How hard is it to move Docker containers to another system? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 11 months ago by Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/selfhost@lemmy.ml

24 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Or another container type if there's a better one?

My server was originally connected to my TV to run Kodi and play some games while serving files, so it's running Xubuntu. While it works well for the most part, I want to set it up properly, and be able to move the services to a new system when the time comes.

I was thinking that Docker, or another container system, would probably be best, because as well as hopefully being able to be moved, installing new software shouldn't affect anything else.

Am I on the right track? Can containers be moved to another system without needing to be set up again?

I'm running the *arr suite two Java Minecraft servers Plex media server Two copies of qBittorent NZBGet Ombi Mylar Codex and probably some others that I've forgotten.

While I'm at it, is there a best OS to base everything on? Preferably free. The server is a 4th generation i5 with 32GB RAM, and currently about 10TB of HDD space, with a small SSD for boot, and a Quadro graphics card for transcoding.

Thanks in advance :)

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] shasta@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

Yes that's correct. And containers are not really portable in the way you described. They do have a mini OS in them but the state is not saved when they are "offline". So you can think of it as more of a template, called an image. You can save the image to a file, and move that to a new pc and load that back into Docker, but that's usually unnecessary. As long as you have Internet, you just need to know the name of the image and Docker will just download it if it doesn't already have it. For most popular programs, you'll find an image for it already created so just follow the instructions on what settings to use for things like volume mounts and environment variables. This configuration of variables can be saved into a Docker Compose file for easy reuse instead of typing really long command line to run your container. This Compose file is all you really need to move to the other PC and it'll just download your image and run everything as before.

[-] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 11 months ago

Oh, that's even easier than I thought then :)

I've got a great internet connection, so as long as I save the Compose files, I can rebuild the image forever, barring changes to the program in the container then. Much easier :D

this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2023

23 points (100.0% liked)

Self Hosted - Self-hosting your services.

11190 readers

1 users here now

A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

Rules

No harassment
crossposts from c/Open Source & c/docker & related may be allowed, depending on context
Video Promoting is allowed if is within the topic.
No spamming.
Stay friendly.
Follow the lemmy.ml instance rules.
Tag your post. (Read under)

Important

Beginning of January 1st 2024 this rule WILL be enforced. Posts that are not tagged will be warned and if not fixed within 24h then removed!

Lemmy doesn't have tags yet, so mark it with [Question], [Help], [Project], [Other], [Promoting] or other you may think is appropriate.

Cross-posting

!everything_git@lemmy.ml is allowed!
!docker@lemmy.ml is allowed!
!portainer@lemmy.ml is allowed!
!fediverse@lemmy.ml is allowed if topic has to do with selfhosting.
!selfhosted@lemmy.ml is allowed!

If you see a rule-breaker please DM the mods!

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

Zoe8338@lemmy.ml

dogmuffins@lemmy.ml

testman@lemmy.ml