Chapter 3. Installing web console add-ons and creating custom pages


Depending on how you want to use your Red Hat Enterprise Linux system, you can add additional available applications to the web console or create custom pages based on your use case.

3.1. Add-on applications for the RHEL web console

While the cockpit package is a part of Red Hat Enterprise Linux by default, you can install add-on applications on demand. You can choose from the following two methods:

  1. In the web console, click Applications and use the Install button in the list of available and already-installed applications.

    Add-on applications in the RHEL web console
  2. In the terminal, use the dnf install command:

    # dnf install <add-on>
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    In the previous command, replace <add-on> by a package name from the list of available add-on applications for the RHEL web console.

Feature namePackage nameUsage

File manager

cockpit-files

Managing files and directories in the standard web-console interface

HA cluster management

cockpit-ha-cluster [a]

The pcsd Web UI for configuring Red Hat High Availability clusters

Image builder

cockpit-image-builder

Building customized operating system images

Machines

cockpit-machines

Managing libvirt virtual machines

PackageKit

cockpit-packagekit

Software updates and application installation (usually installed by default)

PCP

cockpit-pcp

Persistent and more fine-grained performance data (installed on demand from the UI)

Podman

cockpit-podman

Managing containers and managing container images

Session recording

cockpit-session-recording

Recording and managing user sessions

Storage

cockpit-storaged

Managing storage through udisks

[a] Additional steps such as enabling the pcsd service might be required. See the Installing cluster software section in the Configuring and managing high availability clusters document for more information.

3.2. Creating new pages in the web console

If you want to add customized functions to your Red Hat Enterprise Linux web console, you must add the package directory that contains the HTML and JavaScript files for the page that runs the required function.

For detailed information about adding custom pages, see Creating Plugins for the Cockpit User Interface on the Cockpit Project website.

3.3. Overriding the manifest settings in the web console

You can modify the menu of the web console for a particular user and all users of the system. In the cockpit project, a package name is a directory name. A package contains the manifest.json file along with other files. Default settings are present in the manifest.json file. You can override the default cockpit menu settings by creating a <package-name>.override.json file at a specific location for the specified user.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Override manifest settings in the <systemd>.override.json file in a text editor of your choice, for example:

    1. To edit for all users, enter:

      # vi /etc/cockpit/<systemd>.override.json
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    2. To edit for a single user, enter:

      # vi ~/.config/cockpit/<systemd>.override.json
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  2. Edit the required file with the following details:

    {
      "menu": {
      "services": null,
      "logs": {
          "order": -1
      }
     }
    }
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    • The null value hides the services tab
    • The -1 value moves the logs tab to the first place.
  3. Restart the cockpit service:

    # systemctl restart cockpit.service
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