I run a small server with Proxmox, and I’m wondering what are your opinions on running Docker in separate LXC containers vs. running a specific VM for all Docker containers?
I started with LXC containers because I was more familiar with installing services the classic Linux way. I later added a VM specifically for running Docker containers. I’m thinking if I should continue this strategy and just add some more resources to the docker VM.
On one hand, backups seem to be easier with individual LXCs (I’ve had situations where I tried to update a Docker container but the new container broke the existing configuration and found it easiest just to restore the entire VM from backup). On the otherhand, it seems like more overhead to install Docker in each individual LXC.
I don’t have anything handy, but I see your point, and I’d shame lazy devs for not properly packaging things maybe 😂
You mentioned you use Proxmox, which is already an abstraction on bare-metal, so that’s about as easy as easy an interface as I can imagine for a hosted machine without using something like Docker Desktop and using it to manage a machine remotely (not a good idea).
As a develop, I guess I was slightly confused on some suggestions on ways to use things being posted in this sub, but some of the responses I guess clarify that. There isn’t enough simplicity in explaining the “what” of containers, so people just use them the simplest way they understand, which also happens to be the “wrong way”. It’s kind of hard to grasp that when you live with these things 24/7 for years. Kind of a similar deal with networking solutions like Tailscale where I see people installing it everywhere and not understanding why that’s a bad idea 😂
So save you a lot of learning, I’ll just not go down a rabbit hole if you just want something to work well. Ping back here if you get into a spot of trouble, and I’ll definitely hop in to give a more detailed explanation on a workflow that is more effective than what it seems most people in here are using.
In fact, I may have just been inspired to do a write up on it.
Fair enough, would love to read something like this :-)
Yeah, I’ve been into Linux for 20 years, sometimes a bit on/off, as an all-around-sysadmin in mainly Windows places. And learned just enough of Docker to use it instead of apt - which I’d prefer, but as you said, many newer services don’t exist in debian repos or as .deb packages, only docker or similar.
If you’re familiar with Linux, just read the Dockerfile of any given project. It’s literally just a script for running a thing. You can take that info and install how you’d like if needed.