How to fix Docker's "Error pulling image...too many redirects" failures while pulling images from registry?

Question

I am running Docker via CoreOS and Vagrant on OS X 10.10.

When I run docker pull ubuntu in CoreOS, I got following errors:

$ docker pull ubuntu Pulling repository ubuntu cc0067db4f11: Error pulling image (precise) from ubuntu, endpoint: https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/, Get https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/images/cc0067db4f11198ef6fd0435f96a973e559b1cebfceb2bc8e4fe527b32045c2f/ancestry: dial tcp: lookup cdn-registry-1.dcc0067db4f11: Error pulling image (precise) from ubuntu, Get https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/images/cc0067db4f11198ef6fd0435f96a973e559b1cebfceb2bc8e4fe527b32045c2f/ancestry: dial tcp: lookup cdn-registry-1.docker.io on [10.0.2.3]:53: too many redirects  6006e6343fad: Error pulling image (quantal) from ubuntu, endpoint: https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/, Get https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/images/6006e6343fadaaeb5dd98436a3cd17eac8c03cabca1ed4c8778d039e72ebcc9c/ancestry: dial tcp: lookup cdn-registry-1.d6006e6343fad: Error pulling image (quantal) from ubuntu, Get https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/images/6006e6343fadaaeb5dd98436a3cd17eac8c03cabca1ed4c8778d039e72ebcc9c/ancestry: dial tcp: lookup cdn-registry-1.docker.io on [10.0.2.3]:53: too many redirects  7656cbf56a8c: Error pulling image (13.04) from ubuntu, endpoint: https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/, Get https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/images/7656cbf56a8c831de71ef43809b04fcf8125e7b039250835b6c5f6f280daf12e/ancestry: dial tcp: lookup cdn-registry-1.doc7656cbf56a8c: Error pulling image (13.04) from ubuntu, Get https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/images/7656cbf56a8c831de71ef43809b04fcf8125e7b039250835b6c5f6f280daf12e/ancestry: dial tcp: lookup cdn-registry-1.docker.io on [10.0.2.3]:53: too many redirects  3db9c44f4520: Error pulling image (lucid) from ubuntu, endpoint: https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/, Get https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/images/3db9c44f45209632d6050b35958829c3a2aa256d81b9a7be45b362ff85c54710/ancestry: dial tcp: lookup cdn-registry-1.doc3db9c44f4520: Error pulling image (lucid) from ubuntu, Get https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/images/3db9c44f45209632d6050b35958829c3a2aa256d81b9a7be45b362ff85c54710/ancestry: dial tcp: lookup cdn-registry-1.docker.io on [10.0.2.3]:53: too many redirects  5cf8fd909c6c: Error pulling image (trusty) from ubuntu, endpoint: https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/, Get https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/images/5cf8fd909c6ccc61199df6dbeb165767b83c23842ef49ca3ef3b81ece1bdce4f/ancestry: dial tcp: lookup cdn-registry-1.do5cf8fd909c6c: Error pulling image (trusty) from ubuntu, Get https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/images/5cf8fd909c6ccc61199df6dbeb165767b83c23842ef49ca3ef3b81ece1bdce4f/ancestry: dial tcp: lookup cdn-registry-1.docker.io on [10.0.2.3]:53: too many redirects  d2099a5ba6c5: Error pulling image (saucy) from ubuntu, endpoint: https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/, Get https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/images/d2099a5ba6c5a0f94f84162d69b4cb79b47c7ea1768550c6cee55a7ba2dc3647/ancestry: dial tcp: lookup cdn-registry-1.docd2099a5ba6c5: Error pulling image (saucy) from ubuntu, Get https://cdn-registry-1.docker.io/v1/images/d2099a5ba6c5a0f94f84162d69b4cb79b47c7ea1768550c6cee55a7ba2dc3647/ancestry: dial tcp: lookup cdn-registry-1.docker.io on [10.0.2.3]:53: too many redirects  2014/06/05 12:17:11 Could not find repository on any of the indexed registries. 

I'd really appreciate if anyone could give me a useful advise on how to troubleshoot this problem.

Answer 1

Try this temporary workaround:

osx$ boot2docker up osx$ boot2docker ssh docker@boot2docker$ sudo echo "nameserver 8.8.8.8" > /etc/resolv.conf docker@boot2docker$ sudo /etc/init.d/docker restart 

It works until reboot.

Answer 2

I don't know about OS X, but on linux this could happen due to "bad" /etc/resolv.conf on the host. For example, ubuntu puts something like:

nameserver 127.0.1.1 

and then handles the DNS requests through some service. The problem is, that this is accessible from inside of the image.

To fix this, I had to add some external nameservers, like:

nameserver 127.0.1.1 nameserver 8.8.8.8 nameserver 8.8.4.4