To manage Docker containers on Windows 10/8/7, Linux (Ubuntu, CentOS, Redhat…) and macOS graphically use these top-in-class Docker GUI web and desktop management tools in the free or open source category.
Docker is basically an open-source virtualized environment that allows users to distribute and install multiple applications on the server without interfering with each other’s installation and process. Docker benefits most from cluster environments and data centers. Provides an isolated environment for the container. Now, what are Docker containers?
You can compare the Docker container with multiple containers available in a single shipyard with different items. In the same way, Docker has implemented a technology called containers, which can be said to be a term used alternately instead of virtual machines. However, containers take up less space compared to regular virtual machines.
Operating system images created by different developers to be used in containers are a package of a single application and all dependencies, such as libraries, utilities, and static data, in an image file, but without a complete operating system. That’s why containers can be compared to lightweight virtualization. All containers installed on any Docker can run simultaneously using the host OS kernel but with isolated processes. This gives them better performance while using few resources. The images running on it are only a few MB. However, unlike VirtualBox or Hyper-V, natively containers and Docker are available to manage using a command-line interface, whether you want to download some OS image or manage different applications, you need to type commands. It could be cumbersome for newbies or professionals who have to manage multiple containers on personal desktops or data centers or server clusters.
So, to mitigate all this inconvenience, Docker provides an API that can be used to manage it using GUI-based desktop applications and web-based management tools.
Best Docker GUI Tools for Managing Containers 2023
Docker
Desktop Dashboard
is an easy-to-install free application provided by Docker developers. We can install it on Mac, Linux and Windows operating systems. However, larger companies with more than 250 employees need to purchase a paid subscription.
The benefit of using Docker Desktop is that it offers a simple interface that allows users to manage containers, applications, and images on their local PC without touching the command line.
Therefore, until now it
was only available for Windows and macOS, but now we can install it and have the benefits of it even on Linux distributions like Ubuntu Linux. Includes Docker Engine, Docker CLI client, Docker Buildx, Docker Compose, Docker Content Trust, Kubernetes, and Credential Helper.
Learn how to install
Docker Desktop on Linux
Portainer
– UI For Docker Portainer
community edition is the open source GUI for Docker that is extremely light in weight, only a few Kbs. The best thing is that it is cross-platform and compatible with Windows 10/8/7, Linux and macOS for installation. Management of individual Docker engines is usually done using the Docker CLI when using Community Edition and Portainer provides you with a free, intuitive, and easy-to-deploy Docker GUI that allows management of containers, volumes, and more.
After logging into Portainer CE, the dashboard will display a good overview of the Docker host. At a glance, you can see hardware information such as the number of processors and the amount of RAM, as well as Docker-specific information (number of containers, images, volumes, and networks).
You can take a demo of Portainer before installing it on your own machine. The dem account username is admin and password tryportainer, use and you will get a complete control panel. From where you can create Docker containers and manage other services. Don’tte: Every 15 minutes the demo account will be restored.
In addition, it offers application templates, user management and other possibilities, which are not available only with Docker and offer great added value. Some of their templates are WordPress, OpenFass, IronFucntions, CockroachDB, Microsoft OMS agent and more.
Portainer web GUI user management for Docker, in particular, has great potential if expanded to include comprehensive rights management in the future. In addition, it is also available on NAS operating systems such as Synology and Asustor ADM.
Get Portainer
or see How to install Portainer Docker Web
GUI
Rancher Rancher
is
also an open source GUI software and pretty good for what it’s meant for, which is managing different resources, such as images and containers. Rancher is a complete software stack for teams that adopt containers and can multiple Kubernetes clusters.
The
Rancher management server can be deployed on any Linux server or cluster for high availability, however, before using it make sure that the Docker is installed on the same server. Rancher is an open source container management platform, it facilitates the deployment and management of containers in any organization; After your access control is configured, users can log in to it to create environments. Ranch environments are a cluster of servers that run under the cluster management framework and have specific access management control policies. Users can use different environments with it, such as Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, and more. Once you’ve created your environment, Rancher lets you add hosts and other orchestrated stacks that you want to use. Within management, Rancher provides detailed management of all aspects of the infrastructure and, of course, Docker, as well as the host, containers, storage groups, and container registry. In addition to container services, we can use it to view system services running Kubernetes or swarm.
The real value of Rancher is its ability to provision and manage applications. Users or developers can submit their application directly to it through the CI and CD system, using the Rancher CLI or API.
To install the Rancher GUI tool simply run the following command
Docker: sudo docker run -d -restart=unless-stopped -p 80:80 -p 443:443 rancher/
rancher
DockStation Docker GUI
Well, another free but not open source software that can provide a user interface to the Docker command line is DockStation. The interface of this software is somewhat similar to the Kimetaic, but it comes with a wide range of features. You can manage containers and their configuration, whether installing application images, configuring ports, cleaning containers and volumes, starting and stopping some projects, etc. all directly from the DockStation window.
We can even control and manage remote Docker containers without installing the Docker engine locally on the system where the DockStation is, so it is independent in nature. It comes with different useful tools to monitor, search logs, track your server’s CPU and memory consumption, networks and I/O blocks; Port monitor; The best thing is Docker-Compose support, and more.
Available forLinux (Ubuntu 14.04/
16.04/18.04/19.04, CentOS7.1/7.2, SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 or higher), macOS and Windows 7/8/10 or server.
Note: Developers do not issue updates for a long time.
Download DockStation
Kitematic
Kitematic
is
an official graphical user interface (GUI) tool for managing Docker, I said officially because it is by Docker itself. It was previously a third-party open source tool, however, in 2015 Docker had taken over it. As for the features, it is not as extensive as the Portainer, yes, the GUI of the Kitematice for Docker is very simple to understand and easy to operate due to the minimalist approach.
All installed Docker containers will appear on the main screen on cards with the option to manage them. Kitematic is available for Windows 10/8/7 and macOS. It is now part of Docker Toolbox that can be easily installed and also supports using VirtualBox to create a VirtualMachine layer on which Docker is installed and runs the docker engine.
In addition to the popular docker hub images recommended on the screen of this Docker GUI tool, we can also search for others using the search box given to install.
Note: The project is deprecated, but the source code and binary are available on GitHub.
DockerHub The integration gives Kitematic an advantage over Portainer, as we don’t need to write application tags manually to install them. We can switch between Kitematic GUI or Docker CLI to run and manage container applications.
Download Kitematic
Some other Docker GUI tools or projects that are no longer active
: UI for Docker
This is also an
open source project available on GitHub
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