Shulou(Shulou.com)06/01 Report--

In this issue, the editor will bring you about the evolution of Cockpit and its web page user interface. The article is rich in content and analyzed and described from a professional point of view. I hope you can get something after reading this article.

More than three years ago, Fedora magazine published an article entitled "Overview of Cockpit". Since then, there have been some dramatic changes in the interface of Cockit. Today's Cockpit is more concise and larger fonts make better use of screen space.

The editor will introduce some of the changes in its user interface. We will also explore some of the common tools available in the web interface to simplify the tedious tasks of system administrators.

Cockpit cockpit installation

Cockpit can be installed using the dnf install cockpit command. This provides a minimum setting and provides the basic tools needed to use the interface.

Another option is to install the "Headless Management" group, which installs additional packages to extend Cockpit functionality. It includes extensions for NetworkManager, software packages, disk, and SELinux management.

Run the following command to enable the Web service and open the firewall port at startup:

$sudo systemctl enable-- now cockpit.socketCreated symlink / etc/systemd/system/sockets.target.wants/cockpit.socket-- > / usr/lib/systemd/system/cockpit.socket $sudo firewall-cmd-- permanent-- add-service cockpitsuccess$ sudo firewall-cmd-- reloadsuccess login web interface

To access the web interface, open your favorite browser, enter the server's domain name or IP in the address bar, and then enter the service port (9090). Because Cockpit uses HTTPS, a self-signed certificate is created during installation to encrypt passwords and other sensitive data. You can safely accept this certificate or request a CA certificate from your system administrator or trusted source.

Once the certificate is accepted, a new and improved login screen appears. Long-term users will notice that the username and password fields have been moved to the top. In addition, the white background behind the certificate field immediately attracts the user's attention.

Since the last article, the login screen has added a feature to log in with sudo privileges-if your account is a member of the wheel group. Check the box next to "reuse my password for privileged tasks" to increase your permissions.

Another version of the login interface is the option to connect to a remote server that is also running the Cockpit Web service. Click "other options" and enter the hostname or IP address of the remote machine to manage it from your local browser.

Home screen view

At the beginning, we will see a basic overview with common system information, including the brand and model of the machine, the operating system, whether the system is up-to-date, and so on.

Clicking on the brand / model of the system displays hardware information, such as BIOS/ firmware. It also includes details of the components that can be seen in the lspci.

Click on any of the options, and the details of the device will be displayed on the right. For example, the CPU Core percentage option shows details of how many CPU cores are used by users and kernels. In addition, the memory and swap chart shows the amount of memory used by the system, the amount of cache, and the activity of the swap partition. The "disk Ibank O" and "Network Traffic" charts are connected to the "Storage and Network" section of Cockpit. These will be revisited in a subsequent article that discusses system tools in detail.

SSH key and authentication

Because security is a key factor for system administrators, Cockpit now has the option to view machine MD5 and SHA256 key fingerprints. Click the Show fingerprint option to display the server's ECDSA, ED25519, and RSA fingerprint keys.

You can also add your own key by clicking on the user name in the upper right corner and selecting "verify". Click "add key" to verify the machine on other systems. You can also revoke your permissions in the Cockpit Web service by clicking the "X" button on the right.

Change the hostname and join the domain

Changing the hostname can be solved with one click on the home page. Click the currently displayed hostname and enter a new name in the change Hostname box. One of the latest features is to provide an option for "abbreviation".

Another addition to Cockpit is the ability to connect to a directory server. Click join Domain and a pop-up window appears asking for the domain address or name, organizational unit (optional), and credentials of the domain administrator. The Domain Membership group provides all the packages needed to join the LDAP server, including FreeIPA, and the popular Active Directory.

To exit the domain, click the domain name, and then click "leave Domain". A warning will appear explaining what will happen once the system is no longer on the domain. To confirm, click the red "leave Domain" button.

Configure NTP and system date and time

You can definitely make maximum adjustments using the command line and editing the configuration file. Sometimes, however, a more direct approach is sufficient. With Cockpit, you can choose to set the date and time of the system manually or automatically using NTP. Once synchronized, the information icon on the right changes from red to blue. If you set the date and time manually, the icon will disappear.

To change the time zone, enter the continent and a list of cities will pop up below.

Shutdown and restart

You can easily shut down and restart the server on the home screen of Cockpit. You can also delay shutdown / restart and send messages to warn users.

Set up performance Profil

If you have installed the tuned and tuned-utils packages, you can change the performance profile on the home screen. By default, it is set to the recommended profile. However, if the purpose of the server requires more performance, we can change the configuration file in Cockpit to meet these requirements.

Web version terminal console

A Linux system administrator's toolbox is useless if it doesn't have access to the terminal. Terminals allow administrators to fine-tune the server, not just the contents of the Cockpit. With the addition of theme features, administrators can quickly adjust text and background colors according to their preferences.

In addition, if you enter the exit command incorrectly, clicking the "reset" button in the upper right corner will provide a new screen with a flashing cursor.

Add remote server and dashboard layout

The "Headless Management" group includes the dashboard module (cockpit-dashboard). It provides an overview of CPU, memory, network, and disk performance in the form of real-time charts. Remote servers can also be added and managed through the same interface.

For example, to add a remote computer to the dashboard, click the + button. Enter the name or IP address of the server and select the color you want. This helps you distinguish the server statistics in the diagram. To switch between servers, click the host name (as shown in the screen animation below). To remove a server from the list, click the check mark icon, and then click the red trash can icon. The following example demonstrates how Cockpit manages a remote machine called server02.local.lan.

Document and ask for help

As always, man pages are a good place to find documents. Do a simple search in the command line results to find pages related to different aspects of using and configuring the Web service.

$man-k cockpitcockpit (1)-Cockpitcockpit-bridge (1)-Cockpit Host Bridgecockpit-desktop (1)-Cockpit Desktop integrationcockpit-ws (8)-Cockpit web servicecockpit.conf (5)-Cockpit configuration file

There is also a software package called cockpit-doc in the Fedora repository. The description of this package is the best explanation.

As more and more users adopt Cockpit, optional features will continue to increase. This interface is ideal for administrators who want a lightweight interface to control the server.

The above is the evolution of the Cockpit and its web page user interface shared by the editor. If you happen to have similar doubts, you might as well refer to the above analysis to understand. If you want to know more about it, you are welcome to follow the industry information channel.

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