How to Install Cockpit on Void Linux

Cockpit is a web-based server management tool that allows you to manage various aspects of your Linux server. In this tutorial, we will go through the steps of installing Cockpit on Void Linux using the command line.

Prerequisites

Before starting, you should have the following:

Step 1: Update the Package Repository

Open your terminal window and log in to your Void Linux server as root. Then, update the package repository index by running the following command:

xbps-install -S

This command will update the local package repository index with the latest versions of available packages.

Step 2: Install Cockpit

Once the package repository is updated, you can proceed to install Cockpit on your Void Linux server using the following command:

xbps-install cockpit

This command will download and install the Cockpit package along with all required dependencies.

Step 3: Secure Cockpit with SSL

By default, Cockpit is not accessible over SSL. To secure your server, you need to configure Cockpit to use SSL. Here's how:

Generate a self-signed SSL certificate

Execute the following commands to create a self-signed SSL certificate:

mkdir /etc/cockpit
cd /etc/cockpit
openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout cockpit.key -out cockpit.crt
chmod 400 cockpit.key

These commands will create a new directory /etc/cockpit/, generate a new SSL private key file cockpit.key, and a self-signed SSL certificate file cockpit.crt. The chmod command makes sure that only root can read the SSL private key.

Configure Cockpit to use SSL

To configure Cockpit to use SSL, you need to edit the /etc/cockpit/cockpit.conf file with your favorite text editor:

vi /etc/cockpit/cockpit.conf

Make sure the following line is uncommented (remove the # if present) and points to the path of the SSL certificate and private key you created earlier:

TLSKey=/etc/cockpit/cockpit.key
TLSCert=/etc/cockpit/cockpit.crt

Save and close the file.

Restart Cockpit

To apply the changes, restart the Cockpit service:

systemctl restart cockpit

Step 4: Access Cockpit

Now that Cockpit is installed and secured with SSL, you can access it via a web browser at https://your-server-name:9090. Replace your-server-name with your server's hostname or IP address.

You will be prompted for your username and password. Enter the username and password of a user who has root access to the server.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Cockpit on your Void Linux server and secured it with SSL. You can now use Cockpit to manage various aspects of your server.

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