RH124 practice environment provided as a Docker/Podman sandbox. Emulates the Red Hat System Administration I (RH124) lab environment for RHEL 8.

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Project Structure

nazhat-lab/
├── RHEL8/
│   └── Dockerfile          # AlmaLinux 8 (RHEL 8 binary-compatible)
└── docker-compose.yml      # Recommended run configuration

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Quick Start

1. Pull

# Latest
docker pull nazdridoy/nazhat-lab:rhel8

# Specific version
docker pull nazdridoy/nazhat-lab:rhel8-v1.0

2. Build & Push

Builds apply two tags: a floating :rhel8 and a pinned :rhel8-vX.Y. Update the VER variable when modifying the Dockerfile.

# RHEL 8
VER=1.1
docker build \
  -t nazdridoy/nazhat-lab:rhel8 \
  -t nazdridoy/nazhat-lab:rhel8-v${VER} \
  ./RHEL8
docker push nazdridoy/nazhat-lab:rhel8
docker push nazdridoy/nazhat-lab:rhel8-v${VER}

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Running the Container

Running systemd as PID 1 requires specific flags for cgroup management. Docker Compose is recommended for convenience.

Recommended: Docker Compose

docker-compose.yml provides the intended configuration out-of-the-box. Containers are assigned sequential SSH ports starting at 2222 (supports up to 100 simultaneous containers).

Single container:

docker compose up -d

Multiple containers (e.g. 3 × RHEL 8):

docker compose up -d --scale rhel8=3

List containers and their SSH ports:

docker compose ps

Example output:

NAME                  STATUS    PORTS
nazhat-lab-rhel8-1    Up        127.0.0.1:2222->22/tcp
nazhat-lab-rhel8-2    Up        127.0.0.1:2223->22/tcp
nazhat-lab-rhel8-3    Up        127.0.0.1:2224->22/tcp

Stop and remove all containers:

docker compose down

Alternative: Plain Docker

# RHEL 8 (single, fixed port)
docker run -d --privileged -p 2222:22 --name nazhat8 nazdridoy/nazhat-lab:rhel8

# RHEL 8 (dynamic port — lettng Docker pick)
docker run -d --privileged -p 127.0.0.1::22 nazdridoy/nazhat-lab:rhel8

Alternative: Podman

Podman includes native systemd support (--systemd=true).

podman run -d --privileged -p 127.0.0.1::22 nazdridoy/nazhat-lab:rhel8

Accessing the Container

Via SSH — first container is always 2222, second is 2223, and so on:

ssh student@localhost -p 2222   # 1st container — Password: student
ssh root@localhost    -p 2223   # 2nd container — Password: redhat

Via Shell — use the container name shown in docker compose ps:

docker exec -it <container-name> bash

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Environment Configuration

Accounts

User	Password	Groups
root	redhat	root
student	student	wheel (sudo)
operator	operator	—

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systemd Initialization

Having systemd configured as PID 1 allows native services to operate normally:

hostnamectl set-hostname nazhat-lab.example.com
systemctl start firewalld
systemctl enable --now sshd
firewall-cmd --add-service=http --permanent
timedatectl set-timezone Asia/Dhaka
timedatectl set-ntp true
journalctl -xe

The following systemd units are masked during build to suppress container-irrelevant errors:

Masked Unit	Reason
dev-hugepages.mount	Host kernel feature
sys-fs-fuse-connections.mount	FUSE / No physical filesystem
systemd-udevd.service	No hardware events
systemd-udev-trigger.service	No hardware events
systemd-update-utmp.service	Login tracking
systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service	Device node setup
getty.target / console-getty.service / getty@tty1.service	Virtual terminals

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Installed Packages

Functional Area	Key Packages
Shell / Editors	bash, vim-enhanced, nano, less
Manuals	man-db, man-pages
File Mgmt	coreutils, findutils, tree, diffutils, file
Archiving	tar, gzip, bzip2, xz, zip, unzip, rsync
Text Processing	grep, sed, gawk, util-linux
Process Mgmt	procps-ng, psmisc
Networking	iproute, iputils, net-tools, bind-utils, traceroute, nmap, nmap-ncat, curl, wget, NetworkManager
Package Mgmt	dnf-utils, rpm
Users	shadow-utils, sudo, passwd
Remote Access	openssh-server, openssh-clients
Storage	parted, util-linux, lsof
Init & Logging	systemd, rsyslog, logrotate, chrony
Firewall	firewalld
Emulation Base	podman
Diagnostics	hostname, which, bash-completion, time, sos

Note

SELinux is explicitly disabled in these images to ensure compatibility with non-SELinux kernels (like Docker Desktop on Windows). See NOTES.md for details.

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Teardown

Depending on how you started the environment, use one of the following methods to clean up:

If using Docker Compose (Recommended):

# Stop and remove containers and networks
docker compose down

# To also remove the built local images
docker compose down --rmi local

If using Plain Docker or Podman:

# Stop and remove a container (use the name from `docker ps`)
docker stop <container-name> && docker rm <container-name>
# or
podman stop <container-name> && podman rm <container-name>

# Remove images
docker rmi nazdridoy/nazhat-lab:rhel8
# or
podman rmi nazdridoy/nazhat-lab:rhel8

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License

MIT © 2026 nazDridoy