random java.lang.NullPointerException: networkMode was not specified

In our ci builds we see random failures every other build saying a container can't be started. Our scenario is the following:

• We have a container running our application
• We have another container (BrowserWebDriverContainer) to run chrome
• We have specified a network for both
• The chrome container depends on the application container.

The code looks like this:

private void createContainers() {
	Network network = Network.newNetwork();
	GenericContainer<?> applicationContainer = new ApplicationContainer();
	applicationContainer.withNetwork(network).withNetworkAliases("app").withExposedPorts(8080, 8443);

	BrowserWebDriverContainer<?> chrome = new BrowserWebDriverContainer<>(
			DockerImageName.parse("selenium/standalone-chrome-debug:3.141.59-20210713")
					.asCompatibleSubstituteFor("selenium/standalone-chrome-debug"));
	chrome.withNetwork(network).withRecordingMode(VncRecordingMode.SKIP, null).dependsOn(applicationContainer);
	
	chrome.start();
}

In this scenario, ApplicationContainer extends GenericContainer<ApplicationContainer>. The code works most of the time. As said, every now and then we see the following error which makes the test run fail.

We are using testcontainers 1.15.3 right now.

java.lang.RuntimeException: com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.core5.http.NoHttpResponseException: localhost:2375 failed to respond
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.ApacheDockerHttpClientImpl.execute(ApacheDockerHttpClientImpl.java:165) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.ZerodepDockerHttpClient.execute(ZerodepDockerHttpClient.java:8) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.shaded.com.github.dockerjava.core.DefaultInvocationBuilder.execute(DefaultInvocationBuilder.java:228) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.shaded.com.github.dockerjava.core.DefaultInvocationBuilder.post(DefaultInvocationBuilder.java:124) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.shaded.com.github.dockerjava.core.exec.CreateNetworkCmdExec.execute(CreateNetworkCmdExec.java:27) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.shaded.com.github.dockerjava.core.exec.CreateNetworkCmdExec.execute(CreateNetworkCmdExec.java:12) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.shaded.com.github.dockerjava.core.exec.AbstrSyncDockerCmdExec.exec(AbstrSyncDockerCmdExec.java:21) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.shaded.com.github.dockerjava.core.command.AbstrDockerCmd.exec(AbstrDockerCmd.java:35) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.containers.Network$NetworkImpl.create(Network.java:92) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.containers.Network$NetworkImpl.getId(Network.java:63) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer.applyConfiguration(GenericContainer.java:813) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer.tryStart(GenericContainer.java:359) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer.lambda$doStart$0(GenericContainer.java:325) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at org.rnorth.ducttape.unreliables.Unreliables.retryUntilSuccess(Unreliables.java:81) ~[duct-tape-1.0.8.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer.doStart(GenericContainer.java:323) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer.start(GenericContainer.java:311) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture.uniRun(CompletableFuture.java:719) [?:1.8.0_281]
	at java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$UniRun.tryFire(CompletableFuture.java:701) [?:1.8.0_281]
	at java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$Completion.run(CompletableFuture.java:456) [?:1.8.0_281]
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149) [?:1.8.0_281]
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624) [?:1.8.0_281]
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748) [?:1.8.0_281]
Caused by: com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.core5.http.NoHttpResponseException: localhost:2375 failed to respond
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.core5.http.impl.io.DefaultHttpResponseParser.createConnectionClosedException(DefaultHttpResponseParser.java:87) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.core5.http.impl.io.AbstractMessageParser.parse(AbstractMessageParser.java:243) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.core5.http.impl.io.AbstractMessageParser.parse(AbstractMessageParser.java:53) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.core5.http.impl.io.DefaultBHttpClientConnection.receiveResponseHeader(DefaultBHttpClientConnection.java:187) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.core5.http.impl.io.HttpRequestExecutor.execute(HttpRequestExecutor.java:175) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.HijackingHttpRequestExecutor.execute(HijackingHttpRequestExecutor.java:50) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.core5.http.impl.io.HttpRequestExecutor.execute(HttpRequestExecutor.java:218) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.io.PoolingHttpClientConnectionManager$InternalConnectionEndpoint.execute(PoolingHttpClientConnectionManager.java:596) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.InternalExecRuntime.execute(InternalExecRuntime.java:215) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.MainClientExec.execute(MainClientExec.java:107) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.ExecChainElement.execute(ExecChainElement.java:51) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.ExecChainElement$1.proceed(ExecChainElement.java:57) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.ConnectExec.execute(ConnectExec.java:181) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.ExecChainElement.execute(ExecChainElement.java:51) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.ExecChainElement$1.proceed(ExecChainElement.java:57) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.ProtocolExec.execute(ProtocolExec.java:172) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.ExecChainElement.execute(ExecChainElement.java:51) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.ExecChainElement$1.proceed(ExecChainElement.java:57) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.HttpRequestRetryExec.execute(HttpRequestRetryExec.java:93) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.ExecChainElement.execute(ExecChainElement.java:51) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.ExecChainElement$1.proceed(ExecChainElement.java:57) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.ContentCompressionExec.execute(ContentCompressionExec.java:128) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.ExecChainElement.execute(ExecChainElement.java:51) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.ExecChainElement$1.proceed(ExecChainElement.java:57) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.RedirectExec.execute(RedirectExec.java:116) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.ExecChainElement.execute(ExecChainElement.java:51) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.InternalHttpClient.doExecute(InternalHttpClient.java:178) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.shaded.org.apache.hc.client5.http.impl.classic.CloseableHttpClient.execute(CloseableHttpClient.java:67) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at com.github.dockerjava.zerodep.ApacheDockerHttpClientImpl.execute(ApacheDockerHttpClientImpl.java:161) ~[docker-java-transport-zerodep-3.2.8.jar:?]
	... 21 more
ERROR our-image:latest] - Could not start container
java.lang.NullPointerException: networkMode was not specified
	at java.util.Objects.requireNonNull(Objects.java:228) ~[?:1.8.0_281]
	at com.github.dockerjava.api.command.CreateContainerCmd.withNetworkMode(CreateContainerCmd.java:294) ~[docker-java-api-3.2.8.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer.applyConfiguration(GenericContainer.java:813) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer.tryStart(GenericContainer.java:359) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer.lambda$doStart$0(GenericContainer.java:325) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at org.rnorth.ducttape.unreliables.Unreliables.retryUntilSuccess(Unreliables.java:81) ~[duct-tape-1.0.8.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer.doStart(GenericContainer.java:323) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer.start(GenericContainer.java:311) ~[testcontainers-1.15.3.jar:?]
	at java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture.uniRun(CompletableFuture.java:719) [?:1.8.0_281]
	at java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$UniRun.tryFire(CompletableFuture.java:701) [?:1.8.0_281]
	at java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$Completion.run(CompletableFuture.java:456) [?:1.8.0_281]
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149) [?:1.8.0_281]
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624) [?:1.8.0_281]
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748) [?:1.8.0_281]
ERROR our-image:latest] - Could not start container

Beginne in GenericContainer.java bei applyConfiguration und in Network.java bei getId und reproduziere dann das gezeigte Szenario mit zwei Containern in einem gemeinsam genutzten Netzwerk mit Testcontainers 1.15.3. Erledigt ist es, wenn der intermittierende Start nicht mehr die networkMode NullPointerException erreicht und die Anwendungs- und Chrome-Container erfolgreich starten.