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Chapter 21. Using the container-tools API

Podman 2.0’s new REST-based API, replacing the old varlink remote API, offers both rootful and rootless support. It includes the Libpod API for Podman and a Docker-compatible API to call Podman from platforms like cURL, Postman, Google’s Advanced REST client, and others.

Note

Since the Podman service relies on socket activation, it can not run unless connections are active. You need to manually start the podman.socket service to enable this feature. When a connection activates, the Podman service starts, executes the requested API action, then ends, returning to an inactive state.

You can do the following:

  1. Use systemd to activate the Podman API socket.
  2. Use a Podman client to perform basic commands.

Prerequisites

  • The podman-remote package is installed.

Procedure

  1. Start the service immediately: 

    # systemctl enable --now podman.socket
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  2. To enable the link to var/lib/docker.sock by using the docker-podman package: 

    # dnf install podman-docker
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Verification

  1. Display system information of Podman: 

    # podman-remote info
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  2. Verify the link: 

    # ls -al /var/run/docker.sock
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 23 Nov  4 10:19 /var/run/docker.sock -> /run/podman/podman.sock
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You can use systemd to activate the Podman API socket and podman API service.

Prerequisites

  • The podman-remote package is installed.

Procedure

  1. Enable and start the service immediately: 

    $ systemctl --user enable --now podman.socket
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  2. Optional: To enable programs by using Docker to interact with the rootless Podman socket: 

    $ export DOCKER_HOST=unix:///run/user/<uid>/podman//podman.sock
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Verification

  1. Check the status of the socket: 

    $ systemctl --user status podman.socket
● podman.socket - Podman API Socket
 Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/podman.socket; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (listening) since Mon 2021-08-23 10:37:25 CEST; 9min ago
Docs: man:podman-system-service(1)
Listen: /run/user/1000/podman/podman.sock (Stream)
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/podman.socket
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    The podman.socket is active and is listening at /run/user/<uid>/podman.podman.sock, where <uid> is the user’s ID.

  2. Display system information of Podman: 

    $ podman-remote info
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21.3. Running the Podman API manually
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You can run the Podman API. This is useful for debugging API calls, especially when using the Docker compatibility layer.

Prerequisites

  • The podman-remote package is installed.

Procedure

  1. Run the service for the REST API: 

    # podman system service -t 0 --log-level=debug
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    • The value of 0 means no timeout. The default endpoint for a rootful service is unix:/run/podman/podman.sock.
    • The --log-level <level> option sets the logging level. The standard logging levels are debug, info, warn, error, fatal, and panic.

  2. In another terminal, display system information of Podman. The podman-remote command, unlike the regular podman command, communicates through the Podman socket: 

    # podman-remote info
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  3. To troubleshoot the Podman API and display request and responses, use the curl comman. To get the information about the Podman installation on the Linux server in JSON format: 

    # curl -s --unix-socket /run/podman/podman.sock http://d/v1.0.0/libpod/info | jq
    {
  "host": {
    "arch": "amd64",
    "buildahVersion": "1.15.0",
    "cgroupVersion": "v2",
    "conmon": {
      "package": "conmon-2.0.18-1.module+el8.3.0+7084+c16098dd.x86_64",
      "path": "/usr/bin/conmon",
      "version": "conmon version 2.0.18, commit: 7fd3f71a218f8d3a7202e464252aeb1e942d17eb"
    },
    …
  "version": {
    "APIVersion": 1,
    "Version": "2.0.0",
    "GoVersion": "go1.14.2",
    "GitCommit": "",
    "BuiltTime": "Thu Jan  1 01:00:00 1970",
    "Built": 0,
    "OsArch": "linux/amd64"
  }
}
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    A jq utility is a command-line JSON processor.

  4. Pull the registry.access.redhat.com/ubi10/ubi container image: 

    # curl -XPOST --unix-socket /run/podman/podman.sock -v 'http://d/v1.0.0/images/create?fromImage=registry.access.redhat.com%2Fubi10%2Fubi'
*   Trying /run/podman/podman.sock...
* Connected to d (/run/podman/podman.sock) port 80 (#0)
> POST /v1.0.0/images/create?fromImage=registry.access.redhat.com%2Fubi10%2Fubi HTTP/1.1
> Host: d
> User-Agent: curl/7.61.1
> Accept: /
>
< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
< Content-Type: application/json
< Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2020 13:58:37 GMT
< Content-Length: 231
<
{"status":"pulling image () from registry.access.redhat.com/ubi10/ubi:latest, registry.redhat.io/ubi10/ubi:latest","error":"","progress":"","progressDetail":{},"id":"ecbc6f53bba0d1923ca9e92b3f747da8353a070fccbae93625bd8b47dbee772e"}
* Connection #0 to host d left intact
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  5. Display the pulled image: 

    # curl --unix-socket /run/podman/podman.sock -v 'http://d/v1.0.0/libpod/images/json' | jq
*   Trying /run/podman/podman.sock...
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
  0     0    0     0    0     0      0      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--     0* Connected to d (/run/podman/podman.sock) port 80 (0) > GET /v1.0.0/libpod/images/json HTTP/1.1 > Host: d > User-Agent: curl/7.61.1 > Accept: / > < HTTP/1.1 200 OK < Content-Type: application/json < Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2020 13:59:55 GMT < Transfer-Encoding: chunked < { [12498 bytes data] 100 12485 0 12485 0 0 2032k 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 2438k * Connection #0 to host d left intact [ { "Id": "ecbc6f53bba0d1923ca9e92b3f747da8353a070fccbae93625bd8b47dbee772e", "RepoTags": [ "registry.access.redhat.com/ubi10/ubi:latest", "registry.redhat.io/ubi10/ubi:latest" ], "Created": "2020-09-01T19:44:12.470032Z", "Size": 210838671, "Labels": { "architecture": "x86_64", "build-date": "2020-09-01T19:43:46.041620", "com.redhat.build-host": "cpt-1008.osbs.prod.upshift.rdu2.redhat.com", ... "maintainer": "Red Hat, Inc.", "name": "ubi10", ... "summary": "Provides the latest release of Red Hat Universal Base Image 8.", "url": "https://access.redhat.com/containers//registry.access.redhat.com/ubi10/images/8.2-347",
      ...
    },
    "Names": [
      "registry.access.redhat.com/ubi10/ubi:latest",
      "registry.redhat.io/ubi10/ubi:latest"
    ],
    ...
    ]
  }
]
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