Auto-start containers by using systemd

You can control the state of the systemd system and service manager by using the systemctl command. You can enable, start, stop the service as a non-root user. To install the service as a root user, omit the --user option.

Before you begin

  • The container-tools meta-package is installed.

Procedure

  1. Reload systemd manager configuration: 
    # systemctl --user daemon-reload
  2. Enable the service container.service and start it at boot time: 
    # systemctl --user enable container.service
  3. Start the service immediately: 
    # systemctl --user start container.service
  4. Check the status of the service: 
    $ systemctl --user status container.service
     
    ● container.service - Podman container.service
   Loaded: loaded (/home/user/.config/systemd/user/container.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2020-09-16 11:56:57 CEST; 8s ago
     Docs: man:podman-generate-systemd(1)
  Process: 80602 ExecStart=/usr/bin/podman run --conmon-pidfile //run/user/1000/container.service-pid --cidfile //run/user/1000/container.service-cid -d ubi10-minimal:>
  Process: 80601 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/rm -f //run/user/1000/container.service-pid //run/user/1000/container.service-cid (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 80617 (conmon)
   CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/container.service
           ├─ 2870 /usr/bin/podman
           ├─80612 /usr/bin/pasta --disable-host-loopback --mtu 65520 --enable-sandbox --enable-seccomp -c -e 3 -r 4 --netns-type=path /run/user/1000/netns/cni->
           ├─80614 /usr/bin/fuse-overlayfs -o lowerdir=/home/user/.local/share/containers/storage/overlay/l/YJSPGXM2OCDZPLMLXJOW3NRF6Q:/home/user/.local/share/contain>
           ├─80617 /usr/bin/conmon --api-version 1 -c cbc75d6031508dfd3d78a74a03e4ace1732b51223e72a2ce4aa3bfe10a78e4fa -u cbc75d6031508dfd3d78a74a03e4ace1732b51223e72>
           └─cbc75d6031508dfd3d78a74a03e4ace1732b51223e72a2ce4aa3bfe10a78e4fa
             └─80626 /usr/bin/coreutils --coreutils-prog-shebang=sleep /usr/bin/sleep 1d

    You can check if the service is enabled by using the systemctl is-enabled container.service command.

  5. Optional: To stop container.service, enter: 
    # systemctl --user stop container.service

Results

  • List containers that are running or have exited: 
    # podman ps
     
    CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                            COMMAND  CREATED         STATUS             PORTS  NAMES
f20988d59920  registry.access.redhat.com/ubi10-minimal:latest  top      12 seconds ago  Up 11 seconds ago         funny_zhukovsky