Hello everyone!
First of all, sorry for opening a similar thread on this, but since the HA it’s in a continuous development process, 6 months old info might be old now.
I’ve spend nearly my whole winter holiday doing research about HA and other hubs like Hubitat for example, but i decided to go with HA because i already own some devices that can be connected through HA (for example Paradox alarm system and ViCare - Viessmann HVAC app).
So to be clear in just a few words, what hardware and HA version do you recommend as a future proof package to go?
I installed HA on a Synology NAS with Docker but since the majority of the tutorials are based on a supervised version, most of the time i can’t rely on them
I’ve read all the documentation about the install versions/ process but i can’t tell you exactly why I need the Supervised version, because it’s not clear at all for me …except the “supervised tutorials” reason. If somebody can help here a bit, i’ll be glad.
FYI: Linux experience - 0 (out of 10)
Thanks for your time! I’m happy to see such a nice community here
My Synology NAS is a “plus” model with VMM support. I grabbed the .ova VMware HAos image a few weeks ago for my HA install. Both the core and host have upgraded in the last week with zero drama or fanfare. I am a Unix/Linux guru, and this VM image has required zero interaction with the underlying Linux system. Kudos to the HA developers for this appliance-like functionality.
AFAIK, deploying the HAos .ova image in VMM on a Synology NAS is a supported hardware platform…
I advise to go with an Intel NUC, or similar Small Form Factor PC.
They are somewhat beefier, run HA very smooth, are often certified to run 24/7 and upgradable.
First let me say my general Linux is probably 9 out of 10. I have worked as a UNIX administrator. The following is only my personal opinion and advice.
For those completely new to Linux you should run HaOS or HaOS in a virtual machine, if possible. This method contains all the OS and other dependencies needed, Be sure to take regular snapshots of your configuration and store them somewhere other than the VM and preferably on a different computer or removeable media.
For those who know some Debian Linux and are comfortable administering the OS themselves, Home Assistant Supervised gives the new user friendly HaOS experience on a vanilla Debian Linux installation. This also works on other distributions or of you install added apps. That makes it officially unsupported though. The configuration data is stored locally on the server but still needs to be backed up regularly.
For experienced Linux people, Home Assistant Container lets you run a Home Assistant environment without the supervisor & addons. most of the packages available through addons are available for this installation too. HACS is a good community store of free integrations & lovelace frontend customizations.
For very experienced Python language people you can install Home Assistant Core in a Python virtual environment. You are then responsible keeping all the dependencies up to date.
I personally run Home Assistant Container but, since I was building fresh after being elsewhere for 3 years, chose one release older than current (2021.11.5) to help insure most any problems I encountered would be my problems rather than new bugs.
For hardware. if you choose to use a Raspberry Pi (3 or 4) using an SSD for storage is encouraged. SD Cards tend to wear out…
Home Assistant also sells hardware whe HaOS preinstalled.
just to clarify a bit what ProdigyPlace said above…
HACS is available for any installation method you ultimately choose.
HACS has nothing to do at all with HA Add-ons. HACS is for custom integrations and frontend plugins. Add-ons are separate apps running in a docker environment that should hopefully be invisible to the user outside of HA.
for a Linux noob the best advice is to run HAOS in a VM (if you can achieve that with your hardware (from the post above it seems that you can)
Otherwise buy a RPi with an SSD and run HAOS on there.
I know I’m repeating the good advice above but I just wanted to give a vote to what I would recommend for you with 0 Linux experience.
Yes, on the “plus” models that have Intel-based processors and can run the Synology VMM virtual machine manager package. Here’s the actual directions, from an earlier forum thread:
I loaded the HAos VMware .ova file into Synology’s VMM, and it has been running fine for a few weeks now. It probably bears mentioning that I maxed out the RAM specs when I bought my DS918+, to allow for some breathing room to run Docker containers and small VM loads like HA…
Synology is not future proof. At the end of day they can update can kill docker, usb support or simply be left behind when some new method comes along that is not supported
True, that’s why you read release notes, don’t jump on latest version, but you also do that with all the other software you install - HA for example has breaking changes list too that should be checked with each update as things can break.
Although TBH - I don’t think Docker will go always so easily in the future from Synology. And if you run VMM, you really don’t care about it too.
Thanks @everyone for your time. For the moment I decided to install it with VM on my Synology. At the moment everything seems straight forward. Fingers crossed
BTW: Would you recommend using HA for a holiday house where it’s not to easy to have access all the time because of the distance (~3.5h trip). I mean it’s HA stable enough to use it?
RasPi is stable also but sd cards do create issue if using logbook or logging (lots of writes to card cause failures). I had a pi controlling my entry for 2yrs without fail or need to upgrade.
…except the “supervised tutorials” reason. If somebody can help here a bit, i’ll be glad.
