archbang – Marcin Lis

07/26/2024marcin No Comments

Docker in unprivileged container (Arch based) in Proxmox

Back to proxmox

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m using proxmox (again). But, in the same time, I wanted to migrate my services without long disruption, so I decided to move whole docker stack, as it is. But I prefer to use LXC containers than VMs. Why? Because LXC containers are faster and they are using less resources.

LXC are better than VMs because are:

Lightweight – than means LXC containers have a smaller footprint and require fewer system resources compared to VMs.
LXC containers share the host system’s kernel, reducing the overhead of running multiple operating systems.
Faster – LXC containers have quicker startup times.
Efficient resource handling – LXC containers efficiently manage system resources, optimizing performance and reducing waste. Mostly because LXC is not blocking resources like VM. So even if you declare 16GB of memory for LXC container, it will use only us much as needed, instead of block 16GB like VMs do.

Virtual Machines are better than LXC containers because they are:

Not connected to host kernel – that means you can virtualize any OS, not only Linux based. So if you want to use Windows, MacOS, FreeBSD, etc you cannot use LXC, but VM
They are isolated from host OS – that means they are safer by default. Because they’re isolated, security issues in one VM won’t spill over to others—crucial for maintaining system integrity and uptime. From the same reason, any kernel panic error will crash only VM, not whole host with all containers.
May emulate different hardware – Proxmox VMs emulate a complete set of hardware, creating an entirely isolated environment for each operating system.

Docker in unprivileged container

I have to mention – according to the Proxmox documentation, docker should be run in VM, not in LXC container. If you want to use LXC container, then you have two possibilities – privileged or unprivileged. Privileged containers running on host root account, so it’s not safe, that’s why I’m not using them at all.

07/25/2024marcin 5 Comments

New toys in my garage :)

Changes… again

I know I made changes in my home server configuration few months ago (you may read about that here), but I really like the idea of High Availability cluster based on Proxmox. In the same time, I’m in love with Archbang, and right now this is my distribution of choice (even, if I was in love with Debian for almost twenty years). In my career I worked with different distros, some Debian-based, mostly red-hat based (company standard after all). I worked with SUSE, Gentoo and many other too, but for years Debian was my preferred system. And right now I may say – Archbang is my preferred Linux distro at this moment of my life 🙂

Going back to the topic – I bought few new toys.

NAS – nothing fancy, but still working:

The Netgear ReadyNAS 314 (RN314) Small / Medium business NAS released in 2013. It is powered by Intel Atom D2701 dual-core @ 2.1 GHz CPU and 2 GB RAM. It has 1 x USB 2.0, 2 x USB 3.0 port(s) that can be used to connect printers and external drives. The ReadyNAS 314 device has 4 x 3.5″ SATA III bay(s) and 2 x Gigabit Ethernet LAN interfaces. And what is really nice, it may host some apps (except latest software version, 6.10.10, which removed this option). So I downgrade software to 6.10.9 and (after some tweaks) I have docker on it (just in case).

03/23/2024marcin 1 Comment

Big changes in my home server

For a long time I was using Proxmox as my server OS. On it I had few VMs. One with Arch Linux (I’m using it as my daily OS through RDP), another one with Home Assistant, another one for media (Jellyfin app, Calibre, etc). And some created ad-hoc when needed for testing. But from some time I was thinking about big change. And finally it happened during this week.

11/21/2023marcin 1 Comment

Comparison of lightweight Linux distros

DietPi

I started to look for a replacement for my DietPi (I’m using it as my everyday OS). It’s installed as a VM on the Proxmox server. It’s fast, it’s nice, it reliable, but I want to change something 🙂

Also, one of the reasons why I selected DietPi was the Home Assistant core. Or I should say – the way it’s installed. And how most of the software is managed in DietPi. It uses DietPi-Software, which allows you to quickly and easily install popular software “ready to run” and this software is already optimized for your system. Only the software you need is installed.

What is DietPi? DietPi is an extremely lightweight Debian OS, highly optimized for minimal CPU and RAM resource usage, ensuring your SBC always runs at its maximum potential. It has a lots of different flavours, so you may install it on Raspberry Pi, Odroid, Pine64, Radxa, Allo, NanoPi, OrangePi, but also on standard PC and as a VM (I’m sure I didn’t mention all of them, but those I remember :P)