this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2024
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I never understood how to use Docker, what makes it so special? I would really like to use it on my Rapsberry Pi 3 Model B+ to ease the setup process of selfhosting different things.

I'm currently running these things without Docker:

  • Mumble server with a Discord bridge and a music bot
  • Maubot, a plugin-based Matrix bot
  • FTP server
  • Two Discord Music bots

All of these things are running as systemd services in the background. Should I change this? A lot of the things I'm hosting offer Docker images.

It would also be great if someone could give me a quick-start guide for Docker. Thanks in advance!

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 8 months ago (16 children)

IMHO with docker and containerization in general you are trading drive space for consistency and relative simplicity.

a hypothetical:
You set up your mumble server and it requires the leftpad 3.7 package to run. you install it and everything is fine.
Now you install your ftp server but it needs leftpad 5.5. what do you do? hope the function that mumble uses in 3.7 still exists in 5.5? run each app in its own venv?

Docker and containerization resolve this by running each app in its own mini virtual machine. A container running mumble and leftpad 3.7 can coexist on host that also has a container running a ftp server with leftpad 5.5.

Here is a good video on what hole docker and containerization looks to fill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm1tfmZDqo8

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I would also add security, or at least accessible security. Containers provide a number of isolation features out-of-the-box or extremely easy to configure which other systems require way more effort to achieve, or can't achieve.

Ironically, after some conversation on the topic here on Lemmy I compiled a blog post about it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Tbf, systemd also makes it relatively easy to sandbox processes. But it's opt-in, while for containers it's opt-out.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Yeah, and it also requires quite many options, some with harder-to-predict outcomes. For example RootDirectory can be used to effectively chroot the process, but that carries implications such as the application not having access to CA certificates anymore, which in general in containers is a solved problem.

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