I’ve already read a couple of forum entries that address the network limitations of Docker for Mac. Even the docs state that Docker for Mac is unable to route traffic to containers, and from containers back to the host. But what does that means exactly and what is the reason behind? I’m not interested in workarounds. I’ve already read that I can go “backward” to Docker Toolbox or run docker in docker. My aim is to understand the behaviour.
I have set up a docker image running Apache and MySQL based on Ubuntu. When I start the container with docker run
, I set the -P
option to expose the Apache port (80) and MySQL port (3306) to the host. docker ps
shows that “port forwardings” are established (using some “random” ports > 32767 on the host). Below I assume that 80 is bound to 32777 and port 3306 is bound to 32778.
Afterwards I can successful run curl localhost:32777
. This gives me the start page (index.html) of a fresh Apache 2.4 installation.
I’ve installed MySQL Workbench on my Mac. When I try to establish a TCP connection to localhost 32778, I get an error message “Lost connection to MySQL server at ‘reading initial communication packet’, system error: 0”. I did a debugging session with wireshark to see what’s going on on the network layer (using the loopback interface). I can see a successful start of a TCP communication (SYN → SYN ACK → ACK). But why is it not possible to connect to the MySQL server process running in the Docker container.
I’ve checked that MySQL is properly configured. Running a MySQL client inside the docker container that uses TCP to access the MySQL server (and does not use a socket) works as expected.
To exclude any influences of MySQL Workbench, I’ve tried telnet localhost 32778
which does not work as well. telnet localhost 32777
works as expected.
Can anybody explain why a HTTP connection to the Apache process works, but the TCP communication with the MySQL server does not work. Furthermore, what does the limitation “Docker for Mac is unable to route traffic to containers, and from containers back to the host” means in this context. I’m not sure how to explain the behaviour.
Thanks in advance!
Best,
Sascha