Install PMM Server with Podman on Docker image

This section provides instructions for running PMM Server with Podman based on our Docker image.

The tags used here are for the current release (PMM 2.33.0). Other tags are available.

See also

Docker

Podman is an open-source project available on most Linux platforms and resides on GitHub. Podman is a daemonless container engine for developing, managing, and running Open Container Initiative (OCI) containers and container images on your Linux System.

Non-privileged users could run containers under the control of Podman.

It could be just aliased (alias docker=podman) with docker and work with the same way. All instructions from Docker section also apply here.

Percona recommends running PMM as a non-privileged user and running it as part of the SystemD service provided. SystemD service ensures that the service is running and maintains logs and other management features (start, stop, etc.).

Before you start

• Install Podman.
• Configure rootless Podman.

• Install Watchtower to automatically update your containers with the following considerations:

  • Ensure Watchtower is only accessible from within the Docker network or local host to prevent unauthorized access and enhance container security.
  • Configure network settings to expose only the PMM Server container to the external network, keeping Watchtower isolated within the Docker network.
  • Grant Watchtower access to the Docker socket to monitor and manage containers effectively, ensuring proper security measures are in place to protect the Docker socket.
  • Verify that both Watchtower and PMM Server are on the same network, or ensure PMM Server can connect to Watchtower for communication. This network setup is essential for PMM Server to initiate updates through Watchtower.

Run as non-privileged user to start PMM

Availability

This feature is available starting with PMM 2.29.0.

Summary

• Install.
• Configure.
• Enable and Start.
• Open the PMM UI in a browser.

---

To run Podman as a non-privileged user:

1. Install:

   Create ~/.config/systemd/user/pmm-server.service file:

   mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user/
   cat << "EOF" > ~/.config/systemd/user/pmm-server.service
   [Unit]
   Description=pmm-server
   Wants=network-online.target
   After=network-online.target
   After=nss-user-lookup.target nss-lookup.target
   After=time-sync.target
   
   [Service]
   Type=simple
   
   # set environment for this unit
   Environment=PMM_PUBLIC_PORT=8443
   Environment=PMM_VOLUME_NAME=%N
   Environment=PMM_TAG=2.33.0
   Environment=PMM_IMAGE=docker.io/percona/pmm-server
   Environment=PMM_ENV_FILE=%h/.config/pmm-server/pmm-server.env
   
   # optional env file that could override previous env settings for this unit
   EnvironmentFile=-%h/.config/pmm-server/env
   
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/podman run --rm --replace=true --name=%N -p ${PMM_PUBLIC_PORT}:443/tcp --ulimit=host --volume=${PMM_VOLUME_NAME}:/srv --env-file=${PMM_ENV_FILE} --health-cmd=none --health-interval=disable ${PMM_IMAGE}:${PMM_TAG}
   ExecStop=/usr/bin/podman stop -t 10 %N
   Restart=on-failure
   RestartSec=20
   
   [Install]
   Alias=%N
   WantedBy=default.target
   
   EOF
   

   Create ~/.config/pmm-server/pmm-server.env file:

   mkdir -p ~/.config/pmm-server/
   cat << "EOF" > ~/.config/pmm-server/pmm-server.env
   # env file passed to the container
   # full list of environment variables:
   # https://www.percona.com/doc/percona-monitoring-and-management/2.x/setting-up/server/docker.html#environment-variables
   
   # keep updates disabled
   # do image replacement instead (update the tag and restart the service)
   DISABLE_UPDATES=1
   EOF
   

2. Configure:

   There are 2 configuration files: 1. ~/.config/pmm-server/pmm-server.env defines environment variables for PMM Server (PMM parameters like RBAC feature and etc) 2. ~/.config/pmm-server/env defines environment variables for SystemD service (image tags, repo and etc)

   SystemD service passes the environment parameters from the pmm-server.envfile (in ~/.config/pmm-server/pmm-server.env) to PMM. For more information about container environment variables, check [Docker Environment].

   SystemD service uses some environment variables that could be customized if needed:

   Environment=PMM_PUBLIC_PORT=8443
   Environment=PMM_VOLUME_NAME=%N
   Environment=PMM_TAG=2.33.0
   Environment=PMM_IMAGE=docker.io/percona/pmm-server
   

   You can override the environment variables by defining them in the file ~/.config/pmm-server/env. For example, to override the path to a custom registry ~/.config/pmm-server/env:

   mkdir -p ~/.config/pmm-server/
   cat << "EOF" > ~/.config/pmm-server/env
   PMM_TAG=2.31.0
   PMM_IMAGE=docker.io/percona/pmm-server
   PMM_PUBLIC_PORT=8443
   EOF
   

   Important

   Ensure that you modify PMM_TAG in ~/.config/pmm-server/env and update it regularly as Percona cannot update it. It needs to be done by you.

3. Enable and start:

   systemctl --user enable --now pmm-server
   

4. Activate the podman socket using the Podman socket activation instructions.

5. Pass the following command to Docker Socket to start Watchtower. Make sure to modify the command to use your Podman socket path:

   docker  run -v $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/podman/podman.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -e WATCHTOWER_HTTP_API_UPDATE=1 -e WATCHTOWER_HTTP_API_TOKEN=123 --hostname=watchtower --network=pmm_default docker.io/perconalab/watchtower
   

6. Visit https://localhost:8443 to see the PMM user interface in a web browser. (If you are accessing host remotely, replace localhost with the IP or server name of the host.)

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