Proxmox Useful LXC Recommendations (30 kinds)

Proxmox VE is an incredibly powerful open-source platform for virtualization, allowing you to run both full-fledged Virtual Machines (VMs) and lightweight Linux Containers (LXCs) on a single host. While VMs offer complete isolation and flexibility, LXCs shine in their efficiency, speed, and minimal overhead. If you’re looking to maximize your Proxmox server’s potential without consuming excessive resources, LXCs are your best friend!

This blog post will dive deep into 30 incredibly useful applications that are perfect candidates for running as LXCs on your Proxmox server. Get ready to transform your server into a versatile powerhouse!

Why LXC on Proxmox? The Unbeatable Advantages 🚀

Before we jump into the recommendations, let’s quickly recap why LXCs are so ideal for many self-hosted services:

• Lightweight & Efficient: Unlike VMs, LXCs share the host OS kernel. This means less RAM usage and CPU overhead. Your server can run more services with the same hardware.
• Blazing Fast Startup: LXCs boot in seconds, not minutes, as they don’t need to load an entire guest operating system.
• Near-Native Performance: Because they share the kernel, LXCs offer performance very close to running the application directly on the host system.
• Excellent Isolation: While not as isolated as VMs, LXCs provide a good level of process, network, and file system isolation, preventing applications from interfering with each other.
• Easy Management: Proxmox provides a user-friendly web interface to create, start, stop, snapshot, and backup your LXCs with ease.
• Container Templates: Proxmox offers ready-to-use LXC templates (e.g., Debian, Ubuntu) making deployment incredibly simple.

The 30 Useful LXC Recommendations for Your Proxmox Server 💡

Let’s explore a wide range of applications that thrive as LXCs, categorized for easy navigation:

I. Networking & DNS Services 🌐

1. Pi-hole:
   • What it is: A network-wide ad-blocking DNS server.
   • Why LXC: Super lightweight, runs 24/7, essential for clean internet browsing across all devices. Blocks ads, trackers, and malicious domains effectively.
   • Example: Your entire home network gets ad-free browsing and a significant privacy boost. 🛡️
2. AdGuard Home:
   • What it is: An alternative DNS-based ad and tracker blocker, similar to Pi-hole but with a different feature set and UI.
   • Why LXC: Just like Pi-hole, it’s perfect for a dedicated, low-resource LXC.
   • Example: If you prefer AdGuard’s interface or specific filtering capabilities, it’s a great choice for network-wide content filtering. 🚫
3. Nginx Proxy Manager:
   • What it is: A reverse proxy management system with a beautiful web UI, letting you easily expose your internal services to the internet with SSL (Let’s Encrypt).
   • Why LXC: Centralized access control and SSL termination without needing a full VM. Highly efficient.
   • Example: Access your Plex, Home Assistant, or Nextcloud securely from outside your home using custom domain names. 🔐
4. Cloudflare Tunnel (Cloudflared):
   • What it is: Creates a secure, outbound-only tunnel from your server to Cloudflare’s network, eliminating the need for open ports on your router.
   • Why LXC: Minimal resource usage, runs silently in the background, providing a robust and secure way to expose services.
   • Example: Securely expose your self-hosted website or application to the internet without port forwarding, leveraging Cloudflare’s CDN and WAF. ☁️
5. WireGuard VPN Server:
   • What it is: A modern, fast, and secure VPN protocol.
   • Why LXC: Highly efficient and easy to set up for personal VPN access to your home network or for secure browsing while on public Wi-Fi.
   • Example: Securely access your home network files or stream local media when you’re traveling. 🛣️
6. OpenVPN Server:
   • What it is: A robust and widely-used VPN solution, offering more configuration options than WireGuard.
   • Why LXC: Provides reliable and secure remote access to your network.
   • Example: Connect legacy devices or clients that might not support WireGuard, ensuring secure remote access. 🔒

II. Media & Entertainment Hubs 🎬🎧

7. Plex Media Server:
   • What it is: Organizes your media (movies, TV shows, music, photos) and streams them to any device.
   • Why LXC: Can be configured to pass-through hardware transcoding (if your Proxmox host supports it), making it highly efficient for media streaming.
   • Example: Stream your entire movie collection to your Smart TV, phone, or tablet anywhere. 🍿
8. Jellyfin Media Server:
   • What it is: A free and open-source alternative to Plex, offering similar media organization and streaming capabilities.
   • Why LXC: Excellent for those who prefer open-source solutions with great community support. Also benefits from hardware transcoding.
   • Example: Create a fully customizable media streaming service for your family without any proprietary restrictions. 🧡
9. Sonarr:
   • What it is: An automated TV show management tool. Monitors for new episodes, downloads, and organizes them.
   • Why LXC: Runs constantly in the background with minimal resource impact.
   • Example: Automatically download and organize your favorite TV shows as soon as they air. 📺
10. Radarr:
    • What it is: An automated movie management tool, similar to Sonarr but for films.
    • Why LXC: Complements Sonarr perfectly, ensuring your movie collection is always up-to-date.
    • Example: Build and maintain your dream movie library with minimal manual effort. 🎥
11. Lidarr:
    • What it is: An automated music collection management tool.
    • Why LXC: Keeps your music library organized and complete, perfect for audiophiles.
    • Example: Automatically find and download high-quality music albums for your collection. 🎶
12. Prowlarr:
    • What it is: An indexer manager for Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, and others, helping you manage various sources.
    • Why LXC: Centralizes your media automation workflow, saving resources by sharing indexers.
    • Example: Streamline the search process for all your media (TV, movies, music) from one central application. 🔍
13. Navidrome:
    • What it is: A modern, open-source music server and streamer, compatible with Subsonic/Jellyfin clients.
    • Why LXC: Very lightweight, ideal for streaming your personal music collection without the overhead of a full media server suite.
    • Example: Have your personal Spotify, accessible anywhere, with a simple and intuitive interface. 🎵
14. Audiobookshelf:
    • What it is: Self-hosted audiobook and podcast server with a modern web UI and mobile apps.
    • Why LXC: Perfect for organizing and streaming your audiobook collection efficiently.
    • Example: Listen to your audiobooks seamlessly on the go, picking up exactly where you left off. 📚

III. Home Automation & Smart Home 🏡

15. Home Assistant:
    • What it is: An open-source home automation platform that puts local control and privacy first.
    • Why LXC: Can be run in a “Container” mode, offering a more lightweight alternative to the “HA OS” VM, while still providing robust automation capabilities.
    • Example: Automate your lights, thermostats, security cameras, and integrate various smart devices into one central dashboard. 💡
16. Node-RED:
    • What it is: A flow-based programming tool for visual wiring of hardware devices, APIs, and online services. Often used for complex home automation logic.
    • Why LXC: Lightweight and runs constantly, perfect for background automation tasks.
    • Example: Create custom automation flows for your smart home devices that Home Assistant might not handle out-of-the-box. ⚙️
17. Zigbee2MQTT:
    • What it is: Allows you to control your Zigbee devices (like Philips Hue, IKEA Tradfri) directly via MQTT, without relying on proprietary bridges.
    • Why LXC: Minimal resource footprint, bridges Zigbee devices to your MQTT broker for Home Assistant integration. Requires USB pass-through for the Zigbee stick.
    • Example: Connect all your Zigbee devices to Home Assistant directly, gaining more control and local processing. 📡

IV. Productivity & Collaboration Tools 🧑‍💻

18. Nextcloud:
    • What it is: A self-hosted suite for file synchronization, sharing, collaboration, and much more (calendar, contacts, photos).
    • Why LXC: Your personal cloud alternative to Google Drive or Dropbox, with full control over your data.
    • Example: Store, share, and collaborate on documents, photos, and calendars with family or a small team. ☁️
19. Immich:
    • What it is: A self-hosted photo and video backup solution, similar to Google Photos.
    • Why LXC: Efficiently backs up and organizes your memories with features like facial recognition and object detection.
    • Example: Back up all your phone photos automatically and browse them beautifully on your own server. 📸
20. LibrePhotos:
    • What it is: Another open-source self-hosted photo management system, focusing on privacy and machine learning features.
    • Why LXC: Offers robust photo organization and intelligent search capabilities without relying on external services.
    • Example: Keep your photo collection private and searchable on your own hardware. 🖼️
21. Gitea:
    • What it is: A lightweight and fast self-hosted Git service, alternative to GitHub or GitLab.
    • Why LXC: Perfect for small teams or personal projects that need version control without the overhead of GitLab.
    • Example: Host your private code repositories securely on your own server. 💻
22. Vaultwarden (formerly Bitwarden_RS):
    • What it is: An unofficial, lightweight, and open-source implementation of the Bitwarden password manager API.
    • Why LXC: Securely manage all your passwords and sensitive information on your own infrastructure.
    • Example: Have a reliable and secure personal or family password manager that you fully control. 🔑
23. Authentik:
    • What it is: An open-source identity provider and access management system (SSO, MFA).
    • Why LXC: Centralizes authentication for multiple services, enhancing security and user experience.
    • Example: Set up single sign-on for all your self-hosted apps, so you only need to log in once. 🚪
24. Apache Guacamole:
    • What it is: A clientless remote desktop gateway. Access your remote desktops (RDP, SSH, VNC) through a web browser.
    • Why LXC: Centralized access to all your servers and VMs without installing separate clients.
    • Example: Access your Windows desktop, Linux server SSH, or VNC session directly from any web browser, even on a tablet. 🖥️
25. Syncthing:
    • What it is: A continuous file synchronization program. Keeps files synchronized between multiple devices.
    • Why LXC: Create your own peer-to-peer file sync cloud, without relying on central servers or limits.
    • Example: Keep documents, photos, or project files synchronized across your desktop, laptop, and server automatically. 🔄

V. Monitoring & Utility Services 📊🛠️

26. Uptime Kuma:
    • What it is: A fancy self-hosted uptime monitor and status page.
    • Why LXC: Lightweight and provides immediate notifications if any of your services go down.
    • Example: Get Telegram, Discord, or email alerts if your Plex server or Nextcloud instance becomes unreachable. ⏰
27. Grafana:
    • What it is: An open-source analytics and interactive visualization web application.
    • Why LXC: Create beautiful dashboards to monitor your Proxmox host, LXCs, network, and other applications. Often paired with Prometheus.
    • Example: Visualize your server’s CPU usage, RAM, network traffic, and disk I/O in real-time. 📈
28. Prometheus:
    • What it is: A monitoring system and time series database. It collects metrics from configured targets.
    • Why LXC: The perfect backend for Grafana, collecting all the data you need to monitor your infrastructure.
    • Example: Collect detailed performance metrics from your Proxmox node and all its containers/VMs. ⚙️
29. Netdata:
    • What it is: Real-time performance monitoring. Provides highly detailed, instant metrics for your system.
    • Why LXC: Offers an easy-to-deploy, comprehensive view of your container’s performance.
    • Example: Get granular, second-by-second insights into your LXC’s CPU, memory, disk, and network usage. 📊
30. VS Code Server:
    • What it is: The backend of Visual Studio Code that runs on a remote machine, allowing you to access a VS Code environment from a web browser.
    • Why LXC: Great for developers who want a consistent coding environment accessible from anywhere without installing VS Code locally on every device.
    • Example: Develop your projects on your powerful Proxmox server, accessible from a Chromebook or a light laptop. 🧑‍💻

How to Deploy an LXC on Proxmox (Quick Guide) 🚀

Deploying an LXC on Proxmox is straightforward:

1. Download a Template: In the Proxmox UI, navigate to Local (pve) -> CT Templates -> Templates. Select a template like debian-11-standard or ubuntu-22.04-standard and click “Download”.
2. Create CT: Click “Create CT” in the top right of your Proxmox node’s overview.
3. Basic Settings: Give it a name, password, and optionally a hostname.
4. Template: Select the downloaded template.
5. Disk Size: Allocate sufficient disk space (e.g., 8-32GB depending on the service).
6. CPU/Memory: Assign CPU cores and RAM (start small, expand if needed).
7. Network: Configure a static IP address for easier management and service access.
8. DNS: Use your local DNS (e.g., Pi-hole LXC’s IP) or a public one.
9. Confirm: Review settings and finish.
10. Post-Deployment: Once created, open its console in Proxmox, run apt update && apt upgrade -y, and then install your chosen application following its official documentation.

Best Practices for Your LXC Wonderland ✨

• One Service Per LXC: For optimal isolation, resource management, and troubleshooting, try to run only one primary application per LXC.
• Static IPs: Always assign static IP addresses to your LXCs for reliable network access and easier configuration with tools like Nginx Proxy Manager.
• Resource Allocation: Start with conservative CPU and RAM allocations. You can easily adjust these later in the Proxmox UI if your application needs more resources.
• Regular Backups: Utilize Proxmox’s built-in backup functionality. Back up your LXCs regularly, especially before major updates.
• Keep Updated: Regularly update the operating system within your LXCs (apt update && apt upgrade -y) and your applications to ensure security and stability.
• Monitor Resources: Use tools like Grafana, Prometheus, or Netdata (or even Proxmox’s built-in graphs) to keep an eye on your LXC’s performance.

Conclusion 🎉

Proxmox LXCs are a game-changer for anyone looking to self-host multiple services efficiently and effectively. From enhancing your home network with ad-blocking to building a robust personal media hub or even a full-fledged collaboration suite, the possibilities are virtually endless.

By leveraging the lightweight nature and excellent performance of LXCs, you can truly unlock the full potential of your Proxmox server, all while keeping resource consumption to a minimum. So go ahead, pick a few from this list, spin up some new LXCs, and start building your ultimate self-hosted environment today!

What are your favorite LXC applications? Share them in the comments below! 👇 G