That is the same thing I was thinking… reinstalling ‘server’ now. 
You can always install the desktop gui on a server install after the fact if you need it.
I do use Rancher at home. TBH, it’s WAY overkill at times…but, it stays stable. I was reading about Portainer, I might switch to that (less overhead).
Haha. Yeah. The number of containers that rancher creates to run is crazy.
I tried out rancheros at one point but I could never get it to work right. I also didn’t use docker-compose for the longest time but finally tried it out and converted my manully managed run commands over to the docker-compose.yml format and to be honest I wish I had started off with it. So simple to just docker-compose pull, docker-compose down, docker-compose up -d to upgrade everything (which I usually do when upgrading HA).
Now I use Redhat on my fileserver (with containers of Plex, Sonarr, Radarr, Nzbget, and IPSec-VPN-server) and Debian on my home automation server (with containers of HA, Homebridge, Node-Red, Appdaemon, Mosca, and Nginx). Docker-compose makes it so simple to centrally manage what would otherwise be a pretty complicated setup.
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This thread isn’t quite the in depth details I think we both wish existed for docker installs, but hopefully it gets a few more people to look at it and not be too scared off by it. 
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I’m at the point that I need the step by step 
. I like what I see so far and definitely need a new build for my Hassio.
Not sure how but technically I have it running lol! I mean not set up, but running. Is there anything I need to know about getting my usb zwave to connect? I’ll probably try tomorrow.
Any is there a way to set the port? I’ve never used 8123 and so many settings in other apps/devices are already configured to my preferred port.
The port for home assistant can be set in the configuration yaml. The docker container is set to use net=host which means all ports are possible for it.
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Oh, I just now saw the screenshot pop up…you’re using hassio…not the normal docker. OK.
Uhm, I thought Hassio was the docker? i installed in docker with curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/home-assistant/hassio-build/master/install/hassio_install | bash -s
That is NOT the normal docker container. You installed hassio in docker.
So which would be best? I like the packages from hassio but When I started over a year ago it was with straight up home assistant.
That’s completely up to you.
Hassio consists of 2 docker containers. The supervisor and the modified home assistant docker container. Really the only thing you gain by using HASSIO is the addons. Addons are merely other docker containers. If you have a stack configured like I do, what is the point in hassio? I can do all the same stuff add-ons provide in a normal Docker stack. I see no value in it for me. You need to decide what you want. Do you want to learn Docker, or do you want to click a button and have something done for you?
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A really interesting topic. Thanks for starting the discussion.
I’d like some questions to ask:
Does the Linux distribution chosen as the host OS somehow influence a container (e.g. in its size, functionality, compatibility or capability)?
Is it possible to use a hassio add-on in a normal docker stack? I’m under the impression the community made some awesome but very hass(io) specific add-ons. Do I loose access to these add-ons when not using the hassio docker image?
I enjoyed using home assistant in the beginning but as my configuration became more complex I had many difficulties in trying to get certain things working and usually ended up completely crashing my setup. This led to unstable operations and an irritated family. That was 50% of my reasons for switching to Hassio, my lowered ability to decipher and solve problems but the desire to have a running system.
That being said, I no longer have this. Not sure if it was when I added the MQTT add-on, pfSense, Vlans, Google location, or what (did a lot in short amount of time) but now my Hassio via Pi3 is anything but stable.
As far as what I installed last night, I think I just connected Docker with Hassio and figured they went together. I love learning new things and have contemplated running a VM for sometime then read some posts about Docker which sounded like a more manageable method to start with.
In theory, I suppose I could run both but out of somewhat necessity, I would prefer to go with whatever has the largest community support to aid in getting back to a ‘stable’ system.
Define ‘stable’ - obviously there is trial and error and restarts but having a system that runs without daily errors and devices respond 99% of the time.
Any of that make sense and not sound like a whine, lol?
Quick question… Where does docker-compose.yml go?
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Thanks for sharing…
I use two ubuntu VMs with docker - one for HA (hassio) because I feel I benefit from the HA community add-ons. I only run HA related containers on this docker. I agree with another earlier comment - thanks for introducing me to philhawthorne/ha-dockermon.
The other VM is plain old docker with a bunch of other stuff - Ubiquiti unms, Unifi controller, caddy proxy, airsonos etc
Nope.
Yes. As long as your host OS is Ubuntu or Debian.
Add-ons are just other Docker containers. You can achieve the same result with a little work on your part with regular Docker.
If you put in the work, you can create your own versions of those add-ons with Docker.
You don’t need to run both.
You can either run hassio or just the plain Docker image.
Wherever you want to run docker compose up -d from. In your home directory for your user, or in the host directory that your data resides. It doesn’t matter where the compose file lives.