NAME¶

docker-network-create - Create a network

SYNOPSIS¶

docker network create [OPTIONS] NETWORK

DESCRIPTION¶

Creates a new network. The DRIVER accepts bridge or overlay which are the built-in network drivers. If you have installed a third party or your own custom network driver you can specify that DRIVER here also. If you don't specify the --driver option, the command automatically creates a bridge network for you. When you install Docker Engine it creates a bridge network automatically. This network corresponds to the docker0 bridge that Engine has traditionally relied on. When you launch a new container with docker run it automatically connects to this bridge network. You cannot remove this default bridge network but you can create new ones using the network create command.

$ docker network create -d bridge my-bridge-network

Bridge networks are isolated networks on a single Engine installation. If you want to create a network that spans multiple Docker hosts each running an Engine, you must create an overlay network. Unlike bridge networks overlay networks require some pre-existing conditions before you can create one. These conditions are:

The dockerd options that support the overlay network are:

To read more about these options and how to configure them, see "Get started with multi-host network" ⟨https://docs.docker.com/engine/userguide/networking/get-started-overlay/⟩.

It is also a good idea, though not required, that you install Docker Swarm on to manage the cluster that makes up your network. Swarm provides sophisticated discovery and server management that can assist your implementation.

Once you have prepared the overlay network prerequisites you simply choose a Docker host in the cluster and issue the following to create the network:

$ docker network create -d overlay my-multihost-network

Network names must be unique. The Docker daemon attempts to identify naming conflicts but this is not guaranteed. It is the user's responsibility to avoid name conflicts.

Connect containers¶

When you start a container use the --network flag to connect it to a network. This adds the busybox container to the mynet network.

$ docker run -itd --network=mynet busybox

If you want to add a container to a network after the container is already running use the docker network connect subcommand.

You can connect multiple containers to the same network. Once connected, the containers can communicate using only another container's IP address or name. For overlay networks or custom plugins that support multi-host connectivity, containers connected to the same multi-host network but launched from different Engines can also communicate in this way.

You can disconnect a container from a network using the docker network disconnect command.

Specifying advanced options¶

When you create a network, Engine creates a non-overlapping subnetwork for the network by default. This subnetwork is not a subdivision of an existing network. It is purely for ip-addressing purposes. You can override this default and specify subnetwork values directly using the --subnet option. On a bridge network you can only create a single subnet:

$ docker network create -d bridge --subnet=192.168.0.0/16 br0

Additionally, you also specify the --gateway --ip-range and --aux-address options.

$ docker network create \


  --driver=bridge \


  --subnet=172.28.0.0/16 \


  --ip-range=172.28.5.0/24 \


  --gateway=172.28.5.254 \


  br0

If you omit the --gateway flag the Engine selects one for you from inside a preferred pool. For overlay networks and for network driver plugins that support it you can create multiple subnetworks.

$ docker network create -d overlay \


  --subnet=192.168.0.0/16 \


  --subnet=192.170.0.0/16 \


  --gateway=192.168.0.100 \ 


  --gateway=192.170.0.100 \


  --ip-range=192.168.1.0/24 \


  --aux-address="my-router=192.168.1.5" --aux-address="my-switch=192.168.1.6" \


  --aux-address="my-printer=192.170.1.5" --aux-address="my-nas=192.170.1.6" \


  my-multihost-network

Be sure that your subnetworks do not overlap. If they do, the network create fails and Engine returns an error.

$ docker network create -d overlay \


  --subnet=10.11.0.0/16 \


  --ingress \


  --opt com.docker.network.mtu=9216 \


  --opt encrypted=true \


  my-ingress-network

$ docker service create --name my-service \


  --network host \


  --replicas 2 \


  busybox top

$ docker network create -d bridge \


  --scope swarm \


  --attachable \


  swarm-network

node1$ docker network create --config-only --subnet 192.168.100.0/24 --gateway 192.168.100.115 mv-config
node2$ docker network create --config-only --subnet 192.168.200.0/24 --gateway 192.168.200.202 mv-config
node1$ docker network create -d macvlan --scope swarm --config-from mv-config --attachable swarm-network

OPTIONS¶

--attachable[=false] Enable manual container attachment

--aux-address=map[] Auxiliary IPv4 or IPv6 addresses used by Network driver

--config-from="" The network from which to copy the configuration

--config-only[=false] Create a configuration only network

-d, --driver="bridge" Driver to manage the Network

--gateway=[] IPv4 or IPv6 Gateway for the master subnet

-h, --help[=false] help for create

--ingress[=false] Create swarm routing-mesh network

--internal[=false] Restrict external access to the network

--ip-range=[] Allocate container ip from a sub-range

--ipam-driver="default" IP Address Management Driver

--ipam-opt=map[] Set IPAM driver specific options

--ipv6[=false] Enable IPv6 networking

--label= Set metadata on a network

-o, --opt=map[] Set driver specific options

--scope="" Control the network's scope

--subnet=[] Subnet in CIDR format that represents a network segment

SEE ALSO¶

docker-network(1)