Why Alpine Linux is the Best Lightweight Server Distro

Alpine Linux is a high-performance, ultra-minimalist distro designed for virtual machines (VM), Docker containers, and embedded devices. I have been using it for the past six months on several VM and docker images. Here, I will go through the reasons why Alpine Linux is the best lightweight Linux distro for your server, and also some of the pain points while using it.

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Alpine Linux first came onto my radar while studying libvirt in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). After reading an overview of the system, I created a test VM for it, wondering if it could replace my Ubuntu-heavy server cluster in RHEL. With around six months of use under my belt, I’m impressed with what it can do for the package it comes with.

1. It Runs Well On Low-End Server

The biggest selling point that got me interested in Alpine is that it can run with as little as 128 MB of RAM inside a hypervisor. This makes it easy for my low-end server to run multiple server instances without consuming its available memory.

Alpine achieved this is by removing all the unnecessary programs and utilities that come with most Linux distros. For example, it doesn’t ship with the standard GNU core utilities. Instead, it uses Busybox for UNIX-like tools.

Coming from Ubuntu and RHEL, I really find Alpine’s minimalist approach to its default install refreshing. With it, I rarely find myself fighting with the operating system (OS) just to make it do what I want it to do.

2. Comes With Multiple Download Options

Another selling point of Alpine is that it’s one of the few Linux distros that offer an install media for multiple platforms. Aside from x86_64, it also supports ARM SoCs such as the Raspberry Pi and hypervisors like Xen.

Personally, I really like this level of platform diversity as it allows me to run the same OS across different architectures and systems. Further, it also reduces my downtime for setting up a new machine since I can easily import my existing environment without worrying whether it’s compatible or not.

On a side note: are you a Raspberry Pi user? Learn some of the best ways to use your Pi for productivity tasks.

3. Very Easy to Maintain and Update

Alpine Linux is one of the few distros that provides a hassle-free Linux server experience. Right out of the box, it comes with APK, a reliable program for handling package management. With around six months of use, I’ve never had any instance where APK resolved a wrong dependency or broke a package during an upgrade.

Speaking of upgrades, the APK package manager is also incredibly fast. With it, I can easily upgrade my system and its third-party packages within 5-10 seconds. For me, this is a massive benefit since it significantly cuts my servers’ overall maintenance downtime compared to a standard Linux distro.

4. Runs Docker Containers Really Well

On top of being a solid server, Alpine Linux is also a great host system for Docker. With its low resource requirements, it’s very easy to run multiple Docker containers without taxing the base system too much.

Aside from that, Alpine Linux provides a very lean version of its system that you can place inside a Docker container. I find this helpful in cases where I need to run a container on an embedded system with little disk space and memory.

Lastly, Alpine Linux also ships a package for Docker and its plugins in its community repository. I appreciate this since it reduces the time it takes to set up a Docker host and removes any need to maintain external repositories.

FYI: learn how to install and customize a Docker container today.

5. Customizable for Different Workloads

Linux distros are well-known for being general purpose OSes that can adapt to any workload. In practice, however, it’s rare to find a system that you can easily customize without gutting already existing frameworks provided by its developers.

Alpine is one of the few distros that provides a “clean slate” Linux experience. This, coupled with the distro’s community repository, means that it’s simple to configure Alpine for any purpose that you wish. In my personal setup, I use Alpine for my web server, my Urbit planet, and even my Minecraft server.

Alpine Linux also provides different installation schemes directly from its install ISO. For instance, you can set up Alpine as a traditional system with a hard disk or create a portable setup by writing the OS on a flash drive and running it completely off RAM.

Good to know: looking for a fully-featured portable OS? Check out our guide to installing and using Dynebolic.

The Cons of Using Alpine Linux

While Alpine Linux is a great lightweight system for servers, it doesn’t come without its pitfalls. In this section, we’ll look through some of the issues that I encountered while using the distro.

1. It uses musl for its standard C library

The biggest drawback of Alpine Linux is that it uses musl instead of glibc for its standard C library. Since these two libraries vary in implementation details, some programs that rely on glibc’s quirks might misbehave on Alpine.

One noticeable difference between musl and glibc is DNS resolution. In glibc-based distros, the system goes through the “/etc/resolv.conf” file sequentially when trying to resolve DNS queries. Meanwhile, musl sends a query to all entries in parallel. This sometimes result in cases where my DNS query fails in musl if the DNS server that responds doesn’t have the correct record that I’m looking for.

Tip: learn what DNS records are and how DNS works by checking our guide to using dig in Linux.

2. Some of the packages are behind in updates

Another downside of Alpine Linux is that it’s usually behind the latest updates compared to other minimalist distros. This is because the developers of Alpine designed it to be a fixed-release distro that receives version updates for its system and repositories every six months.

Personally, it hasn’t been a big issue for me when using the system as a server. However, I did encounter an issue where my Alpine system got stuck on a version of Tailscale with a critical vulnerability. That said, I solved this by switching to Alpine’s rolling release branch.

3. Uses OpenRC instead of Systemd

Apart from musl and older packages, one pain point that I had while using Alpine Linux is with its init system. Unlike RHEL and Ubuntu, Alpine uses OpenRC instead of Systemd for managing services and controlling system functions.

As such, using Alpine Linux can be a culture shock if you’re used to handling service files and system daemons with Systemd. While I’m already familiar with OpenRC through Gentoo, I had to quickly brush up on my knowledge before I was able to reliably use Alpine as my server.

Comparing Alpine Linux to Popular Lightweight Server Distros

Alpine Linux is not the only lightweight distro that I ran as a server on my machines. For this section, we’ll look at how Alpine stacked against some of the popular minimalist Linux systems that I’ve tried over the years.

Ubuntu vs. Alpine Linux

Ubuntu Linux Server is one of the first distros that I’ve used as a server OS. Its easy-to-use installer along with its bundled apps made it really simple to get started with hosting services over a network. For example, its installer comes with a handy checkbox where I can immediately install any third-party app on my server.

That said, I quickly found Ubuntu Server to be limiting and resource-intensive. Compared to Alpine Linux, a basic Ubuntu Server install requires at least 1GB of RAM and 5GB of disk space. This made it impossible for me to run multiple instances of Ubuntu Server without consuming all the resources on my RHEL hypervisor.

Debian vs. Alpine Linux

After a while, I moved some of my server machines to Debian Linux. This is the upstream distro for Ubuntu Server and provides a more stable and lightweight system compared to its downstream OS. However, I did find a couple of issues with Debian that prevented me from using it full-time.

For starters, the packages in Debian Linux are often significantly behind on feature updates. While Alpine Linux can sometimes be behind, it catches up with the latest packages within six months. Compared to Debian, this is a more manageable time frame for me.

Further, Debian Stable also doesn’t provide some critical apps, such as Docker, on its default repositories. This forced to run external repositories, making it a little harder to maintain a Debian system in the long run. With Alpine Linux, meanwhile, I never found myself missing a package I needed for my server.

Arch Linux vs. Alpine Linux

Arch Linux served as my de facto server distro before I discovered Alpine. It’s a quick and lightweight OS that I can spin up whenever I need a server. It also comes with the latest packages, making it easy to experiment with bleeding-edge tech for Linux.

Having said that, Arch’s rolling release nature quickly became a liability for me. The need to occasionally update every one to two weeks made it hard to keep my servers updated. Coupled with the concern for zero-day vulnerabilities, I jumped ship to Alpine Linux as soon as I realized that it covered most of what I needed while still being lightweight and easy to deploy.

Ultimately, Alpine Linux is a lightweight server OS that strikes a balance between features, flexibility, and resource efficiency. As such, I fully recommend Alpine to anyone looking for a lean Linux system that can run on both bare metal and VMs.

Exploring what made Alpine a good lightweight Linux server distro and how it compares to others is the first step in exploring lean, resource-efficient OSes. Learn how to revive your old, outdated PC by looking at some of the best lightweight Linux desktop distros today.

Image credit: Tim van der Kuip via Unsplash. All alterations and screenshots by Ramces Red.

Ramces Red –
Staff Writer

Ramces is a technology writer that lived with computers all his life. A prolific reader and a student of Anthropology, he is an eccentric character that writes articles about Linux and anything *nix.

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