Docker Management with Portainer: Web-Based Container Control

Portainer is an open-source container management platform that lets you manage Docker and Kubernetes environments through a web browser. Without requiring command-line knowledge, you can easily start, stop containers, view logs, and deploy stacks.

What is Portainer CE?

Portainer Community Edition (CE) is free and open-source. Key features:

Container Management: Start, stop, restart, delete
Image Management: Pull, push, build, tag operations
Stack Deploy: Deploy Docker Compose files from the web interface
Volume/Network: Storage and network management
Log Viewing: Real-time container logs
Console Access: Connect to containers via web terminal
User Management: Role-based access control

Installation

Create Docker Volume

hljs bash

# Create volume to store Portainer data
docker volume create portainer_data

Install Portainer CE

hljs bash

docker run -d \
  --name portainer \
  --restart=always \
  -p 8000:8000 \
  -p 9443:9443 \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -v portainer_data:/data \
  portainer/portainer-ce:latest

After installation:

https://SERVER_IP:9443

On first login, you need to set an admin password. If you don't log in within 5 minutes, Portainer needs to be restarted for security reasons.

Installation with Docker Compose

hljs yaml

# portainer-compose.yml
version: '3.8'
services:
  portainer:
    image: portainer/portainer-ce:latest
    container_name: portainer
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
      - "9443:9443"
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      - portainer_data:/data
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true

volumes:
  portainer_data:

hljs bash

docker compose -f portainer-compose.yml up -d

Docker Socket Connection

Portainer communicates with the Docker daemon via /var/run/docker.sock. Access to this socket provides full control over Docker:

hljs bash

# Check socket permissions
ls -la /var/run/docker.sock
# srw-rw---- 1 root docker 0 ... /var/run/docker.sock

# Add user to docker group (if needed)
usermod -aG docker $USER

Access to the Docker socket is equivalent to root privileges. Run Portainer on trusted networks and use a strong password.

Deploying Stacks (Docker Compose)

Deploy Stack from Web Interface

Stacks → Add Stack
Enter stack name
Paste Docker Compose content or enter Git repository URL
Add environment variables
Click Deploy the stack

hljs yaml

# Example: WordPress Stack
version: '3.8'
services:
  wordpress:
    image: wordpress:latest
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    environment:
      WORDPRESS_DB_HOST: db
      WORDPRESS_DB_USER: ${DB_USER}
      WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
      WORDPRESS_DB_NAME: wordpress
    volumes:
      - wordpress_data:/var/www/html
    depends_on:
      - db

  db:
    image: mysql:8.0
    restart: always
    environment:
      MYSQL_DATABASE: wordpress
      MYSQL_USER: ${DB_USER}
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: ${DB_ROOT_PASSWORD}
    volumes:
      - db_data:/var/lib/mysql

volumes:
  wordpress_data:
  db_data:

Deploy Stack from Git Repository

Select Repository option when creating a stack
Enter Git URL: https://github.com/user/repo
Specify branch and compose file path
Enable GitOps updates for automatic updates

Container Management

Container Operations

Operations available on containers from the Portainer interface:

hljs bash

# In Portainer interface:
# Containers → select container → Actions:
# - Start / Stop / Restart / Kill / Pause
# - Logs (real-time)
# - Console (web terminal)
# - Inspect (JSON details)
# - Stats (CPU, RAM, Network usage)

Web Terminal (Exec Console)

Open a terminal to a container from your web browser:

Containers → Click on container name
Console tab → Connect
Select shell: /bin/bash or /bin/sh

hljs bash

# Commands you can run inside the container:
ls -la /app
cat /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
nginx -t
env | grep DATABASE

Image Management

hljs bash

# From Portainer interface:
# Images → Pull Image
# Registry: docker.io (default)
# Image: nginx:latest

# To add a custom registry:
# Registries → Add Registry
# URL: registry.example.com
# Enter username and password

Volume Management

hljs bash

# From Portainer interface:
# Volumes → Add Volume
# Name: myapp_data
# Driver: local

# Volume details:
# - Which containers are using it
# - Disk usage
# - Mount point: /var/lib/docker/volumes/myapp_data/_data

Network Management

hljs bash

# From Portainer interface:
# Networks → Add Network
# Name: myapp-network
# Driver: bridge
# Subnet: 172.20.0.0/16

# Connect containers to network:
# Container → Network → Join Network

User and Team Management

Creating Users

Settings → Users → Add User
Set username and password
Assign role: Administrator or Standard User

Creating Teams

hljs bash

# From Portainer interface:
# Settings → Teams → Add Team
# Team name: developers
# Add members: user1, user2

Environment Access Control

hljs bash

# Environments → Select Environment → Access Control
# Grant access to specific users or teams
# Role: Manager (full access) or Operator (limited)

Automatic Updates with Webhooks

hljs bash

# Create webhook for Stack or Service:
# Stack → Stack name → Webhooks
# Copy webhook URL

# Usage in GitHub Actions:
curl -X POST https://portainer.example.com/api/webhooks/WEBHOOK_TOKEN

# Usage in GitLab CI:
wget --post-data '' https://portainer.example.com/api/webhooks/WEBHOOK_TOKEN

Edge Agent (Remote Server Management)

Use Edge Agent to manage servers behind a firewall:

hljs bash

# In Portainer:
# Environments → Add Environment → Edge Agent
# Copy Edge ID and Edge Key

# Install Edge Agent on remote server:
docker run -d \
  --name portainer_edge_agent \
  --restart=always \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -v /var/lib/docker/volumes:/var/lib/docker/volumes \
  -v /:/host \
  -v portainer_agent_data:/data \
  -e EDGE=1 \
  -e EDGE_ID=YOUR_EDGE_ID \
  -e EDGE_KEY=YOUR_EDGE_KEY \
  -e EDGE_INSECURE_POLL=1 \
  portainer/agent:latest

Updating Portainer

hljs bash

# Stop and remove current container
docker stop portainer
docker rm portainer

# Pull latest image
docker pull portainer/portainer-ce:latest

# Restart (data is preserved in volume)
docker run -d \
  --name portainer \
  --restart=always \
  -p 8000:8000 \
  -p 9443:9443 \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -v portainer_data:/data \
  portainer/portainer-ce:latest

By installing Portainer on REXE servers, you can manage all your Docker containers from a single web interface. It's especially convenient for servers running multiple services.

Docker Management with Portainer: Web-Based Container Control

Table of Contents