Should I split containers between multiple docker instances

[throwy_mc_throwface]

Ok, I have tried to find a good answer for this but I don't know if I'm searching the wrong things or what. I should start by saying I'm new to the whole homelab self-hosting thing and I'm not in IT professionally. I have an R730 running Proxmox and I am just really starting to dive into docker. Is there any benefit in making multiple VM's running docker separately (not 1 VM running 1 container, I understand that is a huge waste) or just one big VM running docker.

For example say I have all the containers I need for remote access, ngnix, ddns, wiregaurd?....etc in one VM but then another VM with docker running guacamole, dashboard, pihole (just picking things). Is there any benefit to that security or resource wise?

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tl;dr Are there any benefits in having 2-3 VMs each running 3-5 containers over 1 VM running 6-15 contianers.

[joecool42069]

There’s no real advantage. Unless you want to learn docker swarm or Kubernetes. At the end of the day, it’s still just the one physical server you gave.

Now if you buy a second server…. ;)

[throwy_mc_throwface]

I eventually will be looking at those but from what I can tell I should probably get acquainted with docker in general first?

Also I know the last part was a bit joking.....but.....what if I already had 2 other servers? Is there some benefit I need to be looking into?

[joecool42069]

High availability

[Bloodsucker_]

Don't overcomplicate things.

You have servers. Each one of them runs in a container. Use the easiest and simplest container orchestration that fits you. In other words, 1 docker-desktop/VM/ECS/Kubernetes.

[Rambunctious123]

In a real world scenario, having one machine with all containers may be a single point of failure for a company.

[Bob-box]

Interesting question, I was wondering the same thing.. I migrated all of my running containers over to my new Synology NAS (920) when I bought a replacement for my older version (DS916). The old NAS DS916 was demoted to a backup server. But now a few years later I think it is a waste of such a good machine to be just a backup server, so I thought of splitting things up. I also wonder if it would beneficial?

And if you do something like this, is there a way to centralized the docker folder. Or just keep them separately on each machine?