Connect to Docker MySQL container from localhost?

Question

I have a docker mysql image running, following is what the docker-compose.yml file looks like:

db:
  image: mysql
  environment:
    MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: ""
    MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD: yes
  ports:
    - "3306:3306"

This works fine.

My question is: How can I connect to the MySQL instance running on that container from the command line mysql client on my the host (my macbook)?

To clarify:

• I have a macbook with Docker installed
• I have a docker container with mysql
• I want to connect to the mysql instance running on the aforementioned container from the Terminal on my macbook
• I do NOT want to user a docker command to make this possible. Rather, I want to use the mysql client directly from the Terminal (without tunneling in through a docker container).

I don't have MySQL running locally, so port 3306 should be open and ready to use.

The command I am using to start the container is: docker-compose run

Answer 1

Using docker-compose up

Since you published port 3306 on your docker host, from that host itself you would connect to 127.0.0.1:3306.

Using docker-compose run

In that case the port mapping section of the docker-compose.yml file is ignored. To have the port mapping section considered, you have to add the --service-ports option:

docker-compose run --service-ports db

Additional note

Beware that by default, the mysql client tries to connect using a unix socket when you tell it to connect to localhost. So do use 127.0.0.1 and not localhost:

 $ mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -P 3306 -u root

Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g. Your MySQL connection id is 1 Server version: 5.6.26 MySQL Community Server (GPL)

Copyright (c) 2000, 2015, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.

mysql>

$ mysql -h localhost -P 3306 -u root

ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2)