How to expose docker container only to private network

Question

Not sure if it's a machine or docker configuration problem.

I have a VM with public IP (176.X.XXX.XXX) and private IP (10.X.XXX.XXX) and I'd like other VMs to access my container through private IP as they are in the same network.

So I do

    ports:
        - "10.X.XXX.XXX:9200:9200"

but this exposes the port to 176.X.XXX.XXX as well, which is not desired.

and when I expose it to localhost only

    ports:
        - "127.0.0.1:9200:9200"

I can't access it from other VMs on the private network.

Answer 1

This is most probably because of either

• This is an aws/gcp/azure/droplet/etc instance in which case the cloud provider NATs the public IP address to the private IP address
• You have managed to NAT the public IP address to private IP address explicitly for some reason