Chapter Summary: Docker Overlay Networking

Commands

Let’s explore all the commands covered in this chapter:

• docker network create tells Docker to create a new network. You use the -d overlay flag to use the overlay driver to create an overlay network. You can also pass the -o encrypted flag to tell Docker to encrypt network traffic. However, performance may drop in the region of 10%.

• docker network ls lists all the container networks visible to a Docker host. Docker hosts running in swarm mode only see overlay networks if they run containers attached to the network. This keeps network-related management traffic to a minimum.

• docker network inspect shows detailed information about a particular container network. You can find out the scope, driver, IPv4 and IPv6 information, subnet configuration, IP addresses of connected containers, VXLAN network ID, encryption state, and more.

• docker network rm deletes a network.

Quick recap

In this chapter, we created a new Docker overlay network and learned about the following technologies:

• Overlay networks allow containers to be connected across multiple hosts, making them appear to be on the same network.

• VXLAN is the underlying technology used to create overlay networks, enabling communication between containers on different physical networks.

• Docker’s overlay networking simplifies the process of creating and managing overlay networks, providing a secure and efficient way to connect containers across different hosts.

• Best practices include the use of overlay networks for complex networking scenarios that require communication between containers on different hosts. Consider using encryption for sensitive data. Monitor network performance and optimize as needed.