I started with HASS on a Raspi 3 and the SD card kept failing or I would have to reboot at the worst times, like at night when my wife wants to change the speed of the bedroom fan without having to get out of bed. Also the speed started becoming an issue as I added more and more to the system.
I already had a Synology NAS so I moved my HASS over to the Synology\Docker and I haven’t looked back. For me it’s been easier to manage, upgrade and backup.
@Pisupati I have also a QNAP. Up to now I don’t have a task for the MQTT since my BME 680 sensor won’t work. But I know that it is working. I tested it with MQTT.fx and an Android App called MQTT client. As I already said the Node-Red docker is not running on the QNAP up to know, but I will give it a try.
HA (running on the Pi) did also find only Plex which is running on the QNAP. What do you expect to be discovered?
Thank you all for the suggestions. I decided to go with a RPI. Once I am a little more comfortable then I will play with the NAS or even NUC.
Interessting discussion. I have tried all variations, and using a synology docker right now, though not sure whats the best approach. The good thing about a RPI is you more easily can put it central in the house with sensors etc, but I wish HA had an easy sensor-client -> server method where we could run HASS on a RPI with all sensors unattended connected to a host on whatever OS that did the heavy lifting, config etc.
Got myself a gigabyte Brix, 16GB, and put in a 250GB Samsung 850 Evo.
This is the model Brix I got:
thanks for that mate. how did you then install HA on it then? what OS are you running on it?
I’m running Ubuntu 18.04 as that’s my preferred flavour of Linux in work, though any recent flavour would work fine.
Installed docker on, then homeassistant via the hassio script install method.
It generated the correct folders, shares, containers etc etc.
Can’t remember if the script is official or something I found on GitHub …
Yup, official.
Found here:
My nuc runs ubuntu server 18.04 with ha installed via this howto:
I have multiple Raspberries here. Not by design, but before discovering home Assistant I was using Node-Red on a Raspberry Pi3, plus a separate Raspberry running Mosquitto MQTT Broker. I saw no need to consolidate them. Mostly because I had some nodes on my Node-Red Pi that would not install on my Home Assistant/ Node-Red. And vice-versa. So, I use both.
On your original question, I guarantee that what you start with won’t be your final configuration.
I thought I was quite happy with my IOT on Node-Red, but I got a couple of Z-Wave switches and installed Home Assistant on a spare Raspberry Pi, added the Aeotec Z-Stick just to put the Z-Wave switches online for Node-Red to control.
Then I was hooked on Home Assistant and never looked back.
I also have a dedicated Plex server running Debian on an old PC that I retired because it was always crashing with Windows. It has been running Debian for months now. I also have a couple of drives on the server dedicated to backup storage and a universal scratch folder.
I think that is called an upgrade 
LOL…
I had changed everything in the PC except the CPU trying to fix it, and it never ran Windows more than a few hours before freezing up. I had stripped it of useable parts and was going to trash it, but my Plex on a Raspberry was underpowered. So, I throw an SSD and HDD into it and installed Debian, then Plex. Now, it runs unless we have a local power outage. (Maybe I should buy a UPS for it).
My replacement PC was built from all new parts a couple of years ago, and now it’s developing problems. I can count on a crash after exiting the browser (any browser) about half of the time. It usually recovers, but occasionally I have to power-reboot. My workaround is to not close the browser.
Does anybody have experience with the MSI cubi n system? It looks like a great ha box for about 100eur…
I decided to go with RPI and HassIO, so far I am happy with the progress. I ordered the different Xiaomi sensors from Ali express and Gearbest - waiting for them. I did manage to get a sonoff 4CH switch - flashed it with Tasmota. I am able to turn on and off the device from the web console. running into some trouble with HA discovering it. Ordered two Xiaomi hubs from newegg to connect the sensors ($17.00 each), I did not feel like going the conbee direction.
Thank you all for your inputs.
hey @CBRHerms
So I have ordered a Brix and waiting for it to arrive. I will probably run Ubuntu on it and I was wondering whether docker method would be the best to install HA or Hassbian?
In all honesty I am not too familiar with Docker as I am coming from a Raspberry pi. What are the advantages of the docker method? and how can I install Docker on Ubuntu?
Thanks.
Hassbian only runs on a pi, so that won’t work.
Your choices are:
Once you have Docker installed, there are ZERO dependency issues for Home Assistant. Updates are a breeze, and you can easily roll back versions at any time you like.
Follow their documentation.
This applies to venv too.
Assuming you have the correct version of python in your venv? And that home assistant version requirements haven’t changed?
That’s why I love docker. You don’t need to deal with any of that stuff! Thanks for turning me on to it.
I know this is a late response but when I hear someone mention they’re not using a UPS on their computers, I cringe!
Running any computer, especially a Windows PC, without a battery backups is like playing Russian Roulette with your hardware and data. Think of an old record player spinning (I’m showing my age here) and you suddenly remove the power and drag the needle across the record. What do you get, a scratched record. Now imaging a hard drive running at 7200 RPM’s, writing data to it, and you pull the plug. There’s goes your data! Let’s not forget about the corruption it leaves behind.
In addition, unlike Linux, Windows doesn’t always do a disk repair upon reboot after a crash. The disks are left in a corrupted state.
Now that’s just the data. Let’s talk about the damage caused to the equipment. Power into your home and/or business is no where near clean. There can be numerous dips and/or brownouts through out the day, so subtle that you can’t even see them. However, they are enough to damage your equipment. Motherboard, drives, memory, power supply, monitor, you name it.
Take it from someone who has learned from experience. Early in my career I moved to Florida (over 25 years ago), I’ve since relocated, and spent 6 month reloading my PC over and over again due to corruption, lockups, you name it. Until a friend ask me “do you have a UPS”? One UPS later and my issues disappeared immediately. Florida is know for poor electrical, more so then where I’m originally from so it never dawned on me. Up until then I was just lucky.
Every PC, except a laptop since it already has one, should have a UPS. As I mentioned above, they don’t just maintain power if it goes out, it also protects against surge, drops, and brownouts.
I recommend APC, they’ve never failed me. Cyberpower on the other hand has on several occasions.