Best Home Server for Virtualization

Question

I have a rather powerful computer that I have been using as my main driver up until now, and I recently got an M1 Mac Mini.I would like to repurpose this old computer to run VMs. My workflow nowadays mostly includes building Docker and Kubernetes, and even though I can build them on the M1 using dockerx it's very slow.What I am looking for is a way to create a local server on this computer that would allow me to spin up large VMs to run my docker build but I would also like to be able to spin up other OSes like Windows 11, macOS and even different Linux flavors.What would you recommend for such a server nowadays?

cpach · Accepted Answer

I&rsquo;ve heard good things about Proxmox VE: https://www.proxmox.com/en/proxmox-ve

denton-scratch · Answer

I use Xen, with a Debian Dom0. You can provision a new VM in about a minute.The commandline tools are not very obvious, and they have scores of subcommands. But it's all scriptable, so you can easily have a CI system spin-up and tear-down VMs. You can hot-copy a VM from one physical machine to another, which is neat for maintenance. It's super-lightweight, but I'd say Xen is a bit nerdy for many people.

atatatat · Answer

Check out unraid.Also check out not using keybase...they're owned by...well, you'll figure it out.

rbanffy · Answer

I&rsquo;m using an Ubuntu server with KVM VMs. I manage them from my laptop using virt-manager.

Best Home Server for Virtualization

I’ve heard good things about Proxmox VE: https://www.proxmox.com/en/proxmox-ve

Check out unraid.
Also check out not using keybase...they're owned by...well, you'll figure it out.

I’m using an Ubuntu server with KVM VMs. I manage them from my laptop using virt-manager.