1) Update OS and install prerequisites
# update
apt update && apt upgrade -y
# ensure basic tools exist
apt install -y curl jq apt-transport-https ca-certificates gnupg lsb-release


2) Install Docker (quick & reliable method)
# run Docker install script (works for most Ubuntu versions)
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sh get-docker.sh
# enable and start docker
systemctl enable --now docker

# add current user to docker group if not root (optional)
# (you're root so this isn't required now)
# usermod -aG docker <youruser>

3) Create a persistent data directory for Redpanda
mkdir -p /var/lib/redpanda/data
chown root:root /var/lib/redpanda/data
chmod 700 /var/lib/redpanda/data

4) Pull the official Redpanda Docker image
docker pull docker.redpanda.com/redpandadata/redpanda:latest


5) Get the VM public IP (used for advertised address)
PUBLIC_IP=$(curl -s http://169.254.169.254/metadata/v1/interfaces/public/0/ipv4/address || hostname -I | awk '{print $1}')
echo "Public IP: $PUBLIC_IP"

6)Run Redpanda container (single-node POC)
docker run -d --name redpanda \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 9092:9092 \
  -p 9644:9644 \
  -p 8081:8081 \
  -v /var/lib/redpanda/data:/var/lib/redpanda/data \
  docker.redpanda.com/redpandadata/redpanda:v24.1.7 \
  redpanda start \
    --overprovisioned \
    --smp 1 \
    --check=false \
    --kafka-addr PLAINTEXT://0.0.0.0:9092 \
    --advertise-kafka-addr PLAINTEXT://${PUBLIC_IP}:9092

7) Verify container and logs
# list container
docker ps --filter name=redpanda
# watch log
docker logs -f redpanda

8) Test quickly (create topic + produce + consume)
You can run rpk inside the running container to create topics and test:

# create a topic
docker exec -it redpanda rpk topic create test-topic

# produce a message (type text, then Ctrl+D)
docker exec -it redpanda rpk topic produce test-topic
hello from redpanda
# Ctrl+D

# consume messages (press Ctrl+C to exit)
docker exec -it redpanda rpk topic consume test-topic --brokers ${PUBLIC_IP}:9092


9) run the ui
docker run -d   --name redpanda-console   -p 8082:8080   -e KAFKA_BROKERS=${PUBLIC_IP}:9092   docker.redpanda.com/redpandadata/console:latest