FAQ » VPS
How do I install Cockpit on CentOS 7?
Cockpit is a free and open source program for Linux server management. It is very lightweight and has a beautiful, easy to use web interface. It allows system administrators to easily perform tasks such as starting Docker containers, storage administration, and network configuration.
In this tutorial you will learn how to install the latest version of Cockpit on CentOS 7.
Install Cockpit
We can install the software from the default CentOS repository using the following command.
sudo yum -y install cockpit
Once you have installed Cockpit, start and enable it using the following commands.
sudo systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket
Configure firewall
Run the following commands to allow all the required ports through the firewall.
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=cockpit
sudo firewall-cmd --reload
The installation of Cockpit is now complete, you can access the dashboard by navigating to the following URL.
http://<your-server>:9090
You may be prompted with a security warning about the SSL certificate of the site as it is self-signed, but you can ignore the warning and proceed to login area. Log into Cockpit using the root credentials of your VPS.
Installing new SSL certs
In order to use SSL certificates you need to combine them into one file in the following location with the cert file ending in .cert. The public key should be first, then the private.
ls /etc/cockpit/ws-certs.d
It should look something like this.
cat /etc/cockpit/ws-certs.d/ssl.cert
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
...
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
...
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
...
-----END PRIVATE KEY-----
Virtual Machines
If you want the ability to manage Virtual Machines , you need to install:
yum install -y cockpit-machines
Troubleshooting
Authorization not available. Check if polkit service is running
Problem
# systemctl start cockpit
Authorization not available. Check if polkit service is running or see debug message for more information.
Failed to start cockpit.service: Connection timed out
Solution
sudo yum -y install setroubleshoot setools
NET::ERR_CERT_INVALID
Problem
"Your connection is not private Attackers might be trying to steal your information from hostname (for example, passwords, messages or credit cards). Learn more NET::ERR_CERT_INVALID"
Solution
The only workaround for this seems to be to type in: "thisisunsafe".
Once logged in, you can request free SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt using Webmin > Webmin SSL SSL Encryption page.
Last updated: 2017-05-01