Last updated Jul 1, 2026

Create Docker VM#

The automation stack — Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr, SABnzbd, and Seerr — runs as Docker containers inside a VM. Using a VM instead of an LXC gives better Docker compatibility and easier resource control.

Create the VM in Proxmox#

Click Create VM in the Proxmox UI. Recommended settings:

General

Name: e.g. docker-media

ISO: Debian 12 (netinstall) — download from debian.org and upload to Proxmox local storage
Guest OS: Linux

System

Leave defaults (SeaBIOS or OVMF both work)

Disk

Size: 64 GB (for the OS and Docker data; media is on separate ZFS storage)
Storage: local-lvm

CPU

Cores: 4

Memory

RAM: 4096 MB (4 GB)

Network

Bridge: vmbr0

Install Debian#

Start the VM and follow the Debian installer. Use a minimal installation — no desktop environment needed. Set a hostname (e.g. docker-media), create a user, and finish the install.

After first boot, update the system:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Install Docker#

# 1. Install prerequisites
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg
 
# 2. Create keyrings directory
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
 
# 3. Download Docker's GPG key
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
 
# 4. Add Docker repository
echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
 
# 5. Update and install Docker
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

Verify Docker is running:

docker run hello-world

Create the config directory#

Create the directory that will hold all service configs:

mkdir -p /srv/media-stack/config/{sonarr,radarr,prowlarr,sabnzbd,seerr}
chown -R 1000:1000 /srv/media-stack/config/

Result#

At this point:

Docker VM is running Debian
Docker and Docker Compose are installed
Config directory is created with correct ownership

Continue to Create ZFS Pool & Datasets.