Communication Between Containers in a Custom Bridge Network

Communication Between Containers in a Custom Bridge Network
When working with Docker, containers by default are isolated. However, when containers need to communicate with each other, you can connect them to the same Docker network. A user-defined bridge network provides more control over how Docker containers communicate compared to the default bridge network. This guide will walk you through setting up a custom bridge network, launching multiple Nginx containers on that network, and verifying communication between them.

Why Use a User-Defined Bridge Network?
By default, Docker containers can communicate over a built-in network called the "default bridge network." However, using a user-defined bridge network provides the following benefits:

1. Name resolution: Containers connected to the same network can communicate by their container names, making it easier to manage multi-container setups.

Isolated environment: Containers on a user-defined network are isolated from others unless explicitly connected to other networks.

Security: You can control which containers can communicate by connecting them only to specific networks.

Now, let's move on to creating the network and launching our containers.

Creating the User-Defined Bridge Network
The first step is to create a custom bridge network. Docker allows you to create networks of different types, such as bridge, overlay, and host. Here, we'll use the bridge driver, which is the default type for local container communication on a single host.

Run the following command to create the network:

docker network create --driver bridge my-bridge-network

This command creates a bridge network named my-bridge-network. You can inspect the network details using the command below:

docker network inspect my-bridge-network

This will give you detailed information about the network, including its subnet, gateway, and connected containers.

Verifying Network Creation
You can list all existing Docker networks by running:

docker network ls

Expected Output:

The newly created my-bridge-network should appear in the list, showing that it uses the bridge driver.

Launching Containers and Connecting to the Network
In this section, we'll launch three containers (container1, container2, and container3), each running the Nginx web server, and connect them to our user-defined network.

Launching Container 1
We use the following command to launch container1, and immediately connect it to the my-bridge-network network:

docker run -d --name container1 --network=my-bridge-network nginx

This will run the Nginx web server in the background (-d) and assign the name container1 to the instance.

Launching Container 2
Similarly, to launch container2, use:

docker run -d --name container2 --network=my-bridge-network nginx

Launching Container 3
Finally, to launch container3, use:

docker run -d --name container3 --network=my-bridge-network nginx

With all three containers running, they are now connected to the same network, my-bridge-network. This enables them to communicate directly with one another.

Verifying Container Status
To check the status of the running containers, use the command:

docker ps

Expected output:

Here, you'll see the list of running containers along with their names, statuses, and other details like port mappings. The containers container1, container2, and container3 should be listed as running, confirming that Nginx is operational inside each container.

Verifying Communication Between Containers
Now that the containers are up and running, let's check if they can communicate with each other using their container names.

Accessing the Shell of Container 1
First, we'll access the shell of container1 to ping the other containers. Run:

docker exec -it container1 /bin/bash

This opens an interactive shell session inside container1. From this session, we can try pinging the other containers by their names.

Pinging Container 2 from Container 1
To test connectivity from container1 to container2, run:

apt update && apt install -y iputils-ping
ping container2 -c 5

This command will send 5 ICMP echo requests to container2. A successful ping will indicate that container1 can communicate with container2.

Expected Output:

Pinging Container 3 from Container 1
Next, try pinging container3 from container1:

ping container3 -c 5

Expected Output:

The successful responses confirm that container1 can reach both container2 and container3 within the custom network.

Accessing the Shell of Container 2
We can repeat the process from another container. Access the shell of container2 by running:

docker exec -it container2 /bin/bash

Once inside the shell, you can ping container1 and container3.
Pinging Container 1 from Container 2

apt update && apt install -y iputils-ping
ping container1 -c 5

Expected Output:

Pinging Container 3 from Container 2

ping container3 -c 5

Expected Output:

These tests confirm that all the containers can communicate with each other over the custom bridge network.

Conclusion
By following these steps, we successfully created a user-defined bridge network and launched multiple Nginx containers connected to the network. We verified that they can communicate with each other by pinging container names. This demonstrates how Docker networking facilitates smooth communication between containerized applications, making it easier to manage interconnected services.