% DOCKER(1) Docker User Manuals % Docker Community % OCT 2015 # NAME docker-network-connect - connect a container to a network # SYNOPSIS **docker network connect NAME CONTAINER** [**--help**] # DESCRIPTION Connects a running container to a network. You can connect a container by name or by ID. Once connected, the container can communicate with other containers in the same network. ```bash $ docker network connect multi-host-network container1 ``` You can also use the `docker run --net=<network-name>` option to start a container and immediately connect it to a network. ```bash $ docker run -itd --net=multi-host-network busybox ``` You can pause, restart, and stop containers that are connected to a network. Paused containers remain connected and a revealed by a `network inspect`. When the container is stopped, it does not appear on the network until you restart it. The container's IP address is not guaranteed to remain the same when a stopped container rejoins the network. To verify the container is connected, use the `docker network inspect` command. Use `docker network disconnect` to remove a container from the network. Once connected in network, containers can communicate using only another container's IP address or name. For `overlay` networks or custom plugins that support multi-host connectivity, containers connected to the same multi-host network but launched from different Engines can also communicate in this way. You can connect a container to one or more networks. The networks need not be the same type. For example, you can connect a single container bridge and overlay networks. # OPTIONS **NAME** Specify network driver name **CONTAINER** Specify container name **--help** Print usage statement # HISTORY OCT 2015, created by Mary Anthony <mary@docker.com>