Howdy all,
I’ve in the smarthome space for a while now. I was running SmartThings from the very beginning and love it until it just stopped working consistently and regularly for me. Not too long ago I got a Hubitat Hub and that’s been okay, but I’m starting to run into some inconsistent operation from that as well, and I find the interface a little lacking. I’m looking at Home Assistant, but before I jump in too deep, I have some questions:
First, I’m looking at running this on an old dell desktop top. Poking around it looks like the recommendation for install is to setup a linux virtual machine. I do have an linux server running some home media stuff… would it make more sense to run Home Assistant on that vs. the Windows desktop? I know enough linux to get around but I’m by no means a linux expert. My biggest concern would opening up a security hole with my server/network.
Second, I have a number of zigbee and zwave devices in my house, along with some wifi. If I switch to HA I’m assuming that I’ll need zigbee/zwave dongles, right? Are there recommended ones that are known to work?
Third, I have google home devices in my house that I’d like to continue to use to turn on/off devices. It looks like there is an integration with Google Assistant. I also would like to be able to use my phone when away from the home to control things. Obviously both of these things would require some level of HA having internet connection. As I mentioned above, I want to make sure I’m not opening security risks here. How safe is this? How knowledgable do I need to be here to make sure I’m not leaving something open for possible attack?
Fourth, does HA have built in support for security cameras? I’m looking for recording and notification type functions. My cameras are IP cameras.
Finally: How reliable is HA? As I said above I’ve gotten frustrated with severe lag and automation failure from SmartThings and to a lesser extent Hubitat. Poking around and it looks like there are LOT of fun stuff I can do with HA, which is great. But I also need the core functionality to just work reliable for the Wife Approval Factor. If she says: “Hey Google, turn on the Den Light” that needs to happen quickly and reliably. If turns on a Z-wave switch where I’ve set up an automation that it turns on a different Z-wave switch, that has to happen quickly and reliably. Can HA do that for me?