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.
You could create a fresh container, install docker, and create a new template image from it. This way the overhead of installing disapears. The overhead in resource usage for each docker installation would remain the same as before.
As mentioned in another reply, you could run several container in one lxc. For example with docker compose or podman. Since I have no experience with podman but with docker compose, docker compose is pretty simple.
But all in all, I prefer to install everything “bare metal” in lxc containers. The main reason is, I don’t want to mess around with the extra layer of configurating ports etc.