Remote Podman client

As explained in Podman in Action: Secure, rootless containers for Kubernetes, microservices, and more

A Podman client is the command-line or programmatic client component that sends container-management requests to a Podman service.

A remote Podman client sends container-management requests to a Podman service instead of creating containers as children of the client process. The regular podman command supports --remote; podman-remote is a client-only build shipped for systems such as macOS and Windows, communicating with a Podman service in a VM or on another machine. section 9.5

A remote connection separates the client workflow from the Linux host that runs the containers:

• Enable SSH access and the Podman socket on the Linux server or VM. section 9.5.2
• Use rootless socket activation with systemctl --user enable --now podman.socket and enable lingering when the service must continue after logout; rootful deployments use the system Podman socket. section 9.5.2
• Configure an SSH destination with podman system connection add, select it with --connection when necessary, and run ordinary Podman commands against the remote host. section 9.5.4
• Expect the familiar command-line interface, but remember that commands execute on the server and some options, including --env-host and --preserve-fds, are unsupported remotely. section 9.5.2

Configure and test an SSH connection

podman system connection add server1 --identity ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 ssh://myuser@192.168.122.1/run/user/1000/podman/podman.sock podman system connection list podman --remote info The first configured connection becomes the default. SSH keys are encouraged, and podman info verifies the selected remote service. section 9.5.4

Figure 9.3 podman --remote connecting over SSH to the server machine

Trace the client’s SSH path to the server machine and its Podman service. section 9.5.2

How Podman in Action: Secure, rootless containers for Kubernetes, microservices, and more covers it

How deep it goes

Explains client-server execution, SSH transport, socket activation, connection configuration, and unsupported remote options.

Examples

Uses podman --remote info, podman --remote run, system connection commands, SSH keys, and local or remote socket diagrams.

What it assumes

Assumes a Linux server or VM with Podman and SSHD, then establishes the socket and rootless lingering requirements explicitly.

What you can do after

Operate/configure remote containers through SSH by enabling the service, registering a connection, selecting it, and verifying Podman access.

How it connects

Connects Podman clients with REST APIs, SSH, systemd socket activation, rootless containers, and Podman services.

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Related concepts

• SSHuses · SSH is a cryptographic network protocol providing authenticated and encrypted remote access, command execution, and data transfer over untrusted networks.
• podman system serviceuses · The Podman system service is a background service that exposes Podman container-management operations to clients.
• remote modeuses · Remote mode is an operating mode in which a Podman client sends container-management requests to a Podman service running on another system or through a local service socket.
• Podmankind of · Podman is a daemonless, open-source container engine for building, running, and managing containers and container images.
• Linuxcontrasts with · Linux is an open-source operating-system kernel and the family of Unix-like operating systems built around it.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Podman in Action: Secure, rootless containers for Kubernetes, microservices, and more. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.