Hey everyone! I'm a network enthusiast with plenty of experience in breaking and fixing networks, from VLANs to running Proxmox clusters. However, diving into the world of DevOps feels like stepping onto a whole new planet. I want to transform my two servers into a DevOps lab, but I'm not sure where to begin. I have one server running Ubuntu 25 and a Proxmox machine with 16 GB RAM along with ample storage. I'm completely new to DevOps, so I need some guidance on how to set everything up. What should I run on my Ubuntu machine, and what should I virtualize on Proxmox? Also, what's a good beginner-friendly path to learn automation, containerization, and monitoring without feeling overwhelmed? Any advice or starter stack ideas would be really appreciated!
4 Answers
I’d recommend starting with Gitea instead of GitLab since it’s much lighter and includes its own GitHub Actions feature. This way, you can run jobs in containers without needing Kubernetes. For your Proxmox server, use LXC containers to create your "VMs" and install Docker inside them. Just make sure to tweak the LXC config to allow Docker to run properly!
You're in a great spot with your networking background! Start by manually setting up a Kubernetes cluster with kubeadm, then automate processes using Ansible. Following that, you can deploy applications like nginx using GitOps tools such as ArgoCD.
For getting started, set up Docker and Minikube first. Familiarize yourself with Kubernetes ingress and Helm charts; it'll make managing your apps so much smoother. Add monitoring tools like Prometheus and Grafana early on to keep an eye on your services. I suggest iterating on your installations—build, tear down, and rebuild until you have a smooth process scripted out!
Exactly! Hands-on experience is the best way to learn. Keep iterating!
Keep in mind, with 16GB of RAM, you might hit limits quickly, but for a home lab situation, that should be fine, especially if you’re mainly running lightweight containers. If you avoid heavy Windows images, you could maximize your resources and run multiple containers!
Totally agree! Containers are way more efficient in terms of resource use.
Good call on Gitea—much less resource-intensive for home labs!