Score:1

Still confused why docker works when you make a process listen to 0.0.0.0 but not 127.0.0.1

ve flag
const hostname = '0.0.0.0'; // << This is where I'm confused
const port = 3000;

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
  res.statusCode = 200;
  res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/plain');
  res.end('Hello World');
});

server.listen(port, hostname, () => {
  console.log(`Server running at http://${hostname}:${port}/`);
});

When I dockerize this app and run it in a container, hostname 0.0.0.0 works, but 127.0.0.1 doesn't work. I understand the reason why is because docker containers pretty much get their own IP.

So when I build and run the container when I set the hostname variable to 127.0.0.1, and then visit 127.0.0.1 on my browser, I'm not connecting to the container's IP address, but my local machine.

But why is it when I run the containerized app on 0.0.0.0 and visit 127.0.0.1 on my browser, it now connects to the container instead of my local machine?

Thank you.

Score:2
in flag

docker is "a different machine" and your machine gets a port forward to that machine on localhost.

So when the app inside docker listens to 127.0.0.1 that is only valid inside that machine, to connect to it from "outside" you need to listen to the any address.

So there is 2 different 127.0.0.1.

If you listen to any (0.0.0.0) then it is also available on 127.0.0.1, and all other interfaces/IPs on the machine.

slava avatar
cn flag
Maybe not related to original question but, and not necessarily bad, however, having this network setup would prevent the requests from outside container reaching a listening service on `127.0.0.1` inside the container. I'm currently facing similar issue with `google-chrome` (without `--headless`)
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