Connect to mysql in a docker container from the host

Question

(It\'s probably a dumb question due to my limited knowledge with Docker or mysql administration, but since I spent a whole evening on this issue, I dare to ask it.)

Answer 1

I do this by running a temporary docker container against my server so I don't have to worry about what is installed on my host. First, I define what I need (which you should modify for your purposes):

export MYSQL_SERVER_CONTAINER=mysql-db
export MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=pswd 
export DB_DOCKER_NETWORK=db-net
export MYSQL_PORT=6604

I always create a new docker network which any other containers will need:

docker network create --driver bridge $DB_DOCKER_NETWORK

Start a mySQL database server:

docker run --detach --name=$MYSQL_SERVER_CONTAINER --net=$DB_DOCKER_NETWORK --env="MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=$MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD" -p ${MYSQL_PORT}:3306 mysql

Capture IP address of the new server container

export DBIP="$(docker inspect ${MYSQL_SERVER_CONTAINER} | grep -i 'ipaddress' | grep -oE '((1?[0-9][0-9]?|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])\.){3}(1?[0-9][0-9]?|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])')"

Open a command line interface to the server:

docker run -it -v ${HOST_DATA}:/data --net=$DB_DOCKER_NETWORK --link ${MYSQL_SERVER_CONTAINER}:mysql --rm mysql sh -c "exec mysql -h${DBIP} -uroot -p"

This last container will remove itself when you exit the mySQL interface, while the server will continue running. You can also share a volume between the server and host to make it easier to import data or scripts. Hope this helps!