How to Master Podman as an Expert in 2026

#!/bin/bash
# Fedora/RHEL
dnf install -y podman podman-compose buildah skopeo fuse-overlayfs

# Ubuntu
# apt update && apt install -y podman podman-compose buildah skopeo fuse-overlayfs

# Enable linger for persistent services
loginctl enable-linger $USER

# Config rootless storage (fuse-overlayfs for high perf)
mkdir -p ~/.config/containers
cat > ~/.config/containers/storage.conf << EOF
[storage]
driver = "overlay"
runroot = "/run/user/$(id -u)/containers"
graphroot = "/home/$(id -u)/.local/share/containers/storage"
[storage.options.overlay]
ignore_sizes = true
mount_program =
/usr/bin/fuse-overlayfs
mountopt = "nodev=ro,nosuid,size=100000k"
EOF

# Verify
podman info | grep -E 'cgroup|rootless'

#!/bin/bash
# Create pod with NGINX + logging sidecar
podman pod create --name monpod -p 8080:80 --hostname monpod

# Main NGINX
podman run -d --pod monpod --name nginx \
  docker.io/nginx:alpine \
  sh -c 'echo "<h1>Podman Expert 2026</h1>" > /usr/share/nginx/html/index.html && nginx -g "daemon off;"'

# Sidecar logs to shared volume
podman run -d --pod monpod --name logsidecar \
  docker.io/alpine \
  sh -c 'while true; do echo "$(date)" >> /shared/logs.txt; sleep 5; done'

# Volume for intra-pod sharing
podman volume create sharedlogs
podman run -d --pod monpod --name logsidecar \
  -v sharedlogs:/shared \
  docker.io/alpine \
  sh -c 'while true; do echo "$(date)" >> /shared/logs.txt; sleep 5; done'

# Inspect
podman pod ps
podman logs monpod -f

FROM golang:1.23-alpine AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY go.mod go.sum ./
RUN go mod download
COPY . .
RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=linux go build -o /app/bin/server .

FROM alpine:3.20
RUN apk --no-cache add ca-certificates
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=builder /app/bin/server .
EXPOSE 3000
USER 1001
CMD ["./server"]

#!/bin/bash
# With Containerfile above
podman build -t localhost/monapp:v1 .
podman run -d --name testapp -p 3000:3000 monapp:v1
curl localhost:3000

# Macvlan network for prod-like setup
podman network create -d macvlan -o parent=lo macnet
podman network exists macnet && podman run -d --network macnet --ip 192.168.100.10 monapp:v1

# Export OCI to registry (e.g., Quay.io)
# podman tag monapp:v1 quay.io/user/monapp:v1
# podman push quay.io/user/monapp:v1

podman ps -a

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: kubepod
  labels:
    app: demo
spec:
  containers:
  - name: nginx
    image: nginx:alpine
    ports:
    - containerPort: 80
    volumeMounts:
    - mountPath: /shared
      name: sharedvol
  - name: busybox
    image: busybox:1.36
    command: ['sh', '-c', 'while true; do echo "Log $(date)" >> /shared/app.log; sleep 10; done']
    volumeMounts:
    - mountPath: /shared
      name: sharedvol
  volumes:
  - name: sharedvol
    emptyDir: {}
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: kubepod-svc
spec:
  selector:
    app: demo
  ports:
  - port: 80
    targetPort: 80

#!/bin/bash
podman play kube pod-kube.yaml
podman kube play --service kubepod-svc

# Monitor
podman pod ps
podman stats kubepod
podman logs kubepod/nginx

# Scale (Podman 5+)
podman play kube --replicas 3 pod-kube.yaml

# Cleanup
podman kube down pod-kube.yaml

[Pod]
PodName=monpod
PublishPort=8080:80
PublishPort=5432:5432
Network=macnet

[Container]nginx
Image=docker.io/nginx:alpine
Environment=NGINX_PORT=80

[Container]postgres
Image=postgres:16-alpine
Environment=POSTGRES_PASSWORD=secret123
Environment=POSTGRES_DB=appdb
Volume=pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data

[Service]
Restart=always

#!/bin/bash
# Create TLS secrets
podman secret create tls-cert cert.pem
podman secret create tls-key key.pem

# Add to quadlet (edit monpod.pod)
# [Container]nginx
# Secrets=tls-cert:/etc/ssl/cert.pem=tls.crt
# Secrets=tls-key:/etc/ssl/key.pem=tls.key

# Reload and start
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now monpod
systemctl --user status monpod
journalctl --user -u monpod -f

# Auto-start on boot (linger already enabled)