LXD & Docker; What Is Containerization?

LXD and Docker let one server do the work that used to take several. Both run apps in containers, which use less CPU and memory than full virtual machines. For a small business in Port Charlotte, that means more services on less hardware. We use both tools when we build servers, and they power much of the web development and hosting work we do.

We first wrote this post in 2021. A lot has changed since then, so we’ve updated it for 2026. Here’s what each tool does, where things stand today, and how we set them up for local businesses.

LXD and Incus in 2026

LXD is a system container manager. It feels a lot like running virtual machines, but it runs Linux containers instead. Each container acts like its own small Linux server, with its own users, services and network address.

Canonical Ltd, the company behind Ubuntu, started LXD. For years the project lived under the community-run Linux Containers project. In July 2023, Canonical moved LXD in-house, and its code and website now sit on Canonical’s own sites.

A month later, the community launched Incus, a fork of LXD led by many of the people who first built it. Incus 6.0 LTS is supported until June 2029. Canonical still develops LXD too, with a new long-term release every two years. So you now have two solid choices that share the same roots.

Design

At the core of LXD is a daemon, a background service with special rights. It offers a REST API over a local Unix socket, and over the network if you turn that on.

Clients, like the command-line tool that ships with LXD, do everything through that API. So it doesn’t matter if you’re working on your own machine or a remote server. Incus works the same way, with an incus command in place of lxc.

Features

Some of the biggest features of LXD and Incus are:

• Secure by design (unprivileged containers, resource limits, and more)
• Scalable (from containers on your laptop to thousands of compute nodes)
• Easy to learn (simple, clear API and a crisp command line)
• Image-based (with a wide range of Linux versions published daily)
• Support for cross-host container and image transfer (including live migration with CRIU)
• Advanced resource control (CPU, memory, network I/O, block I/O, disk usage, and kernel resources)
• Device passthrough (USB, GPU, Unix character and block devices, NICs, disks, and paths)
• Network management (bridge creation and configuration, cross-host tunnels, …)
• Storage management (support for multiple storage backends, storage pools, and storage volumes)

What Is Docker and Why Businesses Use It

Docker packs an app and everything it needs into one container. You can move that container from a laptop to a server, and it runs the same way. That makes apps easy to install, update and roll back.

Docker launched in 2013 to make containers easy to use. The release of Docker 1.0 in June 2014 turned it into an industry standard. Its open-source parts live on in the Moby project.

Docker Facts That Matter in 2026

• Docker Engine is now on version 29, per the official release notes. On a Linux server, the engine is free and open source.
• Docker Desktop, the Windows and Mac app, is free for small businesses with fewer than 250 employees and under $10 million in yearly revenue.
• Docker Hub limits image downloads. Anonymous users get 100 pulls per 6 hours, and free accounts get 200. Log your servers in so updates don’t stall.

How Docker Can Help SW Florida Businesses

The SolarWinds breach shows why control matters. In December 2020, CISA ordered federal agencies to disconnect SolarWinds Orion after attackers hid malware in its updates. Research from ReversingLabs traced the code to SolarWinds’ own build system. U.S. officials tied the attack to Russian intelligence.

Own It, Control It, Make It Yours

The lesson for a small business is simple. When you rent every tool, you trust every vendor’s security. With containers on your own server, you decide what runs, when it updates, and where your data lives.

You also swap some monthly subscriptions for hardware you own. That’s a real trade-off, not a free lunch. You take on patching, backups and upkeep, or you pay someone like us to handle them.

More Services, Less Hardware With Docker

LXD or Incus containers let you run different Linux versions side by side with little overhead. Some apps need to run alone, and a system container gives each one its own walled-off space. Docker then lets you pack many apps and services into each of those spaces. A self-hosted email server like Mailcow runs this way too. For even more separation, you can run Docker inside several LXD containers on one host.

If you need full virtual machines as well, see our guide to Proxmox virtual appliances. Proxmox can run containers and VMs on the same box.

Docker Security Done Right

Out of the box, containers aren’t a full sandbox. They share one kernel, the core of the operating system. That makes them fast and lean. It also means one kernel bug could let an attacker escape a container. Running untrusted code in them without extra walls is a bad idea.

gVisor adds one of those walls. It’s an open-source application kernel that sits between your container and the host. The app still gets the features it expects, but it touches far less of the real kernel. gVisor works with Docker, Kubernetes and containerd.

Here’s what we check first when we harden a container host:

• Run containers as unprivileged users, never as root on the host.
• Never expose the Docker socket to the internet or to untrusted containers.
• Pull images only from official or verified publishers, and pin their versions.
• Put every web app behind a reverse proxy with HTTPS.
• Patch the host, the engine and the images on a set schedule.

Build a Docker Server That Powers Your Business

The diagram below shows one simple setup with LXD and Docker. It has two LXD containers on one server. Each has its own IP address and runs Docker. The first acts as a web server and secure reverse proxy. It serves email, contacts, calendar, webmail, and a website. For shared files and calendars, a Nextcloud server runs well this way.

The second runs secure logins for your business, a secure DNS server, backups, a full remote work setup with VPN access, and an FTP server. It also hosts a security system that filters all traffic in and out of your network.

You don’t need a data center for this. A modest business-class server from Dell, HP or Lenovo can handle a small office. Many of these apps are light, too. For example, Bitwarden’s self-host guide lists 2 GB of RAM as its minimum.

Plan Your Docker Server for Hurricane Season

A server in your office is only as safe as your power and your backups. In Southwest Florida, we plan for storms from day one:

• Put the server on a battery backup (UPS) that can shut it down cleanly.
• Set containers to restart on their own when power returns.
• Keep a nightly backup off-site, well outside the storm zone.
• Test a full restore at least once before June.

Docker and Container Resources

Curious what containers could run on your own hardware? Contact us and we’ll map out a setup that fits your business.