Hassio failure on pi3 are there more stable platforms?

Installation Home Assistant OS
1

I have been running hassio successfully for a few weeks on PI3 with a Kingston 64Gb C10 card. However it suddenly dropped off the network and was only accessable via SSH p22222. This allowed me to check the log and see the error:

Apr 24 22:07:39 hassio dockerd[761]: Error starting daemon: layer does not exist
Apr 24 22:07:39 hassio systemd[1]: [[0;1;39mdocker.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE[[0m

Another way of looking at the error was:

systemctl status docker.service
● docker.service - Docker Application Container Engine
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/docker.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: inactive (dead) (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2018-04-24 22:07:48 UTC; 35min ago
     Docs: http://docs.docker.com
  Process: 892 ExecStart=/usr/bin/dockerd --log-driver=journald -s aufs -H fd:// [[0;1;31m(code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)[[0m
 Main PID: 892 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Apr 24 22:07:48 hassio systemd[1]: [[0;1;31mFailed to start Docker Application Container Engine.[[0m
Apr 24 22:07:48 hassio systemd[1]: [[0;1;39mdocker.service: Unit entered failed state.[[0m
Apr 24 22:07:48 hassio systemd[1]: [[0;1;39mdocker.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.[[0m
Apr 24 22:07:48 hassio systemd[1]: docker.service: Service hold-off time over, scheduling restart.
Apr 24 22:07:48 hassio systemd[1]: Stopped Docker Application Container Engine.
Apr 24 22:07:48 hassio systemd[1]: [[0;1;39mDependency failed for Docker Application Container Engine.[[0m
Apr 24 22:07:48 hassio systemd[1]: [[0;1;39mdocker.service: Job docker.service/start failed with result 'dependency'.[[0m

Rebooting did not get past this error which I take to be caused by some hardware read/write error on the card. The only fix for which would be a complete re-install.

Since this is my 3rd attempt (2 PIs and 3 SD cards) I’ve come to the conclusion that it is too unstable.
I’d be interested to hear others experience with using a NUC or quietPC.
I notice that the Windows version of homeassistant says that there are some components that would not work, but which ones?
If I run Docker on Windows, which image should I install?

Sorry for all the questions, really don’t want to give up on HA but am struggling to get it stable.

2

Most SD-card problems on the PI are caused by the power supply, make sure it’s powerfull enough. As an alternative you can use a SSD drive, works perfectly.

3

Stability is my fear with HA and why I don’t 100% trust it and use manufacturers apps as well.

I reinstalled HA on Pi many times with different setups and SD seems biggest issue, I got brandless SD which works at ~30mbps but when using gives random errors every single time, also I have few SanDisk SDs which works at ~10mbps but never did errors, but still I don’t trust SD cards.

I backup my config files to USB stick or to my PC to be safe, and make image of SD.

4

If you use Hassio just make a snapshot and back it up.

I’ve found the Samsung EVO plus 32gb is very reliable. Skimp on power supply and SD-Card expect a lot of grief!

5

Many different platforms. You could run it on a NUC with a SSD. Run it on small PC with 2 or 3 SSDs in a RAID config. Just whatever your wallet will allow. I have two instances of HA running. Development runs on a Raspberry Pi that I can blow away at anytime, production runs on my Xeon E3-1225 server on a SSD with about 15 or so other docker containers. Have to say I’m partial to the production ones speed of things even being an older processor.

6

Install on usb, has worked fine for over a year for me. Here’s how to get hassio installed on usb

2 Likes
7

Thanks to all for your helpful suggestions. I’ll update with the approach I take and feedback on it.

8

I’d like to try the Docker on intel approach. Are you running Windows on your Xeon?
I could do with a bit of help with how to install HA, since the Docker instructions don’t go far enough for me, saying just “Installation with Docker is straightforward.”
I would like to know what the docker command is to install HA !

9

No Windows. It’s using unRaid which is built on Linux with a type of raid between hard drives. It was actually rather simple to install the HomeAssistant container as the GUI provides a search for various containers and has a lot of the information filed out for you and with a few clicks you are off and running with a vanilla build of HA. The container gets all the updates like normal and what not and is super easy.

I never intended to go to HomeAssistant, I had SmartThings going but really didn’t like how locked down it was. I happened to see HA and was impressed in minutes and things took off from there.

10

That page literally gives you the commands you need to run HA on docker.

11

So I ran the command at the top of the page which is under the heading Linux, since in the Windows heading it does not have an example command, but starts talking about how to get access to the IP and port of the running container. Is this the correct command to use?

It downloaded home-assistant and then failed with:
Are you trying to mount a directory onto a file

This is to do with the mounting of the /etc/localtime which is not valid for windows, not sure what is needed there.

I decided to remove this mount from the docker run command, and it then started OK.
I was able to use the instructions under the Windows section to route the host IP port to the container. To help find the container IP address on windows, I found ipconfig helpful, as it showed the base address for docker under a vEthernet (DockerNAT) adapter. I then added 1 to the address which on my system was 10.0.75.2 and found this worked.

12

So I have a remaining question - is this version 0.67.1 running on Docker on Windows subject to the same limitations as the Windows version ?

13

You need to point to a valid path on your host machine to a config directory where you can modify the config files once it fires up.

You don’t need anything there.

Kind of more limiting in my opinion. Docker on Windows is hacky, and probably not the best platform to run home assistant on.

14

@flamingm0e I would value your opinion for what is the best platform for home assistant.

15

@kev My preferences shouldn’t sway you too far from your skill level, but I prefer running Home Assistant in Docker on a NUC (under Linux, not Windows).

If you have an old laptop, that actually makes a pretty nice Home Assistant server with its built in battery backup.

any old desktop/laptop would make a better, more reliable HA server than a pi.

I would snag up something that will run Ubuntu server, install Ubuntu and use Docker or Python VEnv installation method.

16

Thanks @flamingm0e. I am planning on investing in a new NUC to perform other server duties, so will go with Windows, running VirtualBox Ubuntu guest for HA.
I need to look into the Python VEnv method you mention, if that would be simpler.

17

WHY?
What are you trying to accomplish.

18

I would like to move my Sony Vegas app to this new box, along with home assistant, plex and Splunk.

20

Unfortunately, it happens and I’m not sure whether other systems are more stable.
Some of the reasons could be due to the database (MariaDB in my case) which tends to accumulate errors over time or due to faulty SD card.

21

I’ve found MariaDB to work OK for me, I get no DB errors. I’ve not tried other systems but my HA uptime is pretty good, but I do restart it at least once per week however.