Alpine Linux and docker-compose make a great combo!
I have toyed with Docker for about 4 years now and what I can say is that it has made the process of deploying and maintaining software on my servers easier, more secure, and much more portable. I stuck to Ubuntu for years but started to grow tired with the constant push for snapd, lxc, netplan, etc. on my servers when all I wanted to do was run a few services on Docker. This isn’t to say that these couldn’t be useful tools, but I prefer for my OS to be a blank slate that I build from the bottom up rather than “here have 2000 packages that you won’t use 90% of most of the time”.
Anyone familiar with Docker has probably seen the name Alpine from time to time. Alpine Linux is a minimal and secure Linux distribution with its own package manager, apk, that is used frequently in Docker images due to its small size and blazing fast package installation. A bit more research showed that this distribution is good for a lot more than just containers and seems to do rather well on bare metal. This seemed like a good candidate for a base OS that I could run Docker on top of and keep as slim as possible.
My Current Setup
stem:~# neofetch
.hddddddddddddddddddddddh. [email protected]
:dddddddddddddddddddddddddd: -------------
/dddddddddddddddddddddddddddd/ OS: Alpine Linux vX.XX x86_64
+dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd+ Host: OptiPlex 9020 00
`sdddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddds` Kernel: XXXXXXXXXX
`ydddddddddddd++hdddddddddddddddddddy` Uptime: 12 hours, 17 mins
.hddddddddddd+` `+ddddh:-sdddddddddddh. Packages: 261 (apk)
hdddddddddd+` `+y: .sddddddddddh Shell: ash
ddddddddh+` `//` `.` -sddddddddd Terminal: /dev/pts/0
ddddddh+` `/hddh/` `:s- -sddddddd CPU: Intel i5-4590 (4) @ 3.700GHz
ddddh+` `/+/dddddh/` `+s- -sddddd Memory: 5700MiB / 7862MiB
ddd+` `/o` :dddddddh/` `oy- .yddd
hdddyo+ohddyosdddddddddho+oydddy++ohdddh
.hddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddh.
`yddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddy`
`sdddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddds`
+dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd+
/dddddddddddddddddddddddddddd/
:dddddddddddddddddddddddddd:
.hddddddddddddddddddddddh.
axon:~# neofetch
.hddddddddddddddddddddddh. [email protected]
:dddddddddddddddddddddddddd: ---------------------
/dddddddddddddddddddddddddddd/ OS: Alpine Linux vX.XX x86_64
+dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd+ Host: KVM/QEMU
`sdddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddds` Kernel: XXXXXXXXXX
`ydddddddddddd++hdddddddddddddddddddy` Uptime: 93 days, 5 hours, 1 min
.hddddddddddd+` `+ddddh:-sdddddddddddh. Packages: 253 (apk)
hdddddddddd+` `+y: .sddddddddddh Shell: ash
ddddddddh+` `//` `.` -sddddddddd Resolution: 1024x768
ddddddh+` `/hddh/` `:s- -sddddddd Terminal: /dev/pts/0
ddddh+` `/+/dddddh/` `+s- -sddddd CPU: AMD EPYC 7542 (1) @ 2.899GHz
ddd+` `/o` :dddddddh/` `oy- .yddd Memory: 202MiB / 983MiB
hdddyo+ohddyosdddddddddho+oydddy++ohdddh
.hddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddh.
`yddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddy`
`sdddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddds`
+dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd+
/dddddddddddddddddddddddddddd/
:dddddddddddddddddddddddddd:
.hddddddddddddddddddddddh.
These are my two main servers, and just look at that package count! Setting
these up consisted mainly of just installing Alpine on the machine, installing
docker and docker-compose, and then running my docker-compose.yaml files for
each of my services. I keep the services in their own self-contained folders, so
that migration is as simple as running docker-compose down, copying a folder
from one server to another, and then running docker-compose up. I tried this
out when I was migrating from Ubuntu to Alpine at first and it worked pretty
much flawlessly (with the exception of needing to make a few mount points on the
Alpine box for shared data).
So far, this has worked out great. apk is a blast to use compared to most
other package managers; its fast, simple, reliable, and has a huge package
repository to pick from. It uses a similar format (APKBUILD) to Arch (PKGBUILD),
which I might start to research for my own personal package management.