#sre

Public notes from activescott tagged with #sre

Sunday, April 12, 2026

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

Thanks to Cockpit intentionally using system APIs and commands, a whole team of admins can manage a system in the way they prefer, including the command line and utilities right alongside Cockpit.

Cockpit makes Linux discoverable. You don’t have to remember commands at a command-line.

See your server in a web browser and perform system tasks with a mouse. It’s easy to start containers, administer storage, configure networks, and inspect logs. Basically, you can think of Cockpit like a graphical “desktop interface”, but for individual servers.

Cockpit uses APIs that already exist on the system. It doesn’t reinvent subsystems or add a layer of its own tooling.

By default, Cockpit uses your system’s normal user logins and privileges. Network-wide logins are also supported through single-sign-on and other authentication techniques.

Cockpit itself doesn’t eat resources or even run in the background when you’re not using it. It runs on demand, thanks to systemd socket activation.