Containers

The Containers page in OpenPanel allows you to manage Docker services defined via Docker Compose files by your Administrator.

This section provides a clear overview of your containerized services and their resource usage.

Overview​

At the top of the page, you'll see:

• Running Containers / Total Containers – Indicates how many services are currently active.
• Total CPU – Number of CPU cores assigned to your hosting plan.
• Total Memory – Amount of RAM (in GB) assigned to your hosting plan.

You can allocate portions of these total resources to individual services.

Container Table​

Each row in the table represents a containerized service and displays:

• Name – Name of the Docker service, along with the image used and its tag (version).
• CPU Usage
  • Graph – Real-time usage as a percentage of the allocated CPU.
  • Usage – How much CPU the container is using from its allocated amount.
  • Allocated – Number of CPU cores allocated to the service.
• Memory Usage
  • Graph – Real-time usage as a percentage of the allocated memory.
  • Usage – RAM used by the service from its allocated amount.
  • Allocated – Memory (in GB) allocated to the service.
• Actions
  • Shows whether the service is Enabled or Disabled.
  • Clicking the status toggles it.
  • If the service is running, a Terminal link appears — click it to open a web terminal (docker exec) for that container.

Editing Resources​

To change CPU or Memory limits for a service:

1. Hover over the Allocated value in the table.
2. Click the pencil icon.
3. Adjust the value in the input field.
4. Click Save.

OpenPanel will check whether you have available resources to make this change. If valid, the container will restart automatically with the new limits.

Adding New Services​

To add a new Docker service (container), fill in the Add Service form with the required details.

• Service Name – Unique name for the container.

  • Must start with a letter, contain only lowercase letters and digits, and be at least 3 characters long.
  • Example: webapp, redis1

• Image – Docker image to use.

  • Example: nginx:latest, redis:7.2

• Environment Variables – Optional. Provide variables in KEY=value format, one per line.

  • Example:

    REDIS_PASSWORD=secret
    DEBUG=true
    

• CPU Limit – Maximum CPU allocation for the container. Must be a positive number.

  • Example: 0.5, 1

• RAM Limit – Maximum memory allocation. Must be a number followed by M or G.

  • Example: 512M, 1.5G

• Network – Docker network to attach the container to.

  • Example: backend_network

• Healthcheck (optional) – YAML block defining container health checks.

  • Example:

    test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost"]
    interval: 30s
    timeout: 10s
    retries: 3
    

Validation Rules:

• Service Name – Must be unique and follow format rules.
• CPU Limit – Must be a positive number.
• RAM Limit – Must end with M or G.
• Environment Variables – Must be in KEY=value format.
• Healthcheck – Must be valid YAML.

Each service automatically uses an uppercase prefix for environment variable keys.
CPU and RAM values are also stored as environment variables for each service.

For example, a service named nginx will have the following environment keys:

NGINX_CPU
NGINX_RAM

Once the form is submitted and validated, the service is added to the Docker Compose configuration and environment variables are automatically updated.