Container Runtime: Docker and Podman (Admin Server)

STINGAR v2.4 selects the container runtime on your admin server based on operating system, matching honeypot host behavior documented in the User Guide.

Host OS family Example distributions Runtime Launch command
Debian Ubuntu, Debian Docker docker compose up -d
RedHat RHEL 8/9, Rocky, AlmaLinux, Oracle Linux Podman podman compose up -d

The quickstart repository automates installation via scripts/install_prerequisites.sh and provides scripts/compose.sh to run the correct command on either platform.

RHEL 8 and RHEL 9 compatibility (tested)

STINGAR validated compose tooling on Rocky Linux 8.9 and 9.3 (RHEL-equivalent):

Approach RHEL 8 RHEL 9
pip podman-compose in default Python venv Fails (Python 3.6; SyntaxError) Works
pip podman-compose in Python 3.9 venv Works Works (py3.9 default)
EPEL podman-compose RPM Works (v1.0.6) Works (v1.5.0)
Native podman compose + Compose V2 plugin Works Works

Admin server quickstart uses native podman compose with the Compose V2 plugin (v2.40.3) on all RedHat-family versions. This matches docker compose on Ubuntu and avoids the RHEL 8 Python 3.6 limitation.

Honeypot hosts deployed from the STINGAR UI still use the Python podman-compose package in /opt/podman-compose-venv. On RHEL 8, Langstroth installs that venv with Python 3.9.

Install

After cloning the quickstart repository:

sudo ./scripts/install_prerequisites.sh
python3 configure_stingar.py
./scripts/compose.sh up -d

Override

Set CONTAINER_RUNTIME=docker or CONTAINER_RUNTIME=podman before running the install script or configure_stingar.py.

Podman specifics

  • Rootful Podman — the install script runs with sudo; STINGAR binds ports 80 and 443 like Docker.
  • SELinux — generated docker-compose.yml uses :Z volume labels on bind mounts.
  • Honeypot deployment — stingarapi mounts the host container socket (/var/run/docker.sock) for Langstroth; on Podman hosts this is provided by podman-docker.
  • Auto-update — in-app updates are disabled on Podman (UPDATE_SERVICE_ENABLED=false). Upgrade with ./scripts/compose.sh pull and ./scripts/compose.sh up -d.

Honeypot hosts

Remote honeypot VMs use the same OS-based runtime selection during deployment from the STINGAR UI. See the User Guide Container Runtime page for honeypot-side commands.