Docker - Networking - Inspect a network

To view network configuration details:

docker network inspect bridge

returns:

[
    {
        "Name": "bridge",
        "Id": "45df8a26c099f2a59310a10cca96f9833602153eeb48256551834bba3cdb4821",
        "Created": "2025-07-14T01:42:04.455631497+01:00",
        "Scope": "local",
        "Driver": "bridge",
        "EnableIPv4": true,
        "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": {}
    }
]

NOTE: The syntax of the docker network inspect command is docker network inspect <network>, where <network> can be either network name or network ID.

In the example above we are showing the configuration details for the network called “bridge”.
- See: List networks to list the networks.

Do not confuse this with the “bridge” driver.

This shows various network-related fields like Gateway, IPAddress, and NetworkID.

Gateway - The gateway is essentially the door through which a container can reach external networks, including the host machine or even the internet.
- In most Docker setups, the default gateway for containers is “172.17.0.1”, which refers to the bridge network created by Docker.
- Think of the gateway as the router for the container — it helps route traffic from the container to external resources.
- When the container sends a request outside of its local network, the gateway acts as the intermediary, forwarding that request.
IPAddress - The IP address is the unique identifier assigned to each container within a specific Docker network.
- This address allows the container to communicate with other containers in the same network.
NetworkID - The NetworkID is a unique identifier that represents the network to which the container is connected.
- Docker automatically assigns this long string of characters as a network ID to distinguish between different networks.