Setting MAC address no longer works with recent versions of Docker Compose

[bergtwvd]

For one of my containers I need to specify a certain MAC Address. This seems not possible with Weave:

bergtwvd@app-docker02:~$ docker network create -d weave WWW
304082cb004435b221f8db1f97304eb6545d3806541bf319a4442518f2f5ee97
bergtwvd@app-docker02:~$ docker run --network=WWW --mac-address="00:18:8B:0D:4F:0B"  -ti weaveworks/ubuntu
docker: Error response from daemon: failed to create endpoint suspicious_swirles on network WWW: driver modified interface MAC address: endpoint interface MAC address present (00:18:8b:0d:4f:0b). Cannot be modified with a6:7b:00:9a:66:01.; rolled back.
bergtwvd@app-docker02:~$

When I use standard docker overlay, this works fine:

bergtwvd@app-docker02:~$ docker network create -d overlay OOO
61751eeafdc204ccc42e4bfc724b68ed46bf4b75297ae5a19289ff464816a163
bergtwvd@app-docker02:~$ docker run --network=OOO --mac-address="00:18:8B:0D:4F:0B"  -ti weaveworks/ubuntu
root@83e934fadf39:/# uname -a
Linux 83e934fadf39 3.13.0-108-generic #155-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jan 11 16:58:52 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
root@83e934fadf39:/#

I recall this worked in the past.

[bergtwvd]

After a little further exploration of options:

If I use the weave proxy server to start a container I am able to assign a MAC address to the eth0 interface. This will get my app going with the license. The container will also get an ethwe interface. See https://www.weave.works/docs/net/latest/weave-docker-api. This works from the command line, and I recall this was the way I used to start containers in the old days, before the existence of network plugins and before docker compose file version 2.0.

eval $(weave env)
docker run --mac-address="00:18:8B:0D:4F:0B"  -it --rm busybox
/ # ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:18:8B:0D:4F:0B
          inet addr:172.17.0.2  Bcast:0.0.0.0  Mask:255.255.0.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::218:8bff:fe0d:4f0b/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:7 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:578 (578.0 B)

ethwe     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 02:3B:D9:E6:94:F7
          inet addr:10.32.0.2  Bcast:0.0.0.0  Mask:255.240.0.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::3b:d9ff:fee6:94f7/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1410  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:620 (620.0 B)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

If I use docker-compose file version 2/3, then this does not work, even going through the proxy; seems related to the fact that docker compose creates a bridge network. I need to revert to compose file version 1 to create a composition via the proxy, and assign a MAC address ! So, only compose file version 1 works, not ideal. :-(

[bergtwvd]

Some other related issues:
#2690
#2718

[marccarre]

@bergtwvd, would you mind sharing a minimalistic example of:

• a working Docker compose v1 file?
• a non-working Docker compose v2/3 file?

This would help replicating your exact issue and, potentially, fixing it. Thanks!

[bergtwvd]

For test purposes I use the following compositions:

bergtwvd@app-docker02:~$ more test.v2.overlay.yml
version: '2'

services:
 test:
  image: busybox
  command: sleep 3600
  mac_address: 00:18:8B:0D:4F:0B
  networks:
  - hello

networks:
 hello:
  driver: overlay

bergtwvd@app-docker02:~$ more test.v2.weave.yml
version: '2'

services:
 test:
  image: busybox
  command: sleep 3600
  mac_address: 00:18:8B:0D:4F:0B
  networks:
  - hello

networks:
 hello:
  driver: weave

bergtwvd@app-docker02:~$ more test.v1.yml

 test:
  image: busybox
  command: sleep 3600
  mac_address: 00:18:8B:0D:4F:0B

Test: Docker Compose v2 file, use docker overlay network (OK)

bergtwvd@app-docker02:~$ docker-compose -f test.v2.overlay.yml up
Creating network "bergtwvd_hello" with driver "overlay"
Creating bergtwvd_test_1
Attaching to bergtwvd_test_1

Test: Docker Compose v2 file, use weave overlay network (via weave plugin) (ERROR)

bergtwvd@app-docker02:~$ docker-compose -f test.v2.weave.yml up
Creating network "bergtwvd_hello" with driver "weave"
Creating bergtwvd_test_1

ERROR: for test  failed to create endpoint bergtwvd_test_1 on network bergtwvd_hello: driver modified interface MAC address: endpoint interface MAC address present (00:18:8b:0d:4f:0b). Cannot be modified with 5e:79:b4:e7:54:86.; rolled back
Attaching to

Test: Docker Compose v2 file, use weave overlay network (via weave proxy) (ERROR)

bergtwvd@app-docker02:~$ DOCKER_HOST=:12375 docker-compose -f test.v2.weave.yml up
Creating network "bergtwvd_hello" with driver "weave"
Creating bergtwvd_test_1

ERROR: for test  failed to create endpoint bergtwvd_test_1 on network bergtwvd_hello: driver modified interface MAC address: endpoint interface MAC address present (00:18:8b:0d:4f:0b). Cannot be modified with fe:03:bb:89:2e:db.; rolled back
Attaching to

Test: Docker Compose v1 file, use weave overlay network (via weave proxy) (OK)

bergtwvd@app-docker02:~$ DOCKER_HOST=:12375 docker-compose -f test.v1.yml up
Creating bergtwvd_test_1
Attaching to bergtwvd_test_1

[bboreham]

Weave Net has never had the feature to assign a specific mac address; this is noted at #21.

Evidently something in the way docker-compose works, or the way you are using it, has changed.

[bergtwvd]

There is a related discussion on this in #2778, where compose file format 1.0 by-passed the issue. Thus, so long Docker supports format 1.0 I can use MAC addresses on Weave; otherwise I need to switch the standard Docker overlay.