Docker Networking

none

host

bridge

single-host bridge networks

spans on a single docker host
can only connect containers on a single Docker host
in Linux Docker it is created with the built-in bridge driver

bridge - default single-host bridge network
by default all new containers will be attached to this --network flag to override

$ docker network ls
NETWORK ID     NAME      DRIVER    SCOPE
afb76a4d8db2   bridge    bridge    local
1e7aa8ab6ae5   host      host      local
f84b45601af7   none      null      local

low level detail of the Docker network bridge

$ docker inspect bridge
[
    {
        "Name": "bridge",
        "Id": "afb76a4d8db2a0d31945d4c39795fbf89395173d084fdd1c2dc80121ca951cb5",
        "Created": "2026-01-16T10:07:54.094156761+11:00",
        "Scope": "local",
        "Driver": "bridge",
        "EnableIPv6": false,
        "IPAM": {
            "Driver": "default",
            "Options": null,
            "Config": [
                {
                    "Subnet": "172.17.0.0/16",
                    "Gateway": "172.17.0.1"
                }
            ]
        },
        "Internal": false,
        "Attachable": false,
        "Ingress": false,
        "ConfigFrom": {
            "Network": ""
        },
        "ConfigOnly": false,
        "Containers": {},
        "Options": {
            "com.docker.network.bridge.default_bridge": "true",
            "com.docker.network.bridge.enable_icc": "true",
            "com.docker.network.bridge.enable_ip_masquerade": "true",
            "com.docker.network.bridge.host_binding_ipv4": "0.0.0.0",
            "com.docker.network.bridge.name": "docker0",
            "com.docker.network.driver.mtu": "1500"
        },
        "Labels": {}
    }
]

using standard linux utility to inspect docker0 bridge
the default bridge network on Linux-based Docker hosts,
maps to the underlying Linux bridge in the kernel docker0

$ ip link show docker0
5: docker0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default
link/ether 02:42:41:59:03:5d brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

testing netwoking from 2 ubuntu containers inside a sinngle Docker host

$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE     COMMAND   CREATED          STATUS          PORTS     NAMES
8a5e1336f240   ubuntu    "bash"    10 minutes ago   Up 10 minutes             c2
94d75afe7266   ubuntu    "bash"    10 minutes ago   Up 10 minutes             c1

# run and connect to c1, c2 ubuntu containers
# install ip and ping commands on these containers
# apt-get update && apt-get -y iproute2 && apt-get -y iputils-ping

overlay

macvlan

ipvlan

commands

# list docker networks
docker network ls
docker inspect bridge
ip link show docker0

#run on host & container
#shows cotaniner and veth interface mapping
ip link

#show
bridge fdb show br docker0

none​

host​

bridge​

single-host bridge networks​

overlay​

macvlan​

ipvlan​

commands​