I would start with a Debian os base, install docker and turn it into a swarm manager. Then look at stacks and how services work, if you find your running your host too hard. You can add a work host and stread out.

Once you have docker swarm running, get portainer running. I use portainer as a visual whats happening on my swarm, but I use the docker cli to start and update all my stacks. I have my stacks in a git repository so that I have a backup and history of what changes I did.

Now your a docker master, of sorts.