"network not manually attachable" when running one-off command against docker swarm network

Question

I'm trying to run a one-off command to initialise a database schema in a new docker swarm which is deployed with 1.13's new support for docker-compose files.

The swarm has the following network:

$ docker network ls
NETWORK ID          NAME                DRIVER              SCOPE
...
b7dptlu8zyqa        vme_internal         overlay             swarm
...

defined in the docker-compose.yml file as:

networks:
    internal:

The command I run is

docker run --rm --network vme_internal app:0.1 db upgrade

with the extra vme_ prefix coming from the name that I gave the stack when deploying. Now when I run the above command, I get:

docker: Error response from daemon: Could not attach to network vme_internal:
rpc error: code = 7 desc = network vme_internal not manually attachable.

How do I make the network attachable?

I couldn't find any specific info about attachable in Docker networking and tried adding an attribute attachable to the network definition without success.

Answer 1

Using composer

Since composer v3.2 it is possible to configure the attachable property through the composer file using the keyword attachable like:

networks:
  mynet1:
    driver: overlay
    attachable: true

Using docker network create

Since Docker Engine API v1.25 it is possible to create a network and make it attachable using the --attachable parameter like:

docker network create --driver overlay --attachable my-overlay-network

---

To update an already running docker service:

1. Create an attachable overlay network:

   docker network create --driver overlay --attachable my-attachable-overlay-network
   

2. Remove the network stack with a disabled "attachable" overlay network (in this example called: my-non-attachable-overlay-network):

   docker service update --network-rm my-non-attachable-overlay-network myservice
   

3. Add the network stack with an enabled "attachable" overlay network:

   docker service update --network-add my-attachable-overlay-network myservice