portainer Installation Guide Installation Guide

portainer is a free and open-source container management platform. Portainer simplifies container management across Docker, Swarm, and Kubernetes environments, providing a GUI alternative to command-line tools

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 256MB minimum

Storage: 100MB for installation

Network: Docker API access

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 9000 (default portainer port)

Port 8000 for edge agent

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install portainer
sudo dnf install -y portainer

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now portainer

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=9000/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
portainer --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install portainer
sudo apt install -y portainer

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now portainer

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 9000

# Verify installation
portainer --version

bash

# Install portainer
sudo pacman -S portainer

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now portainer

# Verify installation
portainer --version

bash

# Install portainer
apk add --no-cache portainer

# Enable and start service
rc-update add portainer default
rc-service portainer start

# Verify installation
portainer --version

bash

# Install portainer
sudo zypper install -y portainer

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now portainer

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=9000/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
portainer --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install portainer

# Start service
brew services start portainer

# Verify installation
portainer --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install portainer

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'portainer_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service portainer start

# Verify installation
portainer --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install portainer

# Or using Scoop
scoop install portainer

# Verify installation
portainer --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/portainer

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
portainer --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable portainer

# Start service
sudo systemctl start portainer

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop portainer

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart portainer

# Check status
sudo systemctl status portainer

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u portainer -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add portainer default

# Start service
rc-service portainer start

# Stop service
rc-service portainer stop

# Restart service
rc-service portainer restart

# Check status
rc-service portainer status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'portainer_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service portainer start

# Stop service
service portainer stop

# Restart service
service portainer restart

# Check status
service portainer status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start portainer
brew services stop portainer
brew services restart portainer

# Check status
brew services list | grep portainer

powershell

# Start service
net start portainer

# Stop service
net stop portainer

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service portainer
Stop-Service portainer
Restart-Service portainer

# Check status
Get-Service portainer

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream portainer_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:9000;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name portainer.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name portainer.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/portainer.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/portainer.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://portainer_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName portainer.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://portainer.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName portainer.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/portainer.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/portainer.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:9000/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:9000/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend portainer_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/portainer.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend portainer_backend

backend portainer_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server portainer1 127.0.0.1:9000 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R portainer:portainer /etc/portainer
sudo chmod 750 /etc/portainer

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=9000/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status portainer

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u portainer -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep portainer)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/portainer"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/portainer-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/portainer /var/lib/portainer

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/portainer-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop portainer

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/portainer/portainer-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start portainer

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u portainer -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/portainer/portainer.log

# Check configuration
portainer --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/portainer

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 9000

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 9000

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep portainer)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep portainer)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 9000

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  portainer:
    image: portainer:latest
    ports:
      - "9000:9000"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/portainer
      - ./data:/var/lib/portainer
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update portainer

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade portainer

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu portainer

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade portainer

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update portainer

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade portainer

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/portainer-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/portainer

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart portainer

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/portainer

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/portainer -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/portainer

Official Documentation: https://docs.portainer.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/portainer/portainer

Community Forum: https://forum.portainer.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.portainer.org/best-practices

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Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

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