this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2026
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So I have a couple options at my disposal. I’m fairly beginner with self hosting, with linux, and command line.

So my options are

  1. Run server via ubuntu vm on windows 11 machine that I already run my plex server and some game servers through.

  2. Use random other computer, install ubuntu or ubuntu server on and host that way. Not sure if ubuntu or ubuntu server would be better for me. I’m not sure what the hardware is yet, but I know it’s pretty old and likely lower end. I have very little cli experience and I want to learn to be better command line so maybe ubuntu server would be a good learning experience.

  3. Host it via docker on linux machine.

top 16 comments
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[–] fozid@feddit.uk 3 points 11 hours ago

It depends what your long term goals are. If it's just to run those services as simply as possible, then just run them in docker on windows. If you want to learn Linux, then setup you other hardware and install a server distro. Ubuntu is fine, but I use Debian.

Then once you get used to Linux, one day you could migrate your Plex server to Linux and remove windows from your main server.

[–] zewm@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Why run a docker through a vm on Windows when you can just run docker natively? I don’t understand the convolution.

Use whatever you are more comfortable with.

[–] klankin@piefed.ca 0 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Thats how docker runs "natively" on windows, its kernel has no support for namespaces nor cgroups that containers require

[–] pupbiru@aussie.zone 2 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

WSL, Hyper-V and Windows Containers are all options

they have to be built specifically for windows (of course the kernels are different, so the binaries are going to be different) but you can run Windows native applications on Windows kernel with a different implementation of containers using the standard Docker CLI and interfaces

Cgroups are just 1 (by far the most common) implementation of the container backend

[–] klankin@piefed.ca 1 points 6 hours ago

Mind linking the relavent simplex SMP/xftp windows container then?

[–] zewm@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

No. You can install docker directly in Windows. OP is running a Linux VM and then docker inside of that.

[–] klankin@piefed.ca 0 points 8 hours ago

Docker desktop for Windows runs under WSL or Hyper-V, both being VMs themselves.

Arguably running a Linux VM themselves will only offer them more customisation options (although may be heavier than WSL)

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] adonkeystomple@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Interesting. Could you expound on why that option, and what some pros and cons would be?

[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago

Hosting things in docker separates then from the OS and makes upgrading safer and easier.

Eventually, you'll want to update your OS. If the software is right on the OS, you might break it. If it's in docker and the machine breaks, run the container on another machine.

If you upgrade your software and it breaks, in docker you just go back to the previous container. It's still there and hasn't changed. If the software is on your OS directly, an uninstall and reinstall might work, but might not.

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The simplest and most pragmatic option.

[–] androidul@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

thank you sir

[–] artyom@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)
[–] BigBolillo@mgtowlemmy.org 1 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Question: what are the advantages of simplex over signal?

[–] Lemmchen@feddit.org 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Not centralized, no phone numbers needed

[–] BigBolillo@mgtowlemmy.org 1 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

But if you host a server then your contact should configure that server to communicate with you?

Nevermind it's a swarm of servers.