NodeJS / Express cannot connect to mongodb running in docker

Question

I'm having a problem connecting from a nodejs/express app to a mongodb instance running in a docker container. The nodejs app is running on my local host, Mac OS X. I am using the Docker Toolbox to run docker on my Mac, not boot2docker.

I have enabled port forwarding via the -p arg to docker run.

docker run -p 27017:27017 --name test -d mongo:2.6
60b7f3cf658bc75ceca2eae074e5f694ec622f7487b6a2f36fa02edd4af68357

I can see it running.

docker ps
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE               COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS              PORTS                      NAMES
60b7f3cf658b        mongo:2.6           "/entrypoint.sh mongo"   9 minutes ago       Up 9 minutes        0.0.0.0:27017->27017/tcp   test

If I run docker logs, I see that it is listening on port 27017.

docker logs test
mongod --help for help and startup options
2015-10-03T15:42:25.833+0000 [initandlisten] MongoDB starting : pid=1 port=27017 dbpath=/data/db 64-bit host=60b7f3cf658b
2015-10-03T15:42:25.833+0000 [initandlisten] db version v2.6.11
2015-10-03T15:42:25.833+0000 [initandlisten] git version: d00c1735675c457f75a12d530bee85421f0c5548
2015-10-03T15:42:25.833+0000 [initandlisten] build info: Linux build4.ny.cbi.10gen.cc 2.6.32-431.3.1.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Fri Jan 3 21:39:27 UTC 2014 x86_64 BOOST_LIB_VERSION=1_49
2015-10-03T15:42:25.833+0000 [initandlisten] allocator: tcmalloc
2015-10-03T15:42:25.833+0000 [initandlisten] options: {}
2015-10-03T15:42:25.835+0000 [initandlisten] journal dir=/data/db/journal
2015-10-03T15:42:25.835+0000 [initandlisten] recover : no journal files present, no recovery needed
2015-10-03T15:42:25.860+0000 [initandlisten] allocating new ns file /data/db/local.ns, filling with zeroes...
2015-10-03T15:42:25.891+0000 [FileAllocator] allocating new datafile /data/db/local.0, filling with zeroes...
2015-10-03T15:42:25.891+0000 [FileAllocator] creating directory /data/db/_tmp
2015-10-03T15:42:25.892+0000 [FileAllocator] done allocating datafile /data/db/local.0, size: 64MB,  took 0 secs
2015-10-03T15:42:25.893+0000 [initandlisten] build index on: local.startup_log properties: { v: 1, key: { _id: 1 }, name: "_id_", ns: "local.startup_log" }
2015-10-03T15:42:25.893+0000 [initandlisten]     added index to empty collection
2015-10-03T15:42:25.894+0000 [initandlisten] waiting for connections on port 27017

When I attempt to connect from express, I get the following error.

my-app/node_modules/mongodb/lib/server.js:228
        process.nextTick(function() { throw err; })
                                            ^
Error: connect ECONNREFUSED
    at exports._errnoException (util.js:746:11)
    at TCPConnectWrap.afterConnect [as oncomplete] (net.js:1010:19)

Now, there are other posts on stackoverflow which reference this exact thing. They all say "enable port forwarding via the -p arg," which I did. But it still won't let me connect.

I'm using the correct port and host VM IP - I can connect from my Mac to the mongodb container via the regular mongo shell tool.

There are some strange things also...

I can connect from my Mac via the mongo shell to the container mongodb just fine. The connection shows up when I run docker logs test.
I see the connection from my nodejs app in the logs as well, but then an immediate disconnect.

2015-10-03T15:53:25.938+0000 [clientcursormon]  connections:0
2015-10-03T15:54:08.843+0000 [initandlisten] connection accepted from 192.168.99.1:54804 #1 (1 connection now open)
2015-10-03T15:54:08.855+0000 [conn1] end connection 192.168.99.1:54804 (0 connections now open)

NodeJS / Express cannot connect to mongodb running in docker

1 Answers1