is mac mini M2 pro 16gb RAM enough for docker?

[duke77]

Hi, currently I have a mbp m1 14" base model with 16gb of ram and I am thinking to get a mac mini m2 pro base model as desktop and alse as a home server.

I will run multiple docker containers like pihole, nextcloud, jellyfin, mariadb, etc.

I wonder is base model is enough for this purpose.

As side note I have a rp1 with run all containers just fine with only 4gb except jellyfin.

 

[theluggage]

I wonder is base model is enough for this purpose.

That's one of those "how long is a piece of string" questions - there's no question it will all run, but the issue is what you're doing with it. Massive mariadb databases? Six kids simultaneously streaming from jellyfin? Or just you developing and testing while streaming some tunes...?

If its all running on a 4gb Pi that answers the question - I expect even Jellyfin would run unless you wanted it to do on-the-fly transcoding (even then, I suspect a Pi 4 would have a good try).

Bear in mind that the only way to run Docker on the Mac is to have a virtual machine running Linux - the bad news is that this is an additional complication when setting up networking, external storage etc. and you'll get some performance hit, the good news is that (depending which tool you use) you can choose how much RAM and how many processor cores to limit the VM to & easily turn it off if its slowing down desktop work.

I'd see running Docker on a Mac as mainly a development tool.

Thinking about the logistics - if your "home server" is being used by others, there's a lot to be said for having it on a dedicated machine, so whoever is using the desktop can reboot, upgrade or run demanding software without messing other people up. In particular - it makes most sense to run pihole on a semi-dedicated machine (a Pi is ideal) so that your DNS/DHCP etc. are always working.

 

[duke77]

That's one of those "how long is a piece of string" questions - there's no question it will all run, but the issue is what you're doing with it. Massive mariadb databases? Six kids simultaneously streaming from jellyfin? Or just you developing and testing while streaming some tunes...?

If its all running on a 4gb Pi that answers the question - I expect even Jellyfin would run unless you wanted it to do on-the-fly transcoding (even then, I suspect a Pi 4 would have a good try).

Bear in mind that the only way to run Docker on the Mac is to have a virtual machine running Linux - the bad news is that this is an additional complication when setting up networking, external storage etc. and you'll get some performance hit, the good news is that (depending which tool you use) you can choose how much RAM and how many processor cores to limit the VM to & easily turn it off if its slowing down desktop work.

I'd see running Docker on a Mac as mainly a development tool.

Thinking about the logistics - if your "home server" is being used by others, there's a lot to be said for having it on a dedicated machine, so whoever is using the desktop can reboot, upgrade or run demanding software without messing other people up. In particular - it makes most sense to run pihole on a semi-dedicated machine (a Pi is ideal) so that your DNS/DHCP etc. are always working.

Mmmm you are right, I think I am better off getting a low power mini pc that can run 24/7 with ubuntu server or proxmox. TY

 

[NikoBeaR]

I am running a Mac Mini M2 Pro 16GB/512 and so far it's running 5 Docker containers no problem. I've got 50 docker images in my queue to process for usefulness so I can't wait to explore this ecosystem!

Mac Mini M2 Pro is an incredible computer. Sometimes I wish I had splurged and got 24GB of RAM but it's just so darn expensive.

 

[dmccloud]

Bear in mind that the only way to run Docker on the Mac is to have a virtual machine running Linux - the bad news is that this is an additional complication when setting up networking, external storage etc. and you'll get some performance hit, the good news is that (depending which tool you use) you can choose how much RAM and how many processor cores to limit the VM to & easily turn it off if its slowing down desktop work.

If the only way to run Docker on a Mac is via virtual machine, how do you explain this?

 

[theluggage]

If the only way to run Docker on a Mac is via virtual machine, how do you explain this?

Its true that you can run the Docker client natively on MacOS but the Docker engine always runs on linux (its a linux container system - it needs a running linux kernel to work). "Docker Desktop for Mac" still runs the engine using a Hyperkit linux vm.

Mac

Frequently asked questions for Docker Desktop for Mac

docs.docker.com

You could run the client on Mac and the engine & containers on a separate linux box - if you want to describe that as "running Docker on Mac" then I'm not going to argue angels and pinheads, but it clearly wasn't what the OP was asking about.

 

[wyrdness]

If the only way to run Docker on a Mac is via virtual machine, how do you explain this?

I'd explain that by pointing out that your link is to download a virtual machine

Docker containers require Linux to run. So the only way to run them on Mac is in a VM. So that's what Docker Desktop for Mac does.

 

[Internaut]

I'd explain that by pointing out that your link is to download a virtual machine

Docker containers require Linux to run. So the only way to run them on Mac is in a VM. So that's what Docker Desktop for Mac does.

Help me understand this point. Is Docker Desktop effectively providing a Linux kernel on which the containers run? Presumably this is a fairly lightweight affair?

 

[theluggage]

Help me understand this point. Is Docker Desktop effectively providing a Linux kernel on which the containers run? Presumably this is a fairly lightweight affair?

Basically - yes.
There's a "bare bones" hypervisor built into MacOS these days - Docker Desktop uses that to create a linux VM.

 

[ChrisA]

Help me understand this point. Is Docker Desktop effectively providing a Linux kernel on which the containers run? Presumably this is a fairly lightweight affair?

Yes. your Mac needs to run a VM with Linux, and then Linux runs the docker containers.

How to know if the Mac is powerful enough to do all this? Just make sure the Mac has enough resources to run all the desktop apps you like to use, then add to that enough resources to runs a small Linux system, perhaps an additional 4 GB RAM and a couple CPU cores. But with Apple's silly upgrade prices, it is cheaper to buy another small server than to add RAM and cores to a M2 Mini.

Also, I would never suggest running servers on a machine also used as a workstation. If the Pi4 is working for you, keep it.

Here is what I did... I bought a used 2014 mac Mini for $160 and use that for the servers. With the cost of the Pi4 so high now, the Mac Mini is a great deal. Maybe an even better deal is to buy a used, small PC Mini from a place llike Newegg. I've seen them for just about $100. I used a Mac because screen sharing works so well across Macs and I needed to run a server that runs only on MacOS.

 

[foo2]

OP: There are several apps you can use to see memory and CPU usage for your docker setup. For most people, the docker demands on both are just tiny; if you needed an 8GB Mac before, I’d get a 16GB setup for lots of docker images, but if you already had a 16GB Mac setup, i wouldn’t spend more for more memory.

A PC just running Linux that you can SSH into is a vastly simpler, vastly cheaper solution. Or as others wrote, an old Mac with some RAM (8GB should be plenty, in that case, as a server only) would do great. Suggest ensuring it has an SSD.

 

[foo2]

I have an entire Plex/Sonarr/Radarr/Overseerr/Tautulli/sabnzbd/Watchtower/Bazarr/Prowlarr Docker environment, plus management software, PLUS the underlying Synology DS423+ operating system (DSM7.2, the latest), web servers, SMB/SSH/etc. services, all running in 1.4GB. I find "64GB" and "Docker" (or 32GB) in the same sentence to be pretty wild. What are people doing in Docker that uses so much memory?

Yes, in MacOS a Unix VM is started and exists in the background, I get that, but still - 32gb???