Accessing the Docker Engine API remotely

I was digging into possibilities to manage docker containers remotely and it turns out, it’s not as difficult as you’d imagine. We just need to make a few small changes to access the Docker Engine API.

How to access the Docker Engine API remotely?

When you’re running Ubuntu (16.04+) you have to make a small change in /lib/systemd/system/docker.service

Open up docker.service

sudo nano /lib/systemd/system/docker.service

Find the ExecStart=/usr/bin/dockerd -H fd:// --containerd=/run/containerd/containerd.sock line, and add: -H tcp://0.0.0.0:4243.

Restart the docker service

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

sudo systemctl restart docker

Verify that it’s working

curl -X GET http://localhost:4243/images/json

And you’re good to go! You can now access the Docker Engine API remotely. This also means you’re in the danger zone. Make sure to put up adequate security!