Elasticsearch in Docker container cluster

Question

I want to run 2 instances of Elasticsearch on 2 different hosts.

I have built my own Docker image based on Ubuntu 14.04 and the 1.3.2 version of Elasticsearch. If I run 2 ES containers on 1 host, each instance can see and communicate with the other; but when I run 2 instances of ES on 2 different hosts, it didn't work. The 9300 port of the container is bind to the 9300 host's port.

Is it possible to create an ES cluster with my configuration?

Answer 1

I was able to get clustering working using unicast across two docker hosts. I just happen to be using the ehazlett/elasticsearch image, but I do not think this should matter all that much. The really important bit seems to be setting the network.publish_host setting to a public or routable IP its docker host.

Configuration

---

docker-host-01

eth0: 192.168.1.10
Docker version 1.4.1, build 5bc2ff8/1.4.1

docker-host-02

eth0: 192.168.1.20
Docker version 1.4.1, build 5bc2ff8/1.4.1

Building the Cluster

---

On Docker Host 01

docker run -d \
  -p 9200:9200 \
  -p 9300:9300 \
  ehazlett/elasticsearch \
  --cluster.name=unicast \
  --network.publish_host=192.168.1.10 \
  --discovery.zen.ping.multicast.enabled=false \
  --discovery.zen.ping.unicast.hosts=192.168.1.20 \
  --discovery.zen.ping.timeout=3s \
  --discovery.zen.minimum_master_nodes=1

On Docker Host 02

docker run -d \
  -p 9200:9200 \
  -p 9300:9300 \
  ehazlett/elasticsearch \
  --cluster.name=unicast \
  --network.publish_host=192.168.1.20 \
  --discovery.zen.ping.multicast.enabled=false \
  --discovery.zen.ping.unicast.hosts=192.168.1.10 \
  --discovery.zen.ping.timeout=3s \
  --discovery.zen.minimum_master_nodes=1