Cockpit: Lightweight Server Management Dashboard

What Is Cockpit?

Cockpit is a web-based server management tool developed by Red Hat. It provides a real-time dashboard for monitoring and administering Linux servers through a browser.

Installation

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install -y cockpit
sudo systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket

# Rocky/Alma Linux (often pre-installed)
sudo dnf install -y cockpit
sudo systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket

Access

https://your-server-ip:9090

Log in with your system credentials (root or any sudo user).

Features

• Dashboard — real-time CPU, memory, disk, and network graphs
• Logs — browse and search systemd journal
• Storage — manage disks, partitions, RAID, and LVM
• Networking — configure interfaces, bonds, bridges
• Services — start, stop, enable systemd services
• Accounts — manage users and groups
• Terminal — embedded web terminal
• Updates — view and apply system updates

Cockpit Modules

# Container management
sudo apt install -y cockpit-podman

# Virtual machine management
sudo apt install -y cockpit-machines

# Storage management
sudo apt install -y cockpit-storaged

Multi-Server Management

Cockpit can manage multiple servers from a single dashboard. Add remote hosts via the dashboard interface — they connect over SSH.

Why Cockpit?

Unlike cPanel or Plesk, Cockpit does not configure services for you — it provides a visual interface for tasks you would normally do via command line. It is ideal for admins who want quick visual monitoring without the overhead of full hosting panels.