Can Docker containers can be joined under one accessible hostname? - laravel

Question

I started to develop with Laravel and since version 8, the Laravel development environment is shipped with docker and a tool named Sail (docker-compose).
When I configure my .env file I need to SSH the MySQL container and get its hostname, and then SSH the Mailhog container and do the same.
Besides the above when I want to see the database from a tool like TablePlus, I couldn’t make it access the MySQL container by hostname.
I did some searches and found that I can add the hostname directive, but I'm not sure if it's not disturbing the internal container's communication.
Can I use the hostname directive safety in my case? is there a way to join the containers under one hostname and make it accessible from my host?
I'm running Docker Desktop for a MAC - v20.10.2
The docker-compose for reference
# For more information: https://laravel.com/docs/sail
version: '3'
services:
laravel.test:
build:
context: ./vendor/laravel/sail/runtimes/8.0
dockerfile: Dockerfile
args:
WWWGROUP: '${WWWGROUP}'
image: sail-8.0/app
ports:
- '${APP_PORT:-80}:80'
environment:
WWWUSER: '${WWWUSER}'
LARAVEL_SAIL: 1
volumes:
- '.:/var/www/html'
networks:
- sail
depends_on:
- mysql
# - pgsql
- redis
# - selenium
# selenium:
# image: 'selenium/standalone-chrome'
# volumes:
# - '/dev/shm:/dev/shm'
# networks:
# - sail
mysql:
hostname: 'beatsy-db'
image: 'mysql:8.0'
ports:
- '${FORWARD_DB_PORT:-3306}:3306'
environment:
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: '${DB_PASSWORD}'
MYSQL_DATABASE: '${DB_DATABASE}'
MYSQL_USER: '${DB_USERNAME}'
MYSQL_PASSWORD: '${DB_PASSWORD}'
MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD: 'yes'
volumes:
- 'sailmysql:/var/lib/mysql'
networks:
- sail
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD", "mysqladmin", "ping"]
# pgsql:
# image: postgres:13
# ports:
# - '${FORWARD_DB_PORT:-5432}:5432'
# environment:
# PGPASSWORD: '${DB_PASSWORD:-secret}'
# POSTGRES_DB: '${DB_DATABASE}'
# POSTGRES_USER: '${DB_USERNAME}'
# POSTGRES_PASSWORD: '${DB_PASSWORD:-secret}'
# volumes:
# - 'sailpostgresql:/var/lib/postgresql/data'
# networks:
# - sail
redis:
image: 'redis:alpine'
ports:
- '${FORWARD_REDIS_PORT:-6379}:6379'
volumes:
- 'sailredis:/data'
networks:
- sail
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "ping"]
# memcached:
# image: 'memcached:alpine'
# ports:
# - '11211:11211'
# networks:
# - sail
mailhog:
hostname: 'beatsy-mail'
image: 'mailhog/mailhog:latest'
ports:
- '${FORWARD_MAILHOG_PORT:-1025}:1025'
- '${FORWARD_MAILHOG_DASHBOARD_PORT:-8025}:8025'
networks:
- sail
networks:
sail:
driver: bridge
volumes:
sailmysql:
driver: local
# sailpostgresql:
# driver: local
sailredis:
driver: local

Answer 1

You have several services in your docker-compose.yml:
laravel.test
mysql
redis
and so on. Each of these is a resolavble name for containers in the same network. So instead of using mysql container hostname use its service name (just mysql in your case). You shouldn't use container hostnames because they're randomly generated.