If you want to add a web-based admin panel to your Debian Server, Jack Wallen is here to guide you through the user-friendly Cockpit tool installation process.
Debian Server is an outstanding Linux distribution, renowned for being one of the most stable operating systems available. I have used Debian Server for many deployments and have always found it to exceed my needs and expectations. However, there is one area where it could use some improvements, such as the inclusion of a web-based admin interface.
Fortunately, however, it is possible to install the web-based administration tool Cockpit on a Debian Server. With the addition of Cockpit, you can easily monitor your system, view logs, and manage various aspects of your server. One caveat is that it’s not quite as easy as it is on RHEL-based or Ubuntu-based distros. That’s not to say it’s challenging, but that it requires a few extra steps.
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Let me walk you through the process, so you too can enjoy this handy admin console on your Debian Server.
What you need
The only things you need for this are a running instance of a Debian Server – I’m covering on Bullseye – and a user with sudo privileges. That’s it, let’s get to work.
How to install Cockpit
Log in to your Debian Server instance as a user with sudo privileges and run a quick update with the command:
sudo apt update
Once the update is done, install Cockpit with the command:
sudo apt install cockpit -y
Once the installation is complete, we need to create a special folder to prevent Cockpit from displaying a rather annoying warning in the console. The command to create that directory is:
sudo mkdir -p /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/udisks2/modules
Next, start and enable the Cockpit service with:
sudo systemctl enable --now cockpit
Since the Debian Server has an active UFW firewall, we need to open ports 9090 and 80 with these two commands:
sudo ufw allow 9090
sudo ufw allow 80
How to access Cockpit
Open a web browser and point to https://SERVER:9090, where SERVER is the IP address of the host server. You will be greeted with your Cockpit login (Picture Aminus the brand), where you can login with any user with sudo privileges.
Picture A
After successful login, you will see the Cockpit web-based admin console (Figure BUG), where you can start working with your Debian Server from the convenience of a user-friendly interface.
Figure BUG
Congratulations, you now have an even easier tool to manage your Debian Server deployments. At this point, you can also install plugins, such as cockpit-docker, to extend the tool’s functionality.
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