02 - Docker LXC Setup

Date: 2025-12-19
Proxmox: 192.168.0.109
Old RPi server: 192.168.0.102

📋 Starting State¶

✅ Proxmox VE 9.1 installed and configured
✅ 2x 5.5TB HDD formatted, mounted
✅ MergerFS configured (/mnt/storage = 5.5TB pool)
✅ SnapRAID installed and configured
✅ Backup completed on the old RPi server: /mnt/hdd2/backup/2025-12-19/

🖥️ 1. First Web UI Access¶

URL:¶

https://192.168.0.109:8006

User: root
Password: [configured password]

Result: ✅ Login successful

📦 2. Downloading Debian Template¶

CLI method (used):¶

# Update template list
pveam update

# Available Debian templates
pveam available | grep debian

# Download Debian 12 template
pveam download local debian-12-standard_12.12-1_amd64.tar.zst

Result:

downloading http://download.proxmox.com/images/system/debian-12-standard_12.12-1_amd64.tar.zst
...
TASK OK

Template location:

/var/lib/vz/template/cache/debian-12-standard_12.12-1_amd64.tar.zst

🐳 3. Creating Docker LXC Container (Web UI)¶

3.1 Start Create CT¶

Left sidebar: pve node
Top right corner: Create CT button

3.2 General tab¶

CT ID: 100
Hostname: docker-host
Password: [password set]
Unprivileged container: ✅ ENABLED
Nesting: ✅ ENABLED

3.3 Template tab¶

Storage: local
Template: debian-12-standard_12.12-1_amd64.tar.zst

3.4 Disks tab¶

Storage: local-lvm
Disk size (GiB): 32

3.5 CPU tab¶

Cores: 4

3.6 Memory tab¶

Memory (MiB): 4096
Swap (MiB): 512

3.7 Network tab¶

Name: eth0
Bridge: vmbr0
IPv4: Static
IPv4/CIDR: 192.168.0.110/24
Gateway (IPv4): 192.168.0.1

3.8 DNS tab¶

DNS servers: 192.168.0.1

3.9 Confirm¶

Start after created: ✅ ENABLED

Result: ✅ LXC container created (ID: 100)

📁 4. Adding MergerFS Storage Bind Mount¶

4.1 Edit LXC configuration¶

On Proxmox host (SSH):

nano /etc/pve/lxc/100.conf

Added to end of file:

mp0: /mnt/storage,mp=/mnt/storage

4.2 Restart LXC¶

pct stop 100
pct start 100
pct status 100

Result:

status: running

🐋 5. Installing Docker Inside the LXC¶

5.1 Enter the LXC¶

pct enter 100

Prompt change:

root@docker-host:~#

5.2 Verify storage mount¶

ls -la /mnt/
df -h | grep storage

Result:

/mnt/disk1  5.5T  2.1M  5.2T   1% /mnt/storage

✅ Bind mount working!

5.3 System update¶

apt update && apt upgrade -y

5.4 Install Docker¶

# Official Docker install script
apt install -y curl
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh

# Docker Compose plugin
apt install -y docker-compose-plugin

# Verify Docker version
docker --version
docker compose version

Result:

Docker version 27.x.x
Docker Compose version v2.x.x

5.5 Create user¶

# Create user
useradd -m -s /bin/bash nex
usermod -aG docker nex

# Set password
passwd nex

5.6 Docker volumes directory¶

mkdir -p /srv/docker

💾 6. Restoring Backup¶

6.1 Context¶

The Raspberry Pi (192.168.0.102) was dead at this point. The backup resided on the "Filmek2" USB HDD (2TB, /dev/sdd1) which had been physically moved from the Pi to the Proxmox machine and mounted as /mnt/disk4 (see doc 03 - USB HDD Integration).

On the Raspberry Pi this disk was mounted at /mnt/hdd2/, so the backup path on Proxmox is:

/mnt/disk4/backup/2025-12-19/

6.2 Copy backup to storage¶

On Proxmox host:

mkdir -p /mnt/storage/backup-restore
cp -r /mnt/disk4/backup/2025-12-19/docker/* /mnt/storage/backup-restore/

6.3 Verify backup size¶

du -sh /mnt/storage/backup-restore/
ls -lh /mnt/storage/backup-restore/

Result:

total 7.6G

drwxr-xr-x 24 root root 4.0K Dec 20 18:25 compose
drwxr-xr-x 25 root root 4.0K Dec 20 18:31 config

✅ Backup successfully copied: 7.6GB

📂 7. Restoring Docker Volumes in the LXC¶

7.1 Enter the LXC¶

pct enter 100

7.2 Verify backup visibility¶

ls -lh /mnt/storage/backup-restore/

Result:

total 8.0K
drwxr-xr-x 24 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:25 compose
drwxr-xr-x 25 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:31 config

7.3 Copy Docker volumes back¶

# Copy backup to /srv/docker/
cp -a /mnt/storage/backup-restore/compose/* /srv/docker/
cp -a /mnt/storage/backup-restore/config/* /srv/docker/

# Verify
ls -lh /srv/docker/

Result - Docker applications list:

total 100K
drwxr-xr-x  4 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:27 adguardhome
drwxr-xr-x  9 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:28 bazarr
drwxr-xr-x  2 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:25 calibre-web-automated
drwxr-xr-x  6 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:27 calibrewebauto
drwxr-xr-x  2 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:31 dockge
drwxr-xr-x  2 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:28 dozzle
drwxr-xr-x  9 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:26 homeassistant
drwxr-xr-x  4 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:27 homepage
drwxr-xr-x 15 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:31 huntarr
drwxr-xr-x  9 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:31 jellyfin
drwxr-xr-x  7 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:27 mealie
drwxr-xr-x  4 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:31 nginx-proxy-manager
drwxr-xr-x  3 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:31 notifiarr
drwxr-xr-x  5 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:31 overseerr
drwxr-xr-x  3 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:31 portainer
drwxr-xr-x  7 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:27 prowlarr
drwxr-xr-x  5 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:28 qbittorrent
drwxr-xr-x  7 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:26 radarr
drwxr-xr-x  4 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:31 scrutiny
drwxr-xr-x  5 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:31 seerr
drwxr-xr-x  7 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:31 sonarr
drwxr-xr-x  2 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:25 stirling-pdf
drwxr-xr-x  4 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:28 trainingData
drwxr-xr-x  5 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:27 uptime-kuma
drwxr-xr-x  2 nobody nogroup 4.0K Dec 20 17:26 watchtower

✅ 25 Docker applications restored!

📊 Current State¶

Proxmox Host¶

IP: 192.168.0.109
Storage:
├─ NVMe SSD: 60GB root, 8GB swap, ~150GB data
├─ HDD #1 (sda): 5.5TB data (/mnt/disk1)
├─ HDD #2 (sdb): 5.5TB parity (/mnt/disk2)
└─ MergerFS pool: /mnt/storage (5.5TB)

Docker LXC (ID: 100)¶

Hostname: docker-host
IP: 192.168.0.110
Resources: 4 cores, 4GB RAM, 32GB disk
Storage: /mnt/storage (bind mount)
Docker: ✅ Installed
Docker Compose: ✅ Installed
Applications: 25 stacks restored

Backup¶

Source: 192.168.0.107:/mnt/hdd2/backup/2025-12-19/
Destination: /mnt/storage/backup-restore/ (7.6GB)
Docker volumes: /srv/docker/ (25 applications)

🎯 Next Steps¶

1. Check Docker compose files¶

# Does docker-compose.yml exist everywhere?
find /srv/docker/ -name "docker-compose.yml" -o -name "compose.yaml"

2. Media file location¶

Question: Where were the movies/series on the old server?
New location: /mnt/storage/media/ (recommended)

3. Create media directory structure¶

mkdir -p /mnt/storage/media/movies
mkdir -p /mnt/storage/media/tv
mkdir -p /mnt/storage/media/downloads

4. Modify Docker compose files¶

Update volume paths to new locations

Example:

volumes:
  - /mnt/storage/media/movies:/movies
  - /mnt/storage/media/downloads:/downloads

5. Set permissions¶

chown -R root:root /srv/docker/
# OR
chown -R nex:nex /srv/docker/

6. Start Docker stacks¶

cd /srv/docker/[application-name]
docker compose up -d

⚠️ Lessons Learned and Important Notes¶

/tmp problem¶

Problem: - /tmp is part of the root filesystem (60GB) - Copying a large backup to /tmp → filesystem filled up - SSH/HTTP connection dropped

Solution: - NEVER copy large files to /tmp or /root - Use the dedicated storage (/mnt/storage = 5.5TB)

Debian version choice¶

Proxmox host: Debian 13 (trixie) - base of Proxmox 9.1
LXC container: Debian 12 (bookworm) - stable, production-ready

This is NOT a problem! The host and container OS are independent of each other.

Backup storage size¶

Full backup: ~40-50GB (docker + nex_home)
Docker volumes: 7.6GB
Difference: user files, images, PDFs, Syncthing DB, Git repos

📝 Useful Commands¶

Proxmox host¶

# Enter LXC
pct enter 100

# LXC status
pct status 100

# LXC start/stop
pct start 100
pct stop 100

# Storage check
df -h
lsblk

LXC container¶

# Docker version
docker --version
docker compose version

# Running containers
docker ps

# Docker logs
docker logs [container-name]

# Start Docker compose
cd /srv/docker/[app]
docker compose up -d

# Stop Docker compose
docker compose down

End of documentation
Last updated: 2025-12-19, 20:00

02 - Docker LXC Setup

📋 Starting State¶

🖥️ 1. First Web UI Access¶

URL:¶

Login:¶

📦 2. Downloading Debian Template¶

CLI method (used):¶

🐳 3. Creating Docker LXC Container (Web UI)¶

3.1 Start Create CT¶

3.2 General tab¶

3.3 Template tab¶

3.4 Disks tab¶

3.5 CPU tab¶

3.6 Memory tab¶

3.7 Network tab¶

3.8 DNS tab¶

3.9 Confirm¶

📁 4. Adding MergerFS Storage Bind Mount¶

4.1 Edit LXC configuration¶

4.2 Restart LXC¶

🐋 5. Installing Docker Inside the LXC¶

5.1 Enter the LXC¶

5.2 Verify storage mount¶

5.3 System update¶

5.4 Install Docker¶

5.5 Create user¶

5.6 Docker volumes directory¶

💾 6. Restoring Backup¶

6.1 Context¶

6.2 Copy backup to storage¶

6.3 Verify backup size¶

📂 7. Restoring Docker Volumes in the LXC¶

7.1 Enter the LXC¶

7.2 Verify backup visibility¶

7.3 Copy Docker volumes back¶

📊 Current State¶

Proxmox Host¶

Docker LXC (ID: 100)¶

Backup¶

🎯 Next Steps¶

1. Check Docker compose files¶

2. Media file location¶

3. Create media directory structure¶

4. Modify Docker compose files¶

5. Set permissions¶

6. Start Docker stacks¶

⚠️ Lessons Learned and Important Notes¶

/tmp problem¶

Debian version choice¶

Backup storage size¶

📝 Useful Commands¶

Proxmox host¶

LXC container¶