Q:

Can't Connect to External SQL Server From Docker Container

I've developed a SpringBoot(Java) application that calls out to an external SQL Server on port 1433.  The SQL Server instance is located on-premises (not local SQL Server instances).  However, it's reachable from my desktop using either IntelliJ or SQL Clients.
I am using the Microsoft SQL Server JDBC connector to communicate with the instances.
If I run the app from IntelliJ all is well, the app can call the SQL Server, execute the command and returns a resultsset.
However, now I'm trying to Dockerize the api app. The container does the usual SpringBoot initialization but when it tries to call the SQL Server I get the following error:
com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException: The TCP/IP connection to the host myexternalsqlserver.domain, port 1433 has failed. Error: "myexternalsqlserver.domain. Verify the connection properties. Make sure that an instance of SQL Server is running on the host and accepting TCP/IP connections at the port. Make sure that TCP connections to the port are not blocked by a firewall.".
    at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException.makeFromDriverError(SQLServerException.java:234)
    at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException.ConvertConnectExceptionToSQLServerException(SQLServerException.java:285)
    at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SocketFinder.findSocket(IOBuffer.java:2434)
    at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.TDSChannel.open(IOBuffer.java:659)
    at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerConnection.connectHelper(SQLServerConnection.java:2546)
    at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerConnection.login(SQLServerConnection.java:2216)
    at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerConnection.connectInternal(SQLServerConnection.java:2067)
    at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerConnection.connect(SQLServerConnection.java:1204)
    at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver.connect(SQLServerDriver.java:825)
    at java.sql/java.sql.DriverManager.getConnection(Unknown Source)
    at java.sql/java.sql.DriverManager.getConnection(Unknown Source)
    at com.symetra.SdsApi.SqlConnector.getResultSet(SqlConnector.java:26)

This is my Docker file
FROM openjdk:11.0.4-jre-slim-buster
VOLUME /tmp

COPY target/myapi-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar app.jar
EXPOSE 8080
EXPOSE 1433
ENTRYPOINT [ "sh", "-c", "java $JAVA_OPTS -Djava.security.egd=file:/dev/./urandom -Dspring.profiles.active=docker -jar /app.jar" ]

And these are the Docker commands I use to build and run the container:
docker build -t myapi . && docker run -p 8080:8080 -p 1433:1433 --name myapi myapi "java","-jar","myapi-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar"

I don't think the mapping of port 1433 is necessary, it's just an experiment.  I should be able to communicate outside of my container through to port 1433 on the host. Port 1433 isn't being blocked on the host because I have no problems running this outside the container.
Finally, this is the connection string I'm using:
//Create Connection Url.
String connectionUrl="jdbc:sqlserver://myexternalsqlserver.domain:1433;database=mydb;user=MyUser;password=MyPassword";

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here. I'm wondering if I need to set up Docker networking.
Thanks for your help!

A:

It should work.
NB I'm assuming myexternalsqlserver.domain is not what you're using.
One way to test your container is to shell into it (or create a variant) and try resolving the SQL Server's host name:
docker run --interactive --tty openjdk:11.0.4-jre-slim-buster /bin/bash

# then from within the container's shell
apt update && apt install -y dnsutils
nslookup ${SQL_SERVER}

If that succeeds, it's your code.
If not, it's the network.
NB Your container need not publish 1443 (--publish=1433:1433) since it's consuming that port (on the SQL Server) not exposing the port itself.

