Aspiring DevOps engineers: I don't recommend using Proxmox when you're just starting out. Proxmox definitely has a place in a home lab, but I can explain the reason why I don't include it in the beginner courses or the home lab method that I teach. There is already enough to learn in the beginning, and the most important thing is to get access to a linux command line as soon as possible, on a machine where you can break stuff. Setting up Proxmox is not that difficult with a tutorial, but it does require you to set a static IP on the machine for example, (at least, every time I did it I had to do this) and this alone can be very confusing if you are a beginner. Next there is also a performance loss when you start virtualizing, especially on older hardware. If you install Ubuntu or Ubuntu server on a laptop, you can run Docker directly on there without needing any desktop clients or anything. That's the best way to learn, and no performance loss. A VM is not needed to learn docker on Linux I think you can come very far without ever needing to start a virtual machine if you stick to bare metal in the beginning, and I think it has the least friction when you start. Because when someone joins here, is all excited, and then gets frustrated in the first 2 days because they are stuck with Proxmox, then there is a higher chance that they will lose momentum and stop learning so much. Of course you should follow your own way and do what interests you, i am just sharing the reason why I don't include it in the beginning. For context, i've been homelabbing for years now, and literally yesterday I set up my first proper proxmox machine, and my first proxmox install was 6 months ago (but i abandoned it then)