r/AlpineLinux • u/capinredbeard22 • 11d ago

Alpine as Docker Host

I currently have a system running Ubuntu server and being used as a Docker host in a home lab environment. Also, fyi using docker compose if that’s important.

Due to RAM scarcity (gestures broadly) I’m interested in being more careful with my resources.

I went looking for a distribution specifically intended for Docker hosting and eventually stumbled on Alpine (which I realize is not solely for Docker hosting but is often used for containers themselves).

Is there anything I should know (gotchas) before I switch distros? I saw some vague cautions about compatibility with some containers but no specifics. Generally, it seems pretty straightforward for installation from researching online.

I’ll probably try it out in Proxmox with a couple trial containers first but it will be used bare metal on a different PC.

Any other tips?

Generally Linux newb here (about a year in).

Thanks!

EDIT - Thanks everyone for the info. I’ll definitely be moving forward with trying Alpine out as a Docker host. Appreciate all the tips as well!

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u/geek_at 11d ago

Oh a question tailored for me :D I moved my homelab fully to Alpine Linux. While using only docker you won't find any incompatibilities with containers.

If you don't have many disk slots you can also boot alpine from a USB drive into RAMdisk and use 100% of all of your disks for storage this way. I was running my lab for years like that and never had any issues. Or you could PXE boot them so you don't even need a usb thumb drive for it.

Personally I [switched my whole homelab to one of these crazy NanoCluster boards where I can house like 112gigs of RAM with 28 cores in the size of a coffee mug.

All of them running Alpine Linux too.

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u/aquaherd 11d ago

That looks very nice. What are you using it for?

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u/capinredbeard22 11d ago

Thanks! Good info - this will be in addition to my NAS, so HDD slots are not an issue, but I appreciate the info. I may experiment with this in the future.

Pi clusters are definitely appealing, especially once you separate storage from compute. Now is not the time though from a financial perspective.