Stack Harbor PaaS lets you manage every aspect of a container’s lifecycle from the dashboard. This page covers the main tools — the layer settings wizard, the file manager, the log viewer, SSH access, and the CLI client.
Layer settings wizard
The container layer settings frame, integrated into the Topology Wizard, lets you adjust the most commonly used per-container settings without SSHing in. Reach it two ways:
- From the Topology Wizard — click New Environment or Change Environment Topology on an existing environment. Select the container layer you want to tune and click the Configuration section at the bottom.
- From the dashboard directly — hover over a layer, click the gear icon, and pick a quick-access option from the menu.
Any container can be preconfigured before it’s created — the configuration wizard automatically reads the image manifest and populates defaults.
The settings frame has five sections:
- Variables — environment variables for the layer.
- Links — declare container-to-container dependencies.
- Volumes — persistent storage mount points.
- Ports — exposed ports and auto-redirect.
- Run Configuration — image tag, entrypoint, CMD, run flags.
Configuration file manager
The file manager lets you operate the container’s filesystem inside the browser, including any data shared via the Shared Storage Container feature. Open it from the Config button on a node or a whole layer.
It has four sections:
- Root (File Manager) — direct access to the container’s local filesystem.
- Mount Points — directories stored on a remote node but mounted into the current container.
- Exports — directories stored locally and exported for use by remote nodes.
- Favorites — pin frequently used files and folders for quick access.
If the layer has multiple same-type containers, a drop-down at the top of the file manager lets you switch between them without leaving the tool.
The file manager gives you full control over the container’s filesystem. Be aware that changes can’t always be auto-reverted — keep a backup before editing critical files.
Log files
The dashboard’s Logs section gathers everything you’d typically need for troubleshooting — application logs, server logs, system logs, and stack-specific logs. The exact list depends on the software stack.
Log files inside the container rotate automatically: when a file reaches 50 MB, it’s compressed and moved to the rotated_logs/ directory. Compressed archives are kept for seven days, then removed. To inspect rotated logs, SSH into the container and download them locally.
SSH access
If you prefer the terminal, every container is SSH-accessible — whether or not it has an external IP. The platform offers two SSH paths:
- SSH Gate — connect from your local SSH client over a single tunnel that routes to any container on your account. Requires a public key registered in your user settings.
- Web SSH — open a browser-based terminal directly from the dashboard. Useful for quick checks and when you don’t have your SSH key handy.
For multi-container administration, the platform’s CLI mirrors every API operation as a shell command. The CLI command hierarchy matches the API, so anything the dashboard can do, the CLI can script.