I never understood how to use Docker, what makes it so special? I would really like to use it on my Rapsberry Pi 3 Model B+ to ease the setup process of selfhosting different things.
I’m currently running these things without Docker:
- Mumble server with a Discord bridge and a music bot
- Maubot, a plugin-based Matrix bot
- FTP server
- Two Discord Music bots
All of these things are running as systemd services in the background. Should I change this? A lot of the things I’m hosting offer Docker images.
It would also be great if someone could give me a quick-start guide for Docker. Thanks in advance!
There have been some great answers on this so far, but I want to highlight my favourite part of Docker: the disposability.
When you have a running Docker container, you can hop in, fuck about with files, break stuff as you try to figure something out, and then kill the container and all of the mess you’ve created is gone. Now tweak your config and spin up a fresh one exactly the way you need it.
You’ve been running a service for 6 months and there’s a new upgrade. Delete your instance and just start up the new one. Worried that there might be some cruft left over from before? Don’t be! Every new instance is a clean slate. Regular, reproducible deployments are the norm now.
As a developer it’s even better: the thing you develop locally is identical to the thing that’s built, tested, and deployed in CI.
I <3 Docker!