How to manage Docker and Podman hosts in a homelab

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   Step 1: Add each container host as an SSH host

   In the RemoteAccessApp app, open Connections, click Add host and choose SSH. Use the user who runs your containers, and sign in with a key (see SSH keys). Check the host's key fingerprint the first time you connect.

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   Step 2: Group and tag them

   Put the hosts in a group such as Docker hosts, and tag them by role, for example media, monitoring or pi. Tags make it quick to pick the right hosts when you run a script on several at once.

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   Step 3: Open the Containers tab

   Choose Containers from the host's menu, or click Containers on a connected terminal tab. The app looks for docker, then podman, on that account's path and lists every container, running or not.

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   Step 4: Turn on sudo only if your setup needs it

   If your user isn't allowed to use Docker directly, Use sudo for Docker on this host runs the commands as sudo -n docker. It only works when that account can run Docker with sudo without a password: the app never types a sudo password. The setting is saved with the host.

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   Step 5: Save a workspace

   Put the Containers tabs and dashboards you check most side by side in split view and save them as a workspace, so the whole set comes back with one click. See split view and workspaces.

• Every container with its name, image, state, published ports and age, plus CPU and memory for the running ones, and a summary such as how many are running and stopped.
• Start, Stop and Restart, each confirmed before it runs, so a stray click doesn't take down a service.
• The log of the container you select: its last 300 lines, with Follow for new lines as they arrive and a search box that narrows the lines on show.
• Shell, which opens a new terminal tab inside the container: bash when the container has it, otherwise sh. Leaving that shell puts you back on the host's prompt.

The list refreshes by itself while the tab is on screen and stops reading when it isn't, so a tab left open in the background doesn't keep polling your hosts. If there's nothing to list, the tab says why, for example that Docker's daemon isn't running or that your account isn't allowed to use it.

Open the host's files (an SFTP tab of the same host), find your compose.yaml or .env file, and choose Edit. The file opens in your editor on Windows, and every save is uploaded back to the host. Use Choose editor… to pick a different program. The tab shows which files you're editing, with a Stop button when you're done. Then apply the change from the terminal:

cd ~/stacks/media
docker compose up -d

Click Dashboard on the host's terminal tab for live graphs of CPU, memory, load, disks and network, plus the busiest processes, read over SSH every few seconds. It works on Linux hosts, including ARM boards like a Raspberry Pi, and flags disks over 90% full, which is often the first sign that images and logs are piling up.

If some of your containers run on a NAS, the guide to TrueNAS, Unraid and NAS remote access shows how to keep its web interface, SSH terminal and files together in the same app.

Save a script in the terminal's Scripts & History panel (Ctrl+Shift+S), then use Run on hosts… to run it on the hosts you tick. You get each host's output and result in one list, and can run it again on the ones that failed. A quick round of checks:

docker ps --format '{{.Names}}: {{.Status}}'
docker system df

On Podman hosts, use podman in place of docker, or keep a separate script for them. To type into several open terminals at once, turn on Broadcast.

A transfer tab copies files from one saved host to another directly, streaming through your PC with nothing saved on your own disk, and with Verify comparing SHA-256 checksums where both hosts have sha256sum. Stop the container or use its own backup tool first, archive the volume's folder, then copy the archive to your backup host. See copying files between two servers.

• Membership of the docker group is effectively root on that host: anyone in it can start a container that reads any file. Give it only to accounts you'd trust with root.
• Never publish the Docker daemon's TCP port on your network or the internet. The app needs only SSH.
• Sign in with SSH keys, and turn on two-step verification for your RemoteAccessApp account.
• Keep admin pages of containers on your own network. When you're away, use a PC at home, as the pillar guide explains.

With Pro, an AI assistant connected through the MCP Desktop Connection can run commands on your saved SSH hosts too, so you can ask it to check which containers have restarted. For the bigger picture, see managing Proxmox, VMware and KVM hosts from one app.