Boy this is frustrating. The internet just doesn’t work with docker running and this is why…
Docker allows you to “containerize” apps, running them in separate individual environments. This is really nice for repeatability: you can run the same container on a different system and expect it to still work. There are some good security arguments too, but for me having the docker service itself running as root raises a red flag.
The problem is that at some point you need to connect to the app running in the container. Typically this is done through some web interface. In an attempt to make the UX seamless, docker routes IP address ranges from the real network into its virtual network(s) that bridge the containers. The kicker is that docker has no idea what IP ranges need to be routed so it just routes everything!!! 😡🤬
# What are the routes?
ip route -n
... all the IPs -> docker
Now in fairness, docker has no idea that you’re about to keep using your PC like a regular PC after starting it /s. E.g. you want to connect to your work’s VPN or start a webserver that expects connections not to be forwarded away. It is nice for first time users because docker can magically “just work”. But that’s no excuse for just funnelling every IP under the sun into its own network, which can “just break things”. Ideally the default would be a tiny default range that is rarely used, or even have it make you configure the range.
VPNs have a similar issue, in that connecting to a VPN first can create routing rules that then break docker’s. See Docker not working with a VPN due to network issues. The VPN has no idea you intend to use docker or what its config will be later. But then docker doesn’t warn or try to re-route some of the VPN ranges.
Even worse is that clearing up the mess docker makes is hard. Docker doesn’t remove routes that it adds when you stop the process. That is, you can break your system by starting a container and stopping it and the docker demon won’t fix anything. The manual way is to delete the routes and adapters it made. You could be a chump and delete routes manually, but there can be a lot.
# E.g.
sudo ip route del 172.19.0.0 br-5094d9589bea
sudo route del -net 172.19.0.0 netmask 255.255.0.0 dev br-5094d9589bea
...
You could type them in manually like a chump, but a shotgun approach is to delete all routes 💪. Be careful with this one as it really is all routes. You’ll need to disconnect and reconnect your loopback/LAN/WiFi/VPN connection(s) right after for the regular default routes to be recreated.
# Careful. This deletes everything! Don't run unless you're physically at the machine.
sudo ip route flush table 0
# Re-create default routes for loopback and other adapters
ip link set lo down
ip link set lo up
... other adapters
Failing to restart lo results in weird bind: Cannot assign requested address issues from local port forwarding or Error: Failed to find a free local port for dynamic forwarding from vscode.
How do you stop docker misbehaving? After cleaning up the mess it made with the above, configure it not to break things. Edit /etc/docker/daemon.json and add something like the following from stack overflow. I’m still pretty confused by what these actually do. I expect something here tells docker what default ranges to forward. Somewhere it needs a real IP to give its virtual interface to route IPs to. It also needs to assign virtual IPs within its internal network(s). Why does docker need so many bridge adapters 🤷. Reading the docs might help.
{
"bip": "192.168.1.5/24",
"fixed-cidr": "192.168.1.5/25",
"default-address-pools":[
{"base":"192.168.2.5/24","size":28}
]
}
[Edit] maybe use .2.5? I hit yet another conflict with my home network and the above recently. See what I mean, re. frustrating.
"bip": "192.168.2.5/24",
"fixed-cidr": "192.168.2.5/25",