How to Manage Podman Quadlets on Ubuntu 26.04

In this tutorial learn how to manage multiple containers with Podman Quadlets on Ubuntu 26.04 using systemd. Create, start, stop, and manage container services easily.

If you manage several containers on one server, running long podman run commands quickly becomes difficult to maintain. Podman Quadlets let you define containers in simple configuration files while systemd manages them like native Linux services.

You'll install Podman 5.7 on Ubuntu 26.04 and deploy five lightweight Nginx containers using Quadlets. Each container will have its own systemd service, 256 MB memory limit, and dedicated HTTP port.

Prerequisites

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS dedicated server
A user with sudo privileges
Internet connection

Let's start learning how to manage multiple containers with Podman Quadlets on Ubuntu 26.04 using systemd.

Step 1: Update Ubuntu

Update your package list and install the latest system updates.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install Podman

Ubuntu 26.04 includes Podman 5.7 in the official repository.

sudo apt install podman -y

Verify the installation.

podman --version

Example output:

podman version 5.7.0

You can also verify that Podman is working correctly.

podman info

Step 3: Create the Quadlet Directory

Create the directory used to store Quadlet configuration files.

sudo mkdir -p /etc/containers/systemd

Step 4: Generate Five Quadlet Files

Instead of creating each file manually, use the following command to generate five Quadlet files automatically.

for i in $(seq 1 5); do
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/containers/systemd/webapp$i.container >/dev/null
[Unit]
Description=Web App $i

[Container]
ContainerName=webapp$i
Image=docker.io/library/nginx:alpine
PublishPort=$((8080 + i)):80
Memory=256m

[Service]
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF
done

This command creates the following files.

/etc/containers/systemd/webapp1.container
/etc/containers/systemd/webapp2.container
/etc/containers/systemd/webapp3.container
/etc/containers/systemd/webapp4.container
/etc/containers/systemd/webapp5.container

Each container uses the Nginx Alpine image, has a 256 MB memory limit, and listens on its own port.

Container	Port
webapp1	8081
webapp2	8082
webapp3	8083
webapp4	8084
webapp5	8085

Step 5: Reload Systemd

Reload systemd so it detects the new Quadlet files.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Step 6: Start the Containers

Start all five services.

sudo systemctl start webapp1.service
sudo systemctl start webapp2.service
sudo systemctl start webapp3.service
sudo systemctl start webapp4.service
sudo systemctl start webapp5.service

You can also use a loop.

for i in $(seq 1 5); do
    sudo systemctl start webapp$i.service
done

Step 7: Verify the Services

List all running Quadlet services.

systemctl list-units --type=service | grep webapp

Example output:

webapp1.service
webapp2.service
webapp3.service
webapp4.service
webapp5.service

Step 8: Verify the Containers

Check the running containers.

sudo podman ps

Example output:

CONTAINER ID   IMAGE                  PORTS
xxxxxxxxxxxx   nginx:alpine           0.0.0.0:8081->80
xxxxxxxxxxxx   nginx:alpine           0.0.0.0:8082->80
xxxxxxxxxxxx   nginx:alpine           0.0.0.0:8083->80
xxxxxxxxxxxx   nginx:alpine           0.0.0.0:8084->80
xxxxxxxxxxxx   nginx:alpine           0.0.0.0:8085->80

Step 9: Test the Containers

Open your browser and visit one of the containers.

http://SERVER-IP:8081

You can also test it with curl.

curl http://localhost:8081

Repeat the same test using ports 8082 through 8085.

Step 10: View Logs

View the logs for a specific service.

journalctl -u webapp1.service

Show only the most recent log entries.

journalctl -u webapp1.service -n 20

Step 11: Restart a Container

sudo systemctl restart webapp1.service

Step 12: Stop a Container

sudo systemctl stop webapp1.service

Start it again whenever needed.

sudo systemctl start webapp1.service

Step 13: Remove a Container

Stop the service.

sudo systemctl stop webapp1.service

Remove the Quadlet file.

sudo rm /etc/containers/systemd/webapp1.container

Reload systemd.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Important Note

With Podman 5.7, Quadlet services are generated dynamically by systemd. Running the following command is not required.

sudo systemctl enable webapp1.service

You may see the following message.

Failed to enable unit: Unit ... is transient or generated

This is expected behavior. After creating or modifying Quadlet files, simply reload systemd and start the service.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start webapp1.service

Conclusion

We have successfully seen how to manage multiple containers with Podman Quadlets on Ubuntu 26.04 using systemd.

Podman Quadlets make container management simple by integrating directly with systemd. In this tutorial, you deployed five lightweight Nginx containers using a single script, assigned each one a memory limit, and managed them using standard systemctl commands. As your environment grows, you can follow the same approach to deploy additional containers while keeping your server organized and easy to maintain.