Hi all, I’m brand new here. I have a question and I’m not sure if it’s a silly one or if the answer is very straightforward. I have recently installed ProxMox on an old small form factor PC and since then haven’t done anything else with it. I recently watched Tom’s video hence why I am here and signed up. Can anybody tell me if it is possible to install SparkBox inside of an LXC Container in ProxMox? I understand that the apps are installed inside of SparkBox and so Tailscale would also be installed inside, but to my understanding you cannot install Tailscale inside of an LXC Container. Or am I wrong in thinking that? I have zero experience with Arr Stack and Tom’s video gave me the incentive to giveSparkBox are you going. Hopefully someone can give me some guidance.
6 replies
tomspark wrote:
Honest answer: LXC isn't a road I'd recommend for SparkBox. Tailscale's only part of the story. Docker also struggles inside LXC without privileged-container tweaks that fight Proxmox's defaults, and updates can get fragile. If your hardware supports virtualization (almost any PC from the last decade does), the simple path is to spin up an Ubuntu 24.04 VM inside Proxmox and install SparkBox in there. Same RAM and CPU you'd give an LXC, and Tailscale plus everything else just works out of the box. Glad you're giving it a try, ping back if you hit anything weird.
markdbruce wrote:
Thank you very much for the reply. I’ll get online and find a guide for what you recommended.
tomspark wrote:
No problem. Ubuntu Server 24.04 ISO is the easiest path — Proxmox has a solid VM wizard that'll walk you through it. Once it's up, just curl the SparkBox installer and you're rolling.
tomspark wrote:
Welcome — and not a silly question at all! Short version: you can technically run SparkBox in an LXC container, but it's fiddly (LXC needs special tweaks to run Docker, which is what SparkBox is built on), and you've already spotted one of the snags — Tailscale really doesn't play nicely inside an LXC. The much smoother path, especially starting out, is a Proxmox VM instead: spin up a small Ubuntu Server VM, install SparkBox in that, and Docker + Tailscale both just work, no LXC workarounds. Since you've already got Proxmox running, a VM is only a few clicks away. Once it's up, the whole arr stack is guided from the dashboard, so no prior experience needed. Shout if you want a hand getting the VM going!
markdbruce wrote:
Hi, thank you for the reply. I have now set up an Ubuntu server inside of Proxmox running a static IP and have installed SparkBox via SSH. I have also installed Tailscale via the app store and added Auth keys to Tailscale but was not able to enable Serve via the Tailscale dashboard. I have HTTPS Certificates enabled in /admin/dns and can connect to SparkBox via Tailscale. You recommended to enable Serve along with HTTPS Certificates, can i ask you how i can enable Serve? When connected to Tailscale via another device, i can connect to SparkBox. Via SSH when connected, as per the /docs/features/tailscale-serve on Tailscale.com, i follow their guide to installing Serve, but when i run the following command: tailscale serve 3000 I am getting the following: root@ubuntu:~ tailscale serve 3000 Command 'tailscale' not found, but can be installed with: snap install tailscale SparkBox is running on 192.168.1.xx:8443 I am obviously missing something but i don't know what, could you kindly point me in the right direction Tom, your help would be greatly appreciated.
Chris wrote:
Sorry you were left waiting on this — and you were not missing anything. Two things were working against you. The toggle first: there is no Serve switch to turn on in the Tailscale admin console. Our own setup copy pointed at one that no longer exists, so you went hunting for something that was not there. That one is on us. The command second: the tailscale CLI is not installed on your Ubuntu host — it lives inside SparkBox's Tailscale container, which is why you got command not found. You reach it with docker exec sb-tailscale tailscale status. Best part is you need neither. SparkBox writes and applies its own Tailscale serve configuration for you, which is exactly why you can already reach the dashboard over Tailscale. It is already done. — Chris