Note: moved this as I think I had it in the wrong place!
I am not sure if this is even possible, but gotta ask. I have a couple of Pi’s doing menial tasks that really should not requre and standalone system, smokeping, tuya-convert and other minor things. I am running a supported/health installed docker system so I cannot access or install into the underlying Debian 10 system.
Would it be possible for someone to build a basic add-on container that would run some form of linux, headless obviously that could be used for these menial tasks? If so, how would one request such an add-on? I have plenty of extra cpu, disk and memory to support this.
System specifics: Lenovo M73, 16 gig ram and 218 gig of SSD.
System Health
version: core-2021.2.3
installation_type: Home Assistant Supervised
dev: false
hassio: true
docker: true
virtualenv: false
python_version: 3.8.7
os_name: Linux
os_version: 4.19.0-13-amd64
arch: x86_64
timezone: America/Chicago
GitHub API: ok
Github API Calls Remaining: 5000
Installed Version: 1.11.3
Stage: running
Available Repositories: 748
Installed Repositories: 10
host_os: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)
update_channel: stable
supervisor_version: supervisor-2021.02.9
docker_version: 20.10.2
disk_total: 218.1 GB
disk_used: 10.2 GB
healthy: true
supported: true
supervisor_api: ok
version_api: ok
installed_addons: Backup Hassio to Google Drive (1.7.2), Dropbox Sync (1.3.0), Duck DNS (1.12.5), FTP (4.0.0), File editor (5.2.0), Log Viewer (0.9.1), RPC Shutdown (2.2), WireGuard (0.5.0), Mosquitto broker (5.1), SSH & Web Terminal (8.0.1), Samba share (9.3.0), TasmoAdmin (0.14.0), motionEye (0.11.0), AdGuard Home (3.0.0), Portainer (1.4.0), Glances (0.11.0), Check Home Assistant configuration (3.6.0), DHCP server (1.2), Network UPS Tools (0.6.2)
dashboards: 1
resources: 3
views: 16
mode: storage
It is my understanding, that in order to stay supported i cannot do that. If I am correct, I would install a generic containter from the OS cli and adding or modifying the underlying OS is not permitted. When I was running on Ubuntu and had OS shell access, I just installed and ran my utilities from the without issue.
I do understand the desire to establish standardized installs and I do desire to work within that framework, but I really hate to waste cpu, disk and power on redundant systems.
Personally, since you have Linux experience, I would just utilize the Core docker setup (without supervisor) and run HA that way. On a machine like that, HA Supervised is a waste of resources (imho). Everything you can do in Supervised, you can do in Core (with a bit more work sometimes) and judging from your addons, you can run most of those in separate docker containers with very little effort and with the right docker-compose, you can easily setup your dependencies so that you have something close to Supervised with much more flexibility.
My HA setup (currently; it typically changes every few months) is Core docker running on a i7-4970 with 32gb RAM and 4x1TB SSD drives. I run it this way because the HA docker takes very little resources and I can run other things (InfluxDB, ELK stack, Grafana, Zigbee & Z-Wave2MQTT, ioBroker and others) on the same box with a full backup going to my NAS server for disaster recovery.
I have looked at a core install. Makes me nervous as I am not a Linux guru, but more of a power user. I am a network engineer by trade, not a programmer or system engineer and really want stability. I am caught somewhere between good enough and “I don;t know”.
I switched to the I3 platform a couple of years ago because my 3B+ was just not able to handle the load and tended to eat SD cards. The platform felt like a toy trying to do real work. Now I am in a state with the pi’s doing light duty connecting UPS’s, running smokeping, providing environmental sensor output and sometimes one running tuya-convert. I think with a minimally equipped docker linux container, or with the base OS of they system in use I could remove the need for 2 of the PI’s and simplify my network.
I am running Portainer as an add-on, it does appear that I could import and load a container that is not an add-on. Is that a bad move?
I’ve never been a fan of Portainer, tbh. However, yeah, that works and does give you a graphical interface for your docker dependencies. Myself, I prefer a docker-compse file, but either way works.
LOL, you’re not alone there. The Core docker install is just as stable (if not more so, sometimes) than Supervised. You don’t even need to be a Linux guru. As long as you can fumble your way through the command line and learn some Docker commands (or, use Portainer), you should be good to go.
If you decide to go the docker-compose.yaml route, I’d be happy to give you hand with that.
I also moved from a Pi to an old laptop. I run the supervised version on Ubuntu V20 with little to no issues. The only recent issue is sometimes after a reboot or update I get a message about being unstable but another reboot usually corrects that. There is still plenty of help around for any issues you may encounter.
For me the big advantage is just what you are looking for. Access to the OS to use all that leftover power. Today I’ll be using it to stream the landing
Agreed, that is why I took the pain to convert to Debian Supervise.
I will mull over the process of going to core. I do not have a second M73 or I would set it up in tandem for a final cutover. They are cheap, may pick up another one for hardware redundancy.
Oh but I can and do recommend it! But then, I grew up on Unix systems so I’m a bit biased. If you want a hands off system, this type of install isn’t for you, but it hasn’t been an issue for me.
The reason i can recommend this is that “supported” only means its tested and approved by the devs. It does not mean it wont work. That is one of the wonderful things about Home Assistant, it will run on many platforms and it’s your choice.
However, if you are on an “unsupported” configuration it does mean that if you find a bug, and its not reproducible on a “supported” platform, you should not expect any effort from development to fix it. That’s fair. No one can test each and every combination of hardware/os/app.
if you choose to go with an alternative setup, you’re probably not the only one in the community to be running it that way and there is a good chance you will find help in the community. I always have. Its why we’re here! As for which Linux distribution to use, many are more the same than different. And the fix for one variant is quiet possibly the same on many others.
So on an old laptop I reap the rewards of not only running the best home automation platform but also using an operating system with long term support and the ability to use my excess compute power. Since the machine is on 7/24 anyway, this comes in handy for things like media servers or a spare desktop on which you can stream the mars landing without interfering with your work desktop.
Then why not use debian and get support from home assistant community?
I am not sure what advantage you think Ubuntu offers.
Anyway, back to the point. @mattlward have you seen the example addon? (It is in community addons). It will give you some clues about how to create an addon to run a basic service, although I’d want to have a free weekend to build my first one.
Aside from that I am not sure that installing another container via docker or portainer voids your “supported” warranty, but perhaps worth a try.
Thank, I will look into the idea of a container. I may have the time this weekend to look at it.
I am not sure if that would void the install or not, If it was a “add-on” I would think not. Sounds like I am going to learn more about git than I ever wanted to.