Configuring the Docker daemon for remote connectivity

In the previous recipes, we were using the Unix socket (/var/run/docker.sock) to talk to the Docker engine. As mentioned earlier, by default dockerd listens to the Unix socket /var/run/docker.sock. However, access to the Unix socket is confined to a local system. But there will be use cases where you will have to access the Docker daemon remotely. You can achieve this by configuring the Docker daemon to listen for remote connections using the tcp socket. In this recipe, we will configure our Docker daemon for remote API connectivity.

How to do it...

1. Let's begin by locating the Systemd unit file for the Docker service using the systemctl command, as shown here:

$ sudo systemctl docker status | grep LoadedLoaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/docker.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)

Evidently, /lib/systemd/system/docker.service is the unit file for the Docker service. Here is the content of the default Docker service unit file:

As you...