Running Docker on a Proxmox server
In a VM, not in an LXC container — the reason fits on one line and saves a lot of trouble.
Starting at from €13.99/mo
Introduction
The question comes up at every install: Docker in a VM or in an LXC container? The short answer is in a VM. Docker works the kernel — cgroups, namespaces, network modules — and an LXC container shares the host's kernel without being able to change it. It can work in privileged mode, at the price of lowered isolation and failures that are hard to diagnose.
A Docker VM on our VDS is a machine of your own, with its own kernel, in which you install what you like. The range starts at 16 GB for €13.99/month; add up what your images need, leave headroom for the Proxmox host, and take the plan above.
Snapshots earn their keep here. Before a docker compose pull that lifts a whole stack, a snapshot costs seconds and saves an evening spent rolling back image by image. Neither count nor frequency is billed.
What the server brings, across the whole range
Proxmox VE already installed
The server arrives with <strong>Proxmox VE</strong> in place and its web interface reachable. You create your virtual machines and LXC containers from the browser, without a support ticket or a wait. <strong>Reinstalls are unlimited</strong>: an experiment that goes wrong is redone in minutes.
RAM, because that is what runs out first
On a hypervisor it is almost never the processor that caps out first: it is <strong>memory</strong>, because every virtual machine reserves its own. The range starts at <strong>16 GB</strong> and goes up to <strong>96 GB</strong>, which leaves room to stack several VMs without starving them.
Unlimited snapshots and backups
A snapshot before an update, another before a configuration change: that is what separates a test from a gamble. Neither the count nor the frequency is billed, so nothing discourages taking one more.
Up to 16 additional IPv4 addresses
Each VM can hold its own public address, which avoids routing everything through port forwards on the host. Useful as soon as a virtual firewall, a web server and a third-party service have to coexist cleanly.
What people put in it
A complete application stack
Application, database, cache, reverse proxy, all described in a Compose file. The VM carries the whole thing and backs up as one.
Portainer, to avoid doing everything on the command line
A web interface to see containers, their logs and their usage. Handy when several people touch the same server.
Per-branch environments
A staging VM with its own stack, separate from production running on another VM of the same server. Nothing gets mixed.
Self-hosted services
Monitoring, home automation, internal tools: the Docker ecosystem offers hundreds, and a 16 GB VDS runs plenty of them.
Isolate what comes from outside
A third-party image in a dedicated VM cannot reach the rest of your machines. That is exactly the precaution privileged LXC would cost you.
Frequently asked questions
Technically yes, in a privileged container and with tuning. We do not recommend it: isolation drops, some networking behaves oddly, and the symptoms are hard to trace back to the cause.
Add up your containers' memory and leave room for the VM and the host to breathe. A classic web stack fits the S plan; a set with a database and monitoring is more comfortable on L.
No. The server arrives with Proxmox VE; you create the VM and install the distribution and Docker yourself. That is deliberate: the version and the configuration are yours.
Back up the whole VM from Proxmox: it is the simplest route and it captures volumes and configuration. Important data also deserves an application-level backup to a separate destination.