How to install Cockpit on Rocky Linux 8

Step by Step guide to install Cockpit Web GUI Management Software on Rocky Linux 8 and other RPM based distros.

What is Cockpit? :

Cockpit is a web-based graphical interface for servers, intended for everyone, especially those who are:

new to Linux (including Windows admins) familiar with Linux and want an easy, graphical way to administer servers.
expert admins who mainly use other tools but want an overview on individual systems.

Cockpit is an easy-to-use, lightweight, and simple yet powerful remote manager for GNU/Linux servers, it’s an interactive server administration user interface that offers a live Linux session via a web browser.

Environment Specification:

We are using a minimal Rocky Linux 8 virtual machine with following specifications.

CPU - 3.4 Ghz (2 cores)
Memory - 2 GB
Storage - 20 GB
Operating System - Rocky Linux 8.5 (Green Obsidian)
Hostname – rockylinux-01.centlinux.com
IP Address - 192.168.116.128 /24

Updating Rocky Linux:

Connect with rockylinux-01.centlinux.com as root user by using a ssh client.

Execute following command to build cache for installed yum repositories.

# dnf makecache
Rocky Linux 8 - AppStream                       1.5 kB/s | 4.8 kB     00:03
Rocky Linux 8 - BaseOS                          1.7 kB/s | 4.3 kB     00:02
Rocky Linux 8 - Extras                          1.9 kB/s | 3.5 kB     00:01
Metadata cache created.

As a best practice, update software packages in your Linux operating system before installing Cockpit web interface.

# dnf update -y
Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:49 ago on Mon 21 Feb 2022 07:39:22 PM PKT.
Dependencies resolved.
Nothing to do.
Complete!

Our Linux server is already up-to-date. The result may vary on your operating system.

Check the Linux Kernel and operating system version, being used in this installation guide.

# uname -r
4.18.0-348.12.2.el8_5.x86_64

# cat /etc/os-release
NAME="Rocky Linux"
VERSION="8.5 (Green Obsidian)"
ID="rocky"
ID_LIKE="rhel centos fedora"
VERSION_ID="8.5"
PLATFORM_ID="platform:el8"
PRETTY_NAME="Rocky Linux 8.5 (Green Obsidian)"
ANSI_COLOR="0;32"
CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:rocky:rocky:8:GA"
HOME_URL="https://rockylinux.org/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.rockylinux.org/"
ROCKY_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="Rocky Linux"
ROCKY_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION="8"

Install Cockpit on Rocky Linux:

In Rocky Linux 8, Cockpit software is available in standard yum repositories. Therefore, you can easily install it by executing a dnf command.

# dnf install -y cockpit

After successful installation of web GUI management software, enable and start Cockpit service.

# systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/sockets.target.wants/cockpit.socket → /usr/lib/systemd/system/cockpit.socket.

Check the status of Cockpit service.

# systemctl status cockpit.socket
● cockpit.socket - Cockpit Web Service Socket
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/cockpit.socket; enabled; vendor pres>
   Active: active (listening) since Mon 2022-02-21 19:48:06 PKT; 34s ago
     Docs: man:cockpit-ws(8)
   Listen: [::]:9090 (Stream)
  Process: 2150 ExecStartPost=/bin/ln -snf active.motd /run/cockpit/motd (code=>
  Process: 2143 ExecStartPost=/usr/share/cockpit/motd/update-motd  localhost (c>
    Tasks: 0 (limit: 5808)
   Memory: 4.0K
   CGroup: /system.slice/cockpit.socket

Feb 21 19:48:06 rockylinux-01.centlinux.com systemd[1]: Starting Cockpit Web Se>
Feb 21 19:48:06 rockylinux-01.centlinux.com systemd[1]: Listening on Cockpit We>

Configure Linux Firewall:

Cockpit uses default service port 9090/tcp. Therefore, you may have to enable this port or enable predefined cockpit service in Linux firewall.

# firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=cockpit
Warning: ALREADY_ENABLED: cockpit
success

You can see that, the cockpit service is already enabled by the installer.

Accessing Cockpit Web GUI Management Software:

Open URL https://rockylinux-01.centlinux.com:9090 in a web browser.

You may encounter some privacy warning.

This is because Cockpit software is using self-signed SSL/TLS certificates.

Ignore this warning and add a Security Exception.

You have successfully login to Cockpit Web GUI Management Software.

Conclusion:

In this article, you have learned how to install Cockpit Web GUI Management Software on Rocky Linux 8 or other RPM based distros.

How to install Cockpit on Rocky Linux 8

Table of Contents: