Managing Your Podman Containers with Cockpit on Debian 12

Managing Your Podman Containers with Cockpit on Debian 12

- 4 mins
podman Cockpit

Managing Your Podman Containers with Cockpit on Debian 12

If you’re someone who spends a lot of time in the terminal managing your containers, that’s great! But if you need a break from constant typing and prefer a UI-based approach, I’ve got something that might interest you. Enter Cockpit, a fantastic tool that lets you manage your containers from a sleek web interface. 🖥️

So let’s take a closer look at how to monitor and manage Podman containers using Cockpit on Debian 12. 💻

What You’ll Learn in This Guide

Installing Podman on Debian 12

Before diving into Cockpit, let’s make sure Podman is installed on your Debian 12 system.

1. Update your system:

sudo apt update

2. Install Podman:

sudo apt install -y podman

3. Verify the installation:

podman --version

This will show you the version of Podman installed, confirming the installation was successful.

Installing and Starting Cockpit on Debian 12

Once you’ve got Podman installed, the next step is to get Cockpit set up for managing your containers via a web interface.

1. Install Cockpit:

sudo apt install -y cockpit

2. Install the Cockpit Podman component:

sudo apt install -y cockpit-podman

3. Enable and start the Cockpit service:

To ensure Cockpit runs when your system boots, enable the cockpit socket:

sudo systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket

4. Verify Cockpit is running:

Check that Cockpit is actively running with the following command:

systemctl status cockpit

If everything is working, you should see something like this:

● cockpit.service - Cockpit Web Service
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/cockpit.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since [date]; [time] ago

Start Podman’s API for Cockpit Interaction

Now, for Cockpit to interact with Podman, you need to start the Podman API. This will allow Cockpit to see the containers you’re running.

  1. Start the Podman API service:
systemctl --user start podman
  1. Check the Podman API service status:
systemctl --user status podman

You should see output indicating the service is active and running:

● podman.service - Podman API Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/podman.service; static)
     Active: active (running) since [date]; [time] ago
     Main PID: [PID] (podman)

Monitoring Your Podman Containers in Cockpit

Now that you have everything set up, you can start managing and monitoring your containers via Cockpit.

1. Log into Cockpit

Visit the following URL in your web browser:

http://localhost:9090

You’ll be prompted to log in using your Debian 12 credentials (username and password).

2. Access the Podman Containers View

Once you’ve logged in, you’ll be directed to the Cockpit dashboard. From the left-hand menu, click on Podman containers to access the view where you can monitor your containers.

Here, you can:

Get a Console to Run Commands in Containers

One of the coolest features of Cockpit is the ability to interact with containers directly via a console in your web browser. This means you can:

To access the console:

  1. Go to the Console tab for a specific container.
  2. You’ll be presented with a terminal interface directly within the web browser.

Searching for and Pulling Container Images

Cockpit also allows you to search for container images directly from public registries.

Steps:

  1. Navigate to the Images section.
  2. Click on Get New Image.
  3. Use the search form to find the image you want from the registry, then select it.

Once you’ve selected the image, you can pull it directly into your Podman environment.

With Podman and Cockpit working together, you now have a powerful tool to manage your containers in a graphical interface.

Thanks for reading!

—

Guneycan Sanli

Guneycan Sanli

Guneycan Sanli

A person who like learning, music, travelling and sports.

comments powered by Disqus