Docker - Networking - The default bridge network

Every clean installation of Docker comes with a pre-built network called bridge. 

docker network ls

returns: 

NETWORK ID     NAME      DRIVER    SCOPE
45df8a26c099   bridge    bridge    local
99d0975ea463   host      host      local
0190ffd8ff93   none      null      local

NOTE: The bridge network is associated with the bridge driver.

  • It is important to note that the network and the driver are connected, but they are not the same.
    • In this example the network and the driver have the same name - but they are not the same thing!
  • The output above also shows that the bridge network is scoped locally.
    • This means that the network only exists on this Docker host.
    • This is true of all networks using the bridge driver - the bridge driver provides single-host networking.
  • All networks created with the bridge driver are based on a Linux bridge (a.k.a. a virtual switch).