Cockpit install

cockpit-install.md

Cockpit — VM & Podman support

Quick install reference for this host (Ubuntu).

Install

Core + Virtual Machines (libvirt)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install cockpit cockpit-machines

• cockpit — web UI + host modules (system, storage, network, …)
• cockpit-machines — Virtual Machines page (pulls in libvirt/QEMU)

Containers (Podman)

sudo apt install podman cockpit-podman

• podman — container engine (Docker-compatible CLI/images; not the Docker daemon)
• cockpit-podman — Podman containers page in Cockpit

Enable/start the web socket if needed:

sudo systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket

Local host socket / URL

Cockpit listens via systemd socket activation on port 9090:

Unit	cockpit.socket
Listen	9090 (ListenStream=9090)
Local URL	http://localhost:9090
LAN URL	http://<host-ip>:9090

# status
systemctl status cockpit.socket

# open locally
xdg-open http://localhost:9090

systemctl --user enable --now podman.socket

Browser will warn about the self-signed cert — expected for local Cockpit.

Log in with your Linux user (needs permission for the features you use: e.g. libvirt group for VMs; rootless Podman runs as your user).

After install

1. Open http://localhost:9090
2. Virtual Machines → create/manage libvirt VMs
3. Podman containers → images, containers, pods (Podman only — not Docker Engine)

Optional: reboot or re-login if the Containers tab does not show up right away.

Notes

• Docker ≠ Podman in Cockpit: cockpit-podman does not manage Docker. Same OCI images work; separate runtime.
• Existing Docker install (if any) keeps working via docker CLI; new Cockpit-managed containers should use Podman.
• VMs on this box have used qemu:///session (user session) as well as system libvirt — check which connection Cockpit is using if a VM is “missing.”