Even if Linux is your main OS, I would still use a VM, because you can reproduce a server environment more closely, isolates that work from your "personal stuff

Even if Linux is your main OS, I would still use a VM, because you can reproduce a server environment more closely, isolates that work from your "personal stuff", allows powerful features such as snapshotting, and enables you to simulate multiple servers and/or clients (virtualization) on a single box, when for example playing with a distributed date store.