LXC/LXD vs Docker Which is better?

I'm in the process of rebuilding my little 2 system homelab and have been planning out what I want to do with proxmox. Once I properly understood lxc/lxd vs docker/podman lxc made more sense for most of the apps I want to run that I don't want to run a full VM for, but I can also see value in spinning up a docker container to mess around/test with. lxc/lxd reminds me of jails which I'm used to on FreeBSD, just simpler to deploy via proxmox.

I switched over totally to LXC. Your explanation ratifies my architectural decision. Well explained.

super clear many thanks

Anyway, I prefer using LXD containers because Docker containers are not persistent and it gives me the feeling of higher flexibility when using it more like a virtual machine. However, Docker containers have some advantages in specific situations.

What about docker in LXC? :O

Great explanation. So if I understand this LXC/LXD is similar to FreeBSD Jails or Solaris Zones.

I think the downsides to Docker may also be mitigated somewhat in that:
1. Doing update from within Portainer GUI is just click on recreate, toggle switch for download fresh image, and OK. So can be pretty quick and seamless.
2. The external mounts of a volume are down once only on the container creation, so don't get in the way later.
3. Very true on orphans which should be cleaned once a month or so.
4. The database dependency could be a "feature" too, as I created one container with a database with phpMySql, and now any new containers I prefer to point to that "external" database container because it means I can do all db maintenance on a single db instance, instead of across all containers.
5. Some docker containers can run app updates eg. my Wordpress one, so I do not pull new images for that container and ignore checking for updates for it. But yes not OS upgrades.

But thanks very interesting video and I'm going to look a bit further into LXC/LXD now. True, it's pick the right tool.

very informative, much appreciated 🙂

Thanks for information!

Very good explanation sir. I was wondering the difference, and i even learned some stuff about docker that i didnt already know.

Docker sounds like it quickly becomes not worth its' effort in learning. Unless you are a big Corp or development group that shares code or OS/Lang aspects among large groups. But is a very impressive premise.

Wow this was a good overview! Thanks. I am using LXC and jails for some time. Never really used docker as I did not feel the need yet. One thing was not clear for me after all. Is the docker runtime coming with it's own kernel or does EVERY container ships with it's own kernel? - the latter would have a really big footprint imo. I was wondering since you pointed out the kernel issue with lxcs which in fact is a fair point, but on the other side I was assuming same goes for docker that it shares the hosts kernel.

You forgot to mention the spin-up speed of each (especially in a CI type situation), response time can be a major factor depending on your use case and the prerequisits for your application

But are multiple LXC more dependent than running one OS with docker in Proxmox? I saw a few people put all applications in multiple dockers in 1 LXC container / VM, while others tend to create multiple LXC container for all their applications on "clean" OS.

So which one is better for limited resources and 10 applications. 10 apps in docker or 10 LXC containers. I'm running a remote host, so security is an issue, since some applications are exposed.

Very concise and easy to follow presentation

Very useful. Just in midst of setting up a nuc server. This clarifies some of the doubts.

LXC/LXD need a better name 🤡

Thanks, Great video!!!

Never really knew what all the docker craze was all about. For the most part you have to run the docker instance inside a container anyway.