New homeserver - migrate from pi4 to proxmox / docker?

Hardware
#1

Hi All!
I am looking for some advice regarding my homeserver setup.
I have been running HA for the last couple of years.
my home network basically consist of 2 servers.
My HA setup is currently running on a dedicated Pi4 with 4gig of ram. The DB is running on my homeserver (mariadb) as a docker container.
Now – my homeserver – is getting old as its from 2011, and it’s not very “energy efficient” anymore.
I am currently looking into buying a new NUC12WSKI7, to replace it.

Today my homeserver is running as a headless ubuntu server, with all my services as docker containers. Basically, I have the following services:
Reverse proxy ( nginx proxy manager ) to handle connection to my services as well as acting as reverse proxy for my Home Assistant instance.
Authentik
Roon Core
Sonarr/Radarr/Bazarr/Lidarre etc.
Qbit / nzbget
Ombi
Plex
Glances
Postgres / MariaDB
Besides these services the host also works as my “nas” with NFS / Samba Shares with all data synced to google drive with insync.

Having a dedicated HAOS has its perks because – it’s isolated and all the peripherals (zigbee dongle, zwave etc ) is mounted directly to it. I am however considering moving my HA installation to the new server – being able to save some energy – and free up a pi4 for other projects.

I am looking for some advice in regards to what approach you would suggest I take.
As far as I can see – I have the following options:
• Install HAOS directly on the new server and add my services as Addons. I am however not sure that this is flexible enough for me.
• Install Ubuntu Server / Debian on my new server – and run HA as part of my docker setup ( this might be my preferred method ). I will loose the supervisor and the addons – but I will just add these to the docker setup instead. Now – this will require me to do a lot of the setup myself – but once it’s done I guess I will have a lot of flexibility.
• Install Proxmox – and use one of the guides to run home-assistant on this – and then run all the other stuff as usual.
• Continue to run HA on my Pi4 – as a dedicated server?

I have never worked with proxmox – so this might be the reason why I am a bit sceptical – because I don’t have all the knowledge about the pro’s and cons. I really like the docker approach – because migrating to a new system is so easy – because all I need is my data dirs. And my compose file. And and not sure if proxmox will be to much “overhead” and how hard it will be to manage “hardware” ie. Zigbee dongle and z-wave etc.

What would you guys suggest?
Br
Ronni

#2

Iam not an expert by any means, I had a small minix for my home assistant but same as you I’am trying to save some energy.

i converted an old pc to an home server, it not perfect but best way to learn is to try thing.
its build with some old stuff I had laying around.
I use trueness scale as a headless server witch is running a vm to run haos.
I think I will have to upgrade the processor in the future when iam gonna use frigate, but for now it runs really stable consumes around 20w at idle, usb passthrough to haos is working perfectly
its not the best solution but for me its working really good and fun to learn new things.
so take a look at trueness also.

some programs iam using:
Heimdall
Aduard
bittorrent
Emby
Roon
trafiek (still have to find out how that works)
frigate (for when I get camera)
double take (for when I get camera’s

i5 6500
40gig memory
500 ssd voor boot
3tb for the photo and config files from the prog iam using
10tb for music (Roon) and movie (Emby)

#3

Hi Edi.
Thanks for your reply.

I actually ended up buying a nuc10i5
i then added 32GB ram and a 4TB nvme disk.
it’s the “tall” version - so i have the options to add another SSD disk - when i run out of space.
i installed a plain debian 11, and then manually installed proxmox on top of that.
this was just and easy way for me to control the harddisk layout.

proxmox is targeted proffesional users - and is very much raid / redunancy by “heart” - which i dont want with my nuc.

as of now - i run 2 virtual machines.
HA OS
and Roon Rock
all other services - are run as dockers.

the system is very smooth - and the best part is that it iddles at arround 8watt - which is alot less than before :slight_smile:

#4

Just putting in a plug for Proxmox: it’s not just for professional users. I’m very much an amateur and knew nothing of Proxmox, but by following this excellent guide had no problems setting it (and HAOS) up on my old laptop. It’s been rock solid, and being able to make a clone of the entire HAOS environment prior to an upgrade or major change is fantastic.