Please help deciding how to install HA on a new box

Hello everyone,

Looking for help/advice from people who have been in a similar situation.

I bought Dell Optiplex 3020M with 4 core i5, 16GB of RAM, and 240GB SSD for the new HA install. My main question is which of the following five options would be most suitable.

Option 1: Hypervisor (ESXi/Proxmox) + HAOS as a VM. Low overhead in terms of the hypervisor, does not require maintenance and frequent updates, HAOS can be backup/restore via snapshots fast.

Questions are - what to do if I want to run additional docker containers in parallel to HA - I want to add Frigate at one point, once I get Coral - I guess one can use Proxmox, but it uses LCX as containers and then the question is how to properly allocate devices on VM/constrainer, like one USB port with Sonoff dongle to HAOS, then another port with Coral to Frigate.

Also the problem of HAOS storage utilization and getting to understand what causes it, getting access to HAOS console remotely (not possible when you run it directly on metal)

Option 2: as Option 1 with hypervisor but run HA as a container. I guess Proxmox is the only option because I don’t know if ESXi can run containers natively.
This will give more flexibility (I guess), but now management and update of containers, especially HA is getting a problem. With HAOS it is taken care of by the supervisor.

Option 3: Host OS + HAOS as a VM + containers. As Option 1, but instead of a dedicated hypervisor Install Debian on the host, run HAOS as a VM + run some other containers, like Frigate. Not clear what advantages it offer compared to Option 1, plus maintenance of the host OS comes into place.

Option 4: Host OS + HA Supervised + Containers/Frigate. I think that probably it is the most optimal option in terms of resources usage and flexibility but probably will require the most preparation - HA documentation says Supervised install is for ‘experts only’. While I did write a number of bash scripts, I no way consider myself a linux expert. Also, all above-mentioned issues in terms of assigning devices/ports to HA/containers are in place. Plus maintenance of the host OS.

Option 5: run HAOS on bare metal. Least favorite option due to all the above-mentioned reasons and after several months of running HAOS on PI4.

Thanks

I’d go with Proxmox, and utilize the helper scripts at https://tteck.github.io/Proxmox/

Do you have experience with such a setup? Have you discovered anything worth mentioning?
How would you run HA on Proxmox - HAOS as a VM or some other means? How about add-ons, like Z2M and Frigate - run the separately as containers or inside the HAOS?

I’d recommend running Home Assistant OS until you get a feel for what your needs are. That may be just right for you. For me, I like to decouple things from HA. Here’s how I’m running currently
Screenshot 2022-11-30 2.18.26 PM

It really depends on your existing knowledge / desire to faff about. I started with basic Linux/docker and think that might be the best solution for medium power systems like yours. I used proxmox for a couple of years, it was ok when I had two servers and wanted reasonable resilience + gui (ish) management but it introduced a few weird issues, sharing usb devices being one. That I eventually decided to remove it. I now use kvm for virtualisation, one vm runs haos, ha and a full supervisor install. Another vm runs docker and any other apps I need. I have the headroom to run either/both for testing.

I am already running HAOS on PI4/2GB of RAM. While it takes care of updates and works out of the box, I don’t like the situation that it is 20GB storage used, from that 8GB is the db but I have no idea where the other 12GB went because I don’t have the access to the host remotely.

This is why I am considering either run HA as supervised on Debian and run additional containers via Docker in parallel (like Frigate), or run HAOS as a VM in ESXi/Proxmox and again run additional containers in parallel. Question is - if it is possible to run Frigate as a container directly on ESXi or do I have to run Proxmox?

So you divided the workload between HAOS which actually runs HA with a supervisor and another VM which runs docker to run containers, right?

Do you add-ons in the HAOS or do you add them at the second VM? For example for Z2M for zigbee devices - would you use the HAOS’s add-on feature to add it, or would you run them as a container on the second VM? If latter, how would you integrate the container running on the second VM with the HAOS on the first VM?

Thanks

Years back i played with ESXi, and since getting into HA (HAOS on RasPi4) I have not yet tackled the Docker learning curve - so hardly an expert.

I think Hypervisor/ViM/container are different methods to do the same thing - separate the software environment from the hardware its running on - and so I question whether there is any advantage to using TWO layers of virtualisation … unless you enjoy the overhead and learning curve.

So my advice is to go with whatever you are already familiar with. I am sure that all the advice given here is really just “use what I use” :wink: .