Hi, new to all this and was hoping to find which option is the best to install Hass.io. I have a raspberry pi 3 ready to go but could also set up a Linux vm on my freenas server. I do have an unused server as well not running anything that I could use as well
What’s the best option? And is there any guides for that for someone new to this software?
Thank you!
I can’t say which is “best”, but I just downloaded the image file from https://www.home-assistant.io/hassio/installation/
Flash this to a 32gB MicroSD card, plug it into the Raspberry Pi and reboot.
Does freenas run docker? If so, do that. Don’t f**k round with the raspberry, it will only lead to tears.
That’s a question that doesn’t really have a right answer, and like anything that’s open to interpretation you get some fairly strong opinions.
I’m using an ubuntu vm on a small (gigabyte brix), no moving parts, “server”. The vm hosts docker and home assistant runs in that, as do deconz, nodered and mqtt. It’s also running portainer for managing docker and telegraf for reporting stats back to my management server. The whole lot uses about 400Mb RAM and barely registers on the CPU most of the time.
I’ve never tried running it on an rpi so i can’t comment on that.
??? What’s wrong with you? 
Just do a search on here for the issues that people have with the RPI installations. yeah it may work for some, but lots of tears for others
Pi’s are great but most people who are serious about this move on to something better/more capable so if you already have something better/more capable why not start there…
Nothing, thanks for your (unfounded) concern.
aidbish and nickrout:
Sure, I know there are limitations with Rpi, but more then 60% of all HA useres are running their systems on Rpi’s happily. A NUC is probably an easier way…
Best…? Best is always subjective. There is no universal best, and if anybody claims otherwise they’re probably selling you snake oil 
There are advantages and disadvantages with the different methods. On a Pi, Hass.io or Hassbian are the simplest options. On bigger hardware, Hass.io, Docker, or a manual install are all options.
If you have zero Linux skills, go Hass.io. If you already have Docker set up, consider Docker. If you’re at home with Linux, consider Hassbian or a manual install.
I’d summarise the ranting about Pi’s above as YMMV. I’ve been running on a Pi3 for the last 2 years without tears, others can’t get one stable for a month. Some of that is down to the type of SD you use, and the power supply. Some is down to understanding the limitations - and moving the high write activity off the SD card 
Not natively. It runs a Linux VM of RancherOS.
Seems like Docker is the option some users take are more of power user I think you could say. My house is not filled with a lot of IoT so I don’t think I would need that yet? Plus I am not into linux as much as I should be, so I wouldn’t know how to install ubuntu vm on my freenas server then docker. Last time I tried installed an OS on a VM on my freenas it just kept crashing so I think Ill go with a Pi for now, and see if that works for me. While doing that, Ill attempt to get it set up on my server to permanently run it on there. Thank you all!
I think it depends on you own skills. I have been a windows user all my life, so I don’t know much about Linux or docker so that would be time consuming for me to get a hold on and the added power consumption for a server/pc isn’t that appealing to me. So I started out with Hassio on a Pi. I had my first SD card corruption after 12 months, but I wasn’t aware of pulling the plug on the Pi was a bad idea, so I did that a lot in the beginning. So due to my habits 12 months wasn’t really that bad. And having a back up via the snapshot function in hassio the downtime was almost non existing, but still critical if I was on vacation or otherwise didn’t have access to the Pi. Since I bought a good quality as card and stopped pull the plug. So far going 5 months without issues.
But what is your best option depends on what hardware you already have and how much time you would like to spend to get it going.