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Create Execution Server On Any Linux VM Using Docker

Since CloudShell 2026.1, the Docker Execution Server image uses a consolidated Dockerfile with Python 3 virtualenv support and TLS/Kerberos compatibility fixes, providing a more robust and consistent deployment.

Prerequisites:

important

In the docker run command, we use "--name ExecutionServer" for the container name in order to provide additional commands for gathering logs and other optional steps.

Online Steps to Install Execution Server Using Docker​

  1. Install Docker on your Linux Server machine
  2. Enable Docker IPv6 support:
    1. Create a file /etc/docker/daemon.json: 
      sudo touch /etc/docker/daemon.json
    2. Edit the file: 
      sudo nano /etc/docker/daemon.json
    3. Add to it (you can use any valid IPv6 CIDR): 
      {
      "ipv6": true,
      "fixed-cidr-v6": "2001:db8:1::/64"
      }
    4. Save it
  3. Restart the Docker Service:
sudo systemctl restart docker
  1. Create an empty file named customer.config:
touch ~/customer.config
  1. Run the latest version of Execution Server using Docker Hub:
sudo docker run -d --name ExecutionServer --restart unless-stopped -p 5093:5093 -e PARAMS="IP Address,Username,Password,Name for ExectionServer" -v ~/customer.config:/opt/ExecutionServer/customer.config qualihub/executionserver
warning

Inside PARAMS="" you need to specify your Cloudshell server IP, Cloudshell Admin username, password, desirable name for the Execution Server. Example: -e PARAMS="192.168.25.4,admin,admin,ES-Docker"

Passing Attributes to the Docker Execution Server​

Added in CloudShell 2026.1

The Docker Execution Server can register itself with attributes, such as an Execution Server Selector value. This allows CloudShell to route commands to the correct Execution Server based on attribute matching (for example, by region or capability).

Attributes are passed in a single ES_ATTRIBUTES environment variable holding a JSON object of attribute names and values — not as one variable per attribute:

sudo docker run -d --name ExecutionServer --restart unless-stopped -p 5093:5093 \
  -e PARAMS="192.168.25.4,admin,admin,ES-Docker" \
  -e ES_ATTRIBUTES="{'Execution Server Selector':'US-East','MyAttr':'MyValue'}" \
  -v ~/customer.config:/opt/ExecutionServer/customer.config qualihub/executionserver
note
  • Attribute names and values are single-quoted inside the JSON, and the whole value is wrapped in double quotes so the shell passes it as one argument.
  • Attribute names may contain spaces, as Execution Server Selector does.
  • ES_ATTRIBUTES is optional. When it is omitted, the Execution Server registers with no attributes beyond the Ansible support attribute, which the container always sets.
  • Attributes are applied when the container first registers the Execution Server. To change them later, update the variable and re-create the container.

To make CloudShell route a resource's or App's commands to this Execution Server, give the resource or App a matching Execution Server Selector attribute value. For details, see Setting Up Execution Servers to Run Commands.

info
  1. Verify the new Execution Server is Online in CloudShell Portal > Manage > Execution Servers > Servers
  2. (Optional) After the first run, if you don't want your admin password to be available as an Env variable inside the container, you can:
    1. Verify that your customer.config file is filled with data from the first run.
    sudo cat customer.config
    1. Stop the existing container
    sudo docker stop ExecutionServer
    1. Delete the existing container
    sudo docker rm ExecutionServer
    1. Run a new container with the command:
    sudo docker run -d --name ExecutionServer --restart unless-stopped -p 5093:5093 -v ~/customer.config:/opt/ExecutionServer/customer.config qualihub/executionserver
    1. In this case, all necessary information will be provided by the customer.config file. Be aware that this should be the same file that you used for the first run!

Offline Steps to Install Execution Server Using Docker​

  1. Install Docker on your Linux Server machine
  2. Enable Docker Ipv6 support:
    1. Create a file /etc/docker/daemon.json: 
      sudo touch /etc/docker/daemon.json
    2. Edit the file: 
      sudo nano /etc/docker/daemon.json
    3. Add to it (you can use any valid ipv6 cidr): 
      {
      "ipv6": true,
      "fixed-cidr-v6": "2001:db8:1::/64"
      }
    4. Save it
  3. Restart the Docker Service:
sudo systemctl restart docker
  1. Download Execution Server on Docker for your CloudShell Version from our Download Center
  2. Transfer the .tar file to your Linux Server machine
  3. Load ES Docker Image:
sudo docker load < es-2024-1.tar
  1. Create an empty file named customer.config:
touch ~/customer.config
  1. Run a Docker Container from the image with the command:
sudo docker run -d --name ExecutionServer --restart unless-stopped -p 5093:5093 -e PARAMS="IP Address,Username,Password,Name for ExectionServer" -v ~/customer.config:/opt/ExecutionServer/customer.config quali/es-server:2024.1
warning

Inside PARAMS="" you need to specify your Cloudshell server IP, Cloudshell Admin username, password, desirable name for the Execution Server. Example: -e PARAMS="192.168.25.4,admin,admin,ES-Docker"

  1. Verify the new Execution Server is Online in CloudShell Portal > Manage > Execution Servers > Servers
  2. (Optional) After the first run, if you don't want your admin password to be available as an Env variable inside the container, you can:
    1. Verify that your customer.config file is filled with data from the first run.
    sudo cat customer.config
    1. Stop the existing container
    sudo docker stop ExecutionServer
    1. Delete the existing container
    sudo docker rm ExecutionServer
    1. Run a new container with the command:
    sudo docker run -d --name ExecutionServer --restart unless-stopped -p 5093:5093 -v ~/customer.config:/opt/ExecutionServer/customer.config qualihub/executionserver
    1. In this case, all necessary information will be provided by the customer.config file. Be aware that this should be the same file that you used for the first run!

Steps to Collect and Share Logs on Linux Using Docker​

note
  • Since log files are located in the docker container, the commands below will copy the logs out of the container then create an archive file for each log directory
  • Only step 1 and 2 are usually needed but if requested by support or R&D, please include the venv logs from step 3
  1. Create an archive file from /opt/ExecutionServer/Logs/ with the command below:
current_date=$(date +%Y-%m-%d) && mkdir ~/${current_date}-Logs && sudo docker exec ExecutionServer find /opt/ExecutionServer/Logs/ -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d -name "*" -mtime -7 -print0 | sudo xargs -0 -I {} docker cp ExecutionServer:{} ~/${current_date}-Logs && tar -czvf ${current_date}-Logs.tar.gz ${current_date}-Logs && sudo rm -rf ~/${current_date}-Logs
  1. Create an archive file from /var/log/qualisystems/ with the command below:
current_date=$(date +%Y-%m-%d) && mkdir ~/${current_date}-qualisystems && sudo docker exec ExecutionServer find /var/log/qualisystems/ -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d -name "*" -mtime -7 -print0 | sudo xargs -0 -I {} docker cp ExecutionServer:{} ~/${current_date}-qualisystems && tar -czvf ${current_date}-qualisystems.tar.gz ${current_date}-qualisystems && sudo rm -rf ~/${current_date}-qualisystems
  1. (Optional, only needed if specifically requested for Shell issues) Create an archive file from /usr/share/QualiSystems/venv/ with the command below:
current_date=$(date +%Y-%m-%d) && mkdir ~/${current_date}-venv && sudo docker exec ExecutionServer find /usr/share/QualiSystems/venv/ -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d -mtime -7 -print0 | sudo xargs -0 -I {} docker cp ExecutionServer:{} ~/${current_date}-venv && tar -czvf ${current_date}-venv.tar.gz ${current_date}-venv && sudo rm -rf ~/${current_date}-venv
  1. Transfer your newly created archived files named *-Logs, *-qualisystems, and *-venv from your home directory and share them to whom it may concern
note

If you're using a Windows machine to extract logs from the Linux execution server, we recommend using an SCP client to connect via SSH to the Linux execution server to browse though the logs. You can also transfer the files to a Windows machine in order to send them, if needed.