A SWE goes on Reddit to ask why the homelab community is obsessed with Proxmox when Docker exists. The veterans quickly step in to drop some hard truths.
What's up, fellow code monkeys. Was scrolling through r/homelab the other day and saw a SWE dropping a pretty innocent question: "Why do so many people jump straight into Proxmox? Isn't Docker enough?" Sounds like a total greenhorn in the homelab space, but honestly, it's a valid question for many devs migrating from software engineering to building their own basement servers.
Our guy claims to be a decent dev—knows his way around Linux, the terminal, Docker, K8s, the whole shebang. But diving into the homelab cult, he was mind-blown seeing 90% of posts flexing a Proxmox setup. He scratched his head: "Proxmox is a VM hypervisor. What the f*** needs more isolation than what Docker already provides? Sharing some host resources isn't a big deal."
Basically, he wanted to know the secret sauce that makes Proxmox the holy grail. I mean, sure, some devs just get Free $300 to test VPS on Vultr and call it a day, but homelabbing is a completely different beast.
The homelab veterans instantly swarmed the comments to educate the poor soul. Here are the top takes dominating the thread:
1. Snapshots are the ultimate undo button User ILikeFlyingMachines kept it real: Fucked up a config or accidentally wiped a directory? Proxmox lets you roll back a VM with a single click. It’s the ultimate lifesaver when you're just messing around and don't want to brick your physical machine.
2. Escaping the Linux Kernel NC1HM made a solid point: Docker is great, but it shares the host's kernel. Need to run Windows, BSD, or something exotic? Docker goes silent. Also, running things like OpenWrt requires loading/unloading specific kernel modules—the devs literally tell you to run it in a full-blown VM, not a container, to avoid random hiccups.
3. The Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) Ecosystem According to SharkBaitDLS, Proxmox isn't just about 'isolation'. Running bare-metal Docker means hand-maintaining configs or dealing with IaC (Infrastructure as Code) which gets exhausting. Add Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) to the mix, and you get incremental, deduplicated backups. You can aggressively backup hourly without blowing up your storage. It just works.
4. The Golden Meta: Why not both? Many users agreed on the current meta: Install Proxmox -> Spin up one beefy Debian VM just for Docker containers -> Spin up smaller, separate VMs for isolated services. You get the lightweight feel of containers with the bulletproof backup system of VMs.
From the perspective of an old, burnt-out dev, the OP's question makes total sense. Devs have an "application-first" mindset (containerize everything!), while Homelabbers and Sysadmins have an "infrastructure-first" mindset.
Proxmox bridges that gap. In a real production environment, you wouldn't just dump all your naked Docker containers onto a single bare-metal host anyway. Homelabbing is about learning best practices for resource management, networking, and disaster recovery. Proxmox gives you a beautiful GUI playground to learn exactly that. So, if you haven't tried it, give it a spin. It's a rabbit hole, but a fun one!
Sourced from: Reddit
