I'm setting up a home lab environment using Proxmox on an HPE microserver that's powered by a Xeon processor. I want to explore alternatives to Synology Photos and Surveillance Station, and it seems like most of these packages are available as Docker containers. So, I'm looking to learn more about Docker. I've considered creating a Linux VM specifically to serve as a Docker host. I'll likely use either Debian or Ubuntu for the VM. Since I come from a Windows background, I'm comfortable with the command line but would prefer if there's a GUI option available. Is Docker Desktop the way to go for me? Also, are there any specific settings I need to adjust in Proxmox for my Linux VM?
1 Answer
You might want to skip Docker Desktop completely since it needs a display server to run, which isn’t available in a headless Proxmox VM. Instead, try installing Docker Engine directly on a minimal Debian or Ubuntu server. Then, use Portainer as your web-based GUI. It offers everything Docker Desktop does, but works flawlessly on headless servers. As for Proxmox settings, enable the QEMU guest agent and set your network device to VirtIO. Make sure you allocate enough RAM too—4GB is a good minimum, especially for running alternatives like Immich or Frigate. And don’t forget to set "Start at boot" so your containers will survive reboots. Learning the command line is helpful eventually, but Portainer and Docker Compose will cover most of your needs starting out.
Thanks for the insight! Since this is primarily a learning setup, I think I might wipe the VM and start fresh instead of trying to clean up the existing installation.