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title = "network connect"
description = "The network connect command description and usage"
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keywords = ["network, connect, user-defined"]
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parent = "smn_cli"
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# network connect
Usage: docker network connect [OPTIONS] NETWORK CONTAINER
Connects a container to a network
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--help Print usage
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--ip IP Address
--ip6 IPv6 Address
--link=[] Add a link to another container
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Connects a container to a network. You can connect a container by name
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or by ID. Once connected, the container can communicate with other containers in
the same network.
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```bash
$ docker network connect multi-host-network container1
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```
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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
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```
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You can specify the IP address you want to be assigned to the container's interface.
```bash
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$ docker network connect --ip 10.10.36.122 multi-host-network container2
```
You can use `--link` option to link another container with a prefered alias
```bash
$ docker network connect --link container1:c1 multi-host-network container2
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```
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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
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stopped container rejoins the network, unless you specified one when you run
`docker network connect` command.
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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.
## Related information
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* [network inspect ](network_inspect.md )
* [network create ](network_create.md )
* [network disconnect ](network_disconnect.md )
* [network ls ](network_ls.md )
* [network rm ](network_rm.md )
* [Understand Docker container networks ](../../userguide/networking/dockernetworks.md )
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* [Work with networks ](../../userguide/networking/work-with-networks.md )