Cannot deploy a stack with multiple external networks

Author: SalvoraCreated Jul 22, 2025Updated Sep 13, 2026

Labelskind/bugbug/need-confirmation

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Yes, I've searched similar issues on GitHub.
Yes, I've checked whether this issue is covered in the Portainer documentation or knowledge base.

Problem Description

This has been an ongoing issue for me. For some odd reason that I could not figure out, portainer cannot deploy stacks with two attachable external networks defined in the compose. Both networks are available and there are no conflicts. I saw that this issue has been brought up before and closed in https://github.com/portainer/portainer/issues/1491 but it appears to come back at least for me.

This is an on/off issue that I could not replicate exactly why this happens since sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. Below is my example compose file.

yaml

name: databases

x-common-labels: &common-labels
  com.centurylinklabs.watchtower.enable: "true"

x-cert-label: &cert-label
  server.custom.cert: "true"

x-common: &common
  labels: *common-labels
  extra_hosts:
    - "host.docker.internal:host-gateway"
  restart: unless-stopped
  networks:
    - databases_network
    - downloaders_network

x-common-env: &common-env
  TZ: ${TZ}

services:
  adminer:
    <<: *common
    image: adminer:latest
    user: "${ADMINER_PUID}:${DATABASES_PGID}"
    container_name: adminer
    healthcheck:
      test: |
        curl -ILkfs --max-time 3 http://localhost:8080 > /dev/null \
          || exit 1
      start_period: 10s
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 20s
      retries: 3
    environment:
      # ADMINER_PLUGINS: login-servers #frames
      ADMINER_DESIGN: rmsoft_blue
      <<: *common-env
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/databases/adminer/plugins-enabled:/var/www/html/plugins-enabled
    ports:
      - 8669:8080

networks:
  databases_network:
    external: true
  downloaders_network:
    external: true

Expected Behavior

it should be able to deploy and connect to the defined networks.

Actual Behavior

As soon as I try to deploy it, errors it out. Error:

log

Failure
Failed to deploy a stack: compose up operation failed: Error response from daemon: Container cannot be connected to network endpoints: databases_network, downloaders_network

Steps to Reproduce

Create two external attachable networks from the portainer UI
Try to deploy a similar compose with the above compose

Portainer logs or screenshots

Portainer version

2.31.3

Portainer Edition

Business Edition (BE/EE) with Home & Student license

Platform and Version

Docker 24.0.2

OS and Architecture

DSM 7.2.2

Browser

Brave

What command did you use to deploy Portainer?

yaml

name: portainer

x-common-labels: &common-labels
  com.centurylinklabs.watchtower.enable: "false"

x-cert-label: &cert-label
  server.custom.cert: "true"

x-common: &common
  labels: *common-labels
  extra_hosts:
    - "host.docker.internal:host-gateway"
  restart: unless-stopped
  networks:
    - portainer_network

x-common-env: &common-env
  TZ: ${TZ}

x-ssl-cert: &ssl-cert ${HOST_SSL_CERT_PATH}:${CONTAINER_SSL_CERT_PATH}:ro
x-ssl-key: &ssl-key ${HOST_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH}:${CONTAINER_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH}:ro

services:
  portainer:
    <<: *common
    image: portainer/portainer-ee:sts
    container_name: portainer
    labels:
      <<: [*common-labels, *cert-label]
    depends_on:
      - portainer-agent
    command: >
      --sslcert ${CONTAINER_SSL_CERT_PATH}
      --sslkey ${CONTAINER_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH}
      -H tcp://portainer-agent:9001
      --tlsskipverify
    environment:
      <<: *common-env
    volumes:
      - portainer_data:/data
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
      - *ssl-cert
      - *ssl-key
    ports:
      - 8000:8000
      - 9443:9443

  portainer-agent:
    <<: *common
    image: portainer/agent:latest
    container_name: portainer-agent
    environment:
      <<: *common-env
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      - /var/lib/docker/volumes:/var/lib/docker/volumes
      - /:/host

networks:
  portainer_network:
    external: true

volumes:
  portainer_data:
    name: portainer_data

Additional Information

No response

Source: portainer/portainer

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