Intel N5095 8GB RAM 256GB M.2 SSD | HA Install Recommendations Needed

Installation
1

Hi Guys,

I’m running HA on Raspberry PI 3B for 3 years. I started as a basic user and I’d like to think that I now am qualify as a middle level user. Over last 2 years, I’ve slowly added more devices and more automations to my HA. Currently I got about 40 devices and 4 cameras in my HA. I got about 15 different integrations including Tasmota, MQTT, Ring, Shelly, etc as well as 4-5 others thru HACS.

It is probably a time to replace my PI 3B. I’ve recently bought an Intel NUC N5095 8GB RAM 256GB M.2 SSD mini computer as replacement for my current PI. It came with Win11 preinstalled. I’m not certainl which method I should use to run HA on this NUC.

Should I go with “Generic x86-64” method or should I run HA over Windows11 using Virtualbox?

I’ll not use this NUC for anything else than home automation. I’m not planning to use this NUC for any other daily application. This NUC will be used for HA and related camera only. If there is any new home automation related feature in future that I might like to use, I’ll run it on this NUC.

Please also note that I’m not a software engineer or developer. I’m efficient with Windows and Ubuntu but I’m far from a professional level.

I’d truly appreciate if some of you can make some suggestions here.

Thanks,
Dhaval

Processor Type ‎Celeron
Processor Speed ‎2.9 GHz
Processor Socket ‎BGA 413
Processor Count ‎4
RAM Size ‎8 GB
Computer Memory Type ‎DDR4 SDRAM
Maximum Memory Supported ‎8 GB
Memory Clock Speed ‎2.9 GHz
Hard Drive Size ‎256 GB
Hard Disk Description ‎SSD
2

I wouldn’t run a VM under Windows that I needed up all the time. Microsoft give you no guarantees.

Personally, if you can afford to use the NUC for nothing else, I would go with the x64 HAOS install. It would give the least stressful user experience.

3

Thank you, Sir !

Yes, I do plan to use this NUC only for home automation and cameras. And yes, it needs to be up and running 24x7.

4

I agree with @zoogara. You can use your windows computer to load the x64 image to the SSD, but you might need a USB carrier to do it.

5

What did you decide to go with for your NUC for cameras & HA? I’m looking similarly.

6

Sorry for the late reply. I was away on vacation. I decided to go with Proxmox but haven’t done it successfully so far.

7

You might find my guides of help. I also have Proxmox CCTV guides coming up, as well as Cloudflare, Pi-hole and Tuya.

8

Thanks !
Unfortunately my HA stopped responding today afternoon. On Monday, I migrated my HA from Rasberry PI to Proxmox running on a miniPC and suddenly my HA stopped responding today, i.e after 2 days. After rebooting the Proxmox, it started working again but now I’m sincerely worried if I made a mistake going this way.

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9

I have been running HA on Proxmox (on a mini PC Intel Celeron N3450 with 8GB RAM) for about 4 or 5 years and have never had a single outtage…so hang in there, from my experience it works great. On the same proxmox I am also running OPNSense Firewall and a Music streaming service.

10

Thanks for the kind words ! I’ll try to hang on for the moment but to be honest, I’m nervous. I never had such an issue running HA on Raspberry PI. This new miniPC is much faster (Intel i3, 8GB RAM) so it was supposed to be much stable. Let’s see…

11

If you’re using a newer Intel Celeron, you’ll need to take additional steps such as installing a newer Proxmox kernel and Intel microcode.

This guide will demonstrate the steps necessary to get you started.

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