my-java-app
of course you can optimize the solution, by using env variables or whatever you find convenient to your setup.
More infos can be found in the official docs (search for --ip):
docker run
docker network
Edit (add docker-compose):
I just find out that it is also possible to assign static ips using docker-compose, and this answer gives an example how.
This is a similar example just in case:
version: '3'
services:
redis:
container_name: redis
image: redis:latest
restart: always
networks:
vpcbr:
ipv4_address: 172.17.0.2
java-app:
container_name: java-app
build: <path to Dockerfile>
networks:
vpcbr:
ipv4_address: 172.17.0.3
depends_on:
- redis
networks:
vpcbr:
driver: bridge
ipam:
config:
- subnet: 172.17.0.0/16
gateway: 172.17.0.1
official docs: https://docs.docker.com/compose/networking/
hope this helps you find your way.
You should add your containers in the same network . Then at runtime you can use that name to refer to the container with its name. Container's name is the host name in the network. Thus at runtime it will be resolved as container's ip address.
Follow these steps:
First, create a network for the containers:
docker network create my-network
Start redis: docker run -d --network=my-network --name=redis redis
Edit java application's Dockerfile, replace -Dspring.redis.host=172.17.0.2" with -Dspring.redis.host=redis" and build again.
Finally start java application container: docker run -it --network=my-network your_image. Optionally you can define a name for the container, but it is not required as you do not access java application's container from redis container.
Alternatively you can use a docker-compose file. By default docker-compose creates a network for running services. I am not aware of your full setup, so I will provide a sample docker-compose.yml that illustrates the main concept.
version: "3.7"
services:
redis:
image: redis
java_app_image:
image: your_image_name
In both ways, you are able to access redis container from java application dynamically using container's hostname instead of providing a static ip.

how to connect my docker container (frontend) connect to a containerized database running on a different VM

Unable to connect to containers running on separate docker hosts
I've got 2 docker Tomcat containers running on 2 different Ubuntu vm's. System-A has a webservice running and System-B has a db. I haven't been able to figure out how to connect the application running on system-A to the db running on system-B. When I run the database on system-A, the application(which is also running on system-A) can connect to the database. I'm using docker-compose to setup the network(which works fine when both containers are running on the same VM). I've execd into etc/hosts file in the application container on system-A and I think whats missing is the ip address of System-B.
services:
db:
image: mydb
hostname: mydbName
ports:
- "8012: 8012"
networks:
data:
aliases:
- mydbName
api:
image: myApi
hostname: myApiName
ports:
- "8810: 8810"
networks:
data:
networks:
data:
You would configure this exactly the same way you would as if Docker wasn't involved: configure the Tomcat instance with the DNS name or IP address of the other server. You would need to make sure the service is published outside of Docker space using a ports: directive.
On server-a.example.com you could run this docker-compose.yml file:
version: '3'
services:
api:
image: myApi
ports:
- "8810:8810"
env:
DATABASE_URL: "http://server-b.example.com:8012"
And on server-b.example.com:
version: '3'
services:
db:
image: mydb
ports:
- "8012:8012"
In principle it would be possible to set up an overlay network connecting the two hosts, but this is a significantly more complicated setup.
(You definitely don't want to use docker exec to modify /etc/hosts in a container: you'll have to repeat this step every time you delete and recreate the container, and manually maintaining hosts files is tedious and error-prone, particularly if you're moving containers between hosts. Consul could work as a service-discovery system that provides a DNS service.)

Service access another service on 127.0.0.1?

I'd like my web Docker container to access Redis on 127.0.0.1:6379 from within the web container. I've setup my Docker Compose file as the following. I get ECONNREFUSED though:
version: "3"
services:
web:
build: .
ports:
- 8080:8080
command: ["test"]
links:
- redis:127.0.0.1
redis:
image: redis:alpine
ports:
- 6379
Any ideas?
The short answer to this is "don't". Docker containers each get their own loopback interface, 127.0.0.1, that is separate from the host loopback and from that of other containers. You can't redefine 127.0.0.1, and if you could, that would almost certainly break other things.
There is a technically possible way to do it by either running all containers directly on the host, with:
network_mode: "host"
However, that removes the docker network isolation that you'll want with containers.
You can also attach one container to the network of another container (so they have the same loopback interface) with:
docker run --net container:$container_id ...
but I'm not sure if there's a syntax to do this in docker-compose and it's not available in swarm mode since containers may run on different nodes. The main use I've had for this syntax is attach network debugging tools like nicolaka/netshoot.
What you should do instead is make the location of the redis database a configuration parameter to your webapp container. Pass the location in as an environment variable, config file, or command line parameter. If the web app can't support this directly, update the configuration with an entrypoint script that runs before you start your web app. This would change your compose yml file to look like:
version: "3"
services:
web:
# you should include an image name
image: your_webapp_image_name
build: .
ports:
- 8080:8080
command: ["test"]
environment:
- REDIS_URL=redis:6379
# no need to link, it's deprecated, use dns and the network docker creates
#links:
# - redis:127.0.0.1
redis:
image: redis:alpine
# no need to publish the port if you don't need external access
#ports:
# - 6379

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