Install HASS on Lenovo M920q Tiny Desktop (NUC alternative)

Installation
1

I purchased a Lenovo M920q Tiny Desktop (NUC alternative) and am looking for suggestions on the best approach. I am aware it is overkill for just HASS but I also don’t want to over complicate things.

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Currently my HASS install is on a RPI4 w/ 4GB RAM and a 500GB SSD (no SD Card). While resource usage appears very low, camera feeds take forever to load and only play for a few seconds before they stop to reload. All my IP cameras use H265 / HVEC so my goal with the new system was to have a CPU that has decoding support baked into the CPU (not sure whether that helps though on HASS…). It is my understanding that Intel CPUs from the 6th generation on have this.

The Lenovo M920q Tiny Desktop has the following specs:

Intel i7-8700T (6 core, 12MB cache, 2.4GHz, 4GHz Turbo)
32GB DDR4-2600
480GB SSD (2.5in but also has M.2 slot)
Intel Wireless-AC 9560 2x2 AC+BT5.0
USB 3.0 Gen1 and Gen2
DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 1.4
Intel Ethernet Connection I219-LM

Albeit way too expensive, there is an option to install a 4 port 1Gbe NIC in case having 5 ports were to help with virtual machines. There is also an internal connector for Thunderbolt but I am unsure on what else is needed to use it.

It would appear that installing HASS OS would work but waste the majority of the resources on this device. I have read and seen videos on PROXMOX which would appear to be the best solution to be able to use this device for other things… and this is where I am looking for suggestions.

I am used to having individual devices with dedicated uses. For example I have 3 RPI4 in Argon One cases to handle 2 separate PI-HOLE DNS servers, and 1 Wire Guard VPN. Keeping devices separate provides redundancy, and simplifies management… but is often more expensive and overkill.

How does PROXMOX handle multiple systems with a single NIC port? There is a i350-T4 4 port NIC card that fits in this PC but list price is close to $400! The big issue is the custom bracket required that makes it hard for me to use a regular version. Other cards work too… I was thinking about adding an SFP+ 10GBe interface but that too would require me to craft something to act as the back bracket.

I don’t have an exact listing but roughly I have 80 Zwave, 90 Zigbee, and 100 ethernet devices. All my automations are in Node Red and being only several weeks in, I am quickly adding new integrations/automations.

The Lenovo Tiny Desktop will hopefully fit somewhere in here (likely under ATT’s gateway):

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The RPI running HASS is on top of the rack with the Zwave stick on the back of the RPI case, and the Zigbee stick clearly visible up-right. I am planning on having both sticks on top of the rack using extension cables/docks.

2

With virtual bridges. I have currently 4 VMs running under Proxmox on an Intel NUC, which also only has one NIC. Each of these VMs runs in a different VLAN and the NUC itself is also in a different VLAN.

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I am assuming that each VM cannot have it’s own IP since there is only one NIC port. If so, how do you access each system running in a separate VM?

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Eaxh VM has it’s own IP from the respective subnet of the VLAN they are in.

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Awesome, I did not know that was possible. I typically assign IPs based on MAC address via DHCP so I am still confused on how I would be able to do so with just one MAC but I will soon find out when I get the PC early next week. I feel like a kid in a candy store :smiley:

6

VM’s are so 2010’s. Go docker :slight_smile:

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@koying I will have to look into that, but what I am trying to achieve here is a system where I can install something as if it were on its own hardware therefore not needing anything special (like a Docker version if that is a thing). If Docker is also like this then it is a viable alternative.

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A Docker container is basically a VM, w/o the overhead of multiple times the linux kernel, and w/o hard assigning RAM and CPU resources.

Specifically for HA, it’s anyway running in a docker container, so you do Host → VM → docker, which is a bit silly if you can skip the VM bit, imo.

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9

With virtual bridges. Each VM will also have a virtual MAC address.

I use a mix of both :slight_smile: What I like about VMs is that I can so easily and automatically backup the whole system to my NAS. I also like to tinker a lot, so I just spin up a new VM and play around without risking to damage my production system.

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Good point. I will look into it. I want to stick with the simplest setup as I already spend too much time chasing after issues and perfecting the system.

11

Then I would run Home Assistant OS in a VM, the problem with running the OS directly on the host is that you can’t do anything else besides Home Assistant and as you said this machine qould be overpowered.

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This is critical to me and why up to now I stuck with dedicated hardware for each system. I need to look into backing up systems to the QNAP NAS I have… My HASS is backed up to Google Drive, but the other systems are not backed up at all other than an occasional image I take.

13

That’s something else.
If you want simple, then proxmox / VM are probably easier than docker / supervised

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