Managing a server is not always an easy task. You have to be aware of many processes and services that make life on that computer. So, it follows that it is necessary to have tools that can facilitate this whole process. Above all because, in general, the servers do not have a graphical environment that allows processes to be carried out at the click of a mouse. For this reason, the great open source community has created Cockpit. Basically, it is a Linux server manager. In this post, you will learn how to install Cockpit on CentOS 8 and we will give you a look at some of its features.
Cockpit makes server management much easier
Cockpit is a web application that allows you to control one server or several Linux servers. Everything from a web interface that you can open from your favorite web browser. In this way, we can perform common and not so common tasks on the server with just a few clicks.
Using Cockpit It is easy to start containers, administer storage, configure networks, and inspect logs.
On the other hand, Cockpit gets along very well with after-server applications such as Ansible. This means that the integration with the server is practically complete. In addition, the application is quite well supported by its creators and is available for the largest Linux distributions.
So, we can say that Cockpit makes server management easier.
Install Cockpit on CentOS 8
In order for Cockpit to be able to read the proper information from the system, it is a good idea to update it first. To do this, connect to your server using SSH and run the following:
:~$ su
:~# dnf update
Now the system is ready for Cockpit.
Fortunately, Cockpit comes by default in the default CentOS 8 repositories. This causes the installation to be condensed in a single command.
:~# dnf install cockpit
Then, it will start downloading and installing all the necessary packages.
Cockpit is managed as a service. Therefore, we can start it, stop it and restart it in a similar way to Apache or MariaDB using systemctl. Then you have to start it:
:~# systemctl start cockpit
It is advisable that Cockpit is started with the system, if that is what you want, use this command:
:~# systemctl enable cockpit
Finally, to verify that everything has worked out correctly, you can check the status of the service.
:~# systemctl status cockpit
After that, we need to open the Cockpit ports in the firewall so that we can run it from the web browser.
:~# firewall-cmd --add-service=cockpit --permanent --zone=public
:~# firewall-cmd --reload
success
Now, we can use it from the web browser.
Using Cockpit
Once we access http://your-server:9090 we will see the following screen.
In this screen, you will have to log in with your system credentials. Then, you will see the Dashboard.
With Cockpit, you can see the system logs. But also the network settings. Even tasks like adding a bridge are done with a few clicks. You can also see the network activity.
On the left side, you will have all the options available. Also, an important aspect of the application is that it allows the management of system services graphically.
Finally, the application has a terminal emulator integrated with the system. This if you need to perform a specific command or something else.
So, now you can use it.
Conclusion
There are many tools that allow us to manage a server more effectively. Cockpit is one of those tools that with a bright and polished graphical interface can perform common tasks and not so common on a Linux server. Thus, in this post, you have learned to install it on CentOS 8. And see some of its modules.
So, you can learn more about CentOS 8 reading our posts.
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