Answer by alexanderlukanin13 for How make openvpn work with docker

Based on answer from Anas El Barkani, here's a complete step-by-step example using PostgreSQL.

While VPN is not connected, create a permanent docker network:

docker network create my-network --subnet 172.24.24.0/24

In docker-compose file, specify network as external:

version: "2"

services:
  postgres:
    container_name: postgres
    image: postgres
    volumes:
      - ./volumes/postgres/data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=dummy
      - POSTGRES_USER=user
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=123456
      - POSTGRES_HOST=localhost
    networks:
      - default
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:5432:5432"

networks:
  default:
    external:
      name: my-network

That's all. Now you can enable your VPN, and start/stop container as usual:

docker-compose up -d
docker-compose down

No need to turn VPN on/off every time, or to add weird scripts as root.