I just start using my homelab to host some new good services, and I want to know what is the approach of a docker setup, what is the best distro for? How to deploy them correctly? Basically I’m a real noob in this subject. Thank you
I would start with a Debian os base, install docker and turn it into a swarm manager. Then look at stacks and how services work, if you find your running your host too hard. You can add a work host and stread out.
Once you have docker swarm running, get portainer running. I use portainer as a visual
whats happeningon my swarm, but I use the docker cli to start and update all my stacks. I have my stacks in a git repository so that I have a backup and history of what changes I did.Now your a docker master, of sorts.
thank you a lot, im gonna dive in the subject more deeply
Anything.
Personally I use Debian. But Docker doesn’t care. I chose Debian because it is very stable and simple
Yep, Debian and then add Portainer - for me this is the easiest setup to manage.
would prefer to not use portainer
I just said what works best for me. Use the command line and compose files if you want.
And what is the good way of deploying it? After pulling the image, how do we autostart it etc…
The Docker documentation is pretty terrible, but it’s a decent start. Start by looking at docker-compose.yml files for the services you want to run and the write-ups for those.
Something nobody ever told me, that I had to figure out myself, is that docker-compose.yml files can be placed anywhere you want.
Should I make the docker compose files or pull the image from hub.docker.com?
Your compose file will pull the image when you run it, from the registry it’s in
At its simplest:
docker run -d --name servicename --restart unless-stopped containerThat’ll get you going. Youi’ll have containers running, they restart, etc. There are more sophisticated ways of doing things (create a systemd file that starts/stops the container, use kubernetes, etc.) but if you’re just starting this will likely work fine.
Are they starting automatically at boot?
EDIT : how do you run a container with a simple name instead of using his id?
Yes - they’ll start automatically. There are other options for “restart” that define the behavior.
You can give whatever you like to “servicename” and use that rather than the ID.
For example:
docker run -d --name mysite --restart unless-stopped nginx docker stop mysite docker start mysitethx
Create a systemctl service for it, create a cron, or of there is a lot of interconnectivity between your containers look at something like K3S.
What do you want to do with containers? That’s sort of the driver for making architectural decisions.
Network and services containers. Nextcloud, Homepage, filesharing, …
