website/docs/tasks/access-application-cluster/communicate-containers-same...

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---
title: Communicate Between Containers in the Same Pod Using a Shared Volume
redirect_from:
- "/docs/user-guide/pods/multi-container/"
- "/docs/user-guide/pods/multi-container.html"
- "docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/communicate-containers-same-pod/"
- "docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/communicate-containers-same-pod.html"
---
{% capture overview %}
This page shows how to use a Volume to communicate between two Containers running
in the same Pod.
{% endcapture %}
{% capture prerequisites %}
{% include task-tutorial-prereqs.md %}
{% endcapture %}
{% capture steps %}
## Creating a Pod that runs two Containers
In this exercise, you create a Pod that runs two Containers. The two containers
share a Volume that they can use to communicate. Here is the configuration file
for the Pod:
{% include code.html language="yaml" file="two-container-pod.yaml" ghlink="/docs/tasks/access-application-cluster/two-container-pod.yaml" %}
In the configuration file, you can see that the Pod has a Volume named
`shared-data`.
The first container listed in the configuration file runs an nginx server. The
mount path for the shared Volume is `/usr/share/nginx/html`.
The second container is based on the debian image, and has a mount path of
`/pod-data`. The second container runs the following command and then terminates.
echo Hello from the debian container > /pod-data/index.html
Notice that the second container writes the `index.html` file in the root
directory of the nginx server.
Create the Pod and the two Containers:
kubectl create -f https://k8s.io/docs/tasks/access-application-cluster/two-container-pod.yaml
View information about the Pod and the Containers:
kubectl get pod two-containers --output=yaml
Here is a portion of the output:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
...
name: two-containers
namespace: default
...
spec:
...
containerStatuses:
- containerID: docker://c1d8abd1 ...
image: debian
...
lastState:
terminated:
...
name: debian-container
...
- containerID: docker://96c1ff2c5bb ...
image: nginx
...
name: nginx-container
...
state:
running:
...
You can see that the debian Container has terminated, and the nginx Container
is still running.
Get a shell to nginx Container:
kubectl exec -it two-containers -c nginx-container -- /bin/bash
In your shell, verify that nginx is running:
root@two-containers:/# ps aux
The output is similar to this:
USER PID ... STAT START TIME COMMAND
root 1 ... Ss 21:12 0:00 nginx: master process nginx -g daemon off;
Recall that the debian Container created the `index.html` file in the nginx root
directory. Use `curl` to send a GET request to the nginx server:
root@two-containers:/# apt-get update
root@two-containers:/# apt-get install curl
root@two-containers:/# curl localhost
The output shows that nginx serves a web page written by the debian container:
Hello from the debian container
{% endcapture %}
{% capture discussion %}
## Discussion
The primary reason that Pods can have multiple containers is to support
helper applications that assist a primary application. Typical examples of
helper applications are data pullers, data pushers, and proxies.
Helper and primary applications often need to communicate with each other.
Typically this is done through a shared filesystem, as shown in this exercise,
or through the loopback network interface, localhost. An example of this pattern is a
web server along with a helper program that polls a Git repository for new updates.
The Volume in this exercise provides a way for Containers to communicate during
the life of the Pod. If the Pod is deleted and recreated, any data stored in
the shared Volume is lost.
{% endcapture %}
{% capture whatsnext %}
* Learn more about
[patterns for composite containers](http://blog.kubernetes.io/2015/06/the-distributed-system-toolkit-patterns.html).
* Learn about
[composite containers for modular architecture](http://www.slideshare.net/Docker/slideshare-burns).
* See
[Configuring a Pod to Use a Volume for Storage](/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/configure-volume-storage/).
* See [Volume](/docs/api-reference/v1.6/#volume-v1-core).
* See [Pod](/docs/api-reference/v1.6/#pod-v1-core).
{% endcapture %}
{% include templates/task.md %}