Podman¶
Podman is supported as a container runtime on devices running qbee-agent 2024.23 or later. The configuration process is identical to Docker, so this page covers only what differs. For the actual deployment steps, see Deploy a Docker Container.
What's Different¶
Podman and Docker expose the same interface, so from Qbee's configuration UI the two are interchangeable. The differences below live on the device and do not change how you configure containers in Qbee:
- Daemonless. Podman has no background daemon. Containers run as fork-exec processes, which reduces attack surface and removes a single point of failure.
- Rootless-capable. Podman can run containers without root privileges, isolating the container workload from the host. Rootless operation is set up on the device itself; Qbee does not configure it through its UI.
- Compose compatible. The agent uses Docker Compose v2 (
docker compose), notpodman-compose. To run Compose projects on a Podman device, enable the Podman socket so that Docker Compose v2 can use Podman as its container engine; see the Docker Compose integration for the configuration steps once the device is set up.
The practical reason to choose Podman is usually the device image. Some images ship Podman instead of Docker, typically for security hardening. Qbee uses whichever runtime is installed on the device.
What Next?¶
| I want to... | Go to |
|---|---|
| Deploy a container (steps are the same for Podman) | Deploy a Docker Container |
| Deploy a multi-service stack | Deploy a Docker Compose Project |
| View container status | Inventory |