Question: Best UI to manage VMs and containers?
Question: Best UI to manage VMs and containers?
At this point, I’ve got a lot of containers already running on my system, all in separate directories in my home directory. They’re each set up with a docker-compose file, and all of the volumes are just directories within those directories.
I don’t really want to change this setup, because it allows me to easily rip it all out and transplant it to a new system.
What I’d like is a web UI to see all of these containers, view their status, and potentially reboot them. It would also be great to be able to spin up VMs (not containers, but actual VMs) with it.
I’ve heard of Portainer, but haven’t had any experience with it.
What are your suggestions, and why do you recommend them?
The answer is proxmox, not portainer
So first, I’m not really looking to change operating systems. I’ve got my system set up the way I like it, where it closely matches the production systems I run for my company.
Second, why do you say the answer is Proxmox? What benefit does that have over other solutions that can be more easily integrated into my existing operating system?
Not many UIs can do containers and VMs
[Sorry for my not really well written reply, you really need to try different options, and in my opinion proxmox is like the only choice because of how many cool things you can do there]
Proxmox I just really good, and if you want to spin up VMs easily you will need to reshape your setup anyway
With proxmox you can do like everything with VMs, containers, etc. Not just managing only containers, or just showing status of the VMs
Also, proxmox is not really an operating system, it's a service on top of Debian (in many cases you start installing proxmox by installing Debian)
Proxmox doesn't manage docker, it wouldn't do anything for OP.
Portainer doesn't manage VMs either
But at least you can do docker inside proxmox, and kinda manage it, or put something else on top of it
With docker containers I've moved from portainer to dockge. It lets you see the birds eye view, but also lets you directly edit the compose file from the UI. I haven't been using it very long, but so far I like it.
You will need to find something else for vms though. I use proxmox.
Portainer and Cockpit if you want to run VM (it also manage container but only with podman)
Cockpit looks interesting. It’s got a lot of features I normally do with terminal commands, but the VM manager stuff looks like what I’m looking for.
Give portainer a try. It's actually pretty good for getting a birdseye view, and let's you manage more than one docker server.
It's not perfect of course.
Note that if you want actual virtualization then perhaps Proxmox (not sure if it manages multiple hypervisors - I haven't obtained something to test it on yet). Portainer is best for Docker management (it, and it's client agents, run as docker containers themselves. Don't forget to enable web sockets if proxying.
I tried portainer and it was overkill for my usage, too much overhead and too many features that I don't need.
Right now I'm using ajenti 2, which shows memory and CPU usage for the docker containers in the web page
If you're running a compatible OS (Debian will work), cockpit for VMs and whatever you like for containers.
Or just do everything on the command line like us crusty system admins
Cockpit is great.
It's pretty simplistic. It gives you an overview of your system ressources and handles libvirt VMs and Docker (i think. I used it with Podman, but in this context both should work).
My impression was that the container and VM interfaces were pretty simple, and I wouldn't have liked it as my main interface for those services, but it would be perfect for getting an overview and restarting them!
I don't think it can natively do VMs but I'm using CapRover to deploy Docker images on my server
That’s not too easy methinks. You get kvm vm-s though gui/shell/api with proxmox, but no docker (they use lxc). Unless you set up a podman or similar inside it.
If you’re made of money there’s always https://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/vsphere-with-tanzu.html
Other than that I’d say go with a xen (xcp-ng). Proxmox or esxi host, and spin up a vm as docker host.
I ditched docker in my latest setup, just running 2 machines in a proxmox cluster. I like lxc - as it’s got the footprint of docker and behaves like a vm
Dockge or Portainer are both good options.
For VMs you'll need to find something else, you could use Cockpit for that.
Do they work with podman? Or anything for podman?
Thanks for mentioning Dockge, hadn't heard of it yet. Already use portainer but it seems a bit overkill for me and my few containers. Will try Dockge.
What about incus, the LXD fork, with the webui? Incus is so simple/logical for managing both VMs and containers (and you can run docker inside of them) and the webui lets you manage it from a browser if desired
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
Fewer Letters More Letters LXC Linux Containers SSH Secure Shell for remote terminal access ZFS Solaris/Linux filesystem focusing on data integrity k8s Kubernetes container management package
4 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 11 acronyms.
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What's wrong with ssh?
Nothing. I’ve been using SSH. I’d like to have both options, SSH and a web UI.