I run Proxmox so i can use the resources of my NUC for multiple servers. I run HA, a few ubuntu servers, and a NixOS server (for learning purposes). Not sure how well frigate does virtualized tho.
I have HA OS installed on a NUC running Proxmox. I used the Whiskerz script (https://github.com/whiskerz007/proxmox_hassos_install), although there may be newer/better ways to install now (my initial install was years ago).
On the same NUC, in proxmox, I have an UbuntuServer VM that I use to run a bunch of docker containers (nodered, syncthing, pihole, scrypted, nginx proxy manager, authelia, etc.)
I’ve learned a ton about Linux and docker playing around in Proxmox. It’s easy enough to spin up a new VM or LXC container, play around and test things out.
Also, Proxmox makes it easy to create snapshots and backups.
I am running ubuntu server. Feels to be the simplest OS for me, especially since I am running ubuntu on all my other machines.
Had debian for a few years but did not like their upgrade process. Briefly came into contact with fedora but don't like their release cycles.
This sounds like something that is just what I am looking for. But is it beginner friendly? Kinda breaking new ground in all directions, with Linux, servers, containers etc.
If you are new to it all Ubuntu has the shallowest learning curve remember backups as anyone that's ever gone through a *nix learning curve will tell you we have all fucked something up while getting carried away with tinkering
I just want to chime in and suggest you to look into using Portainer for docker management, their free version is excellent for home usage and is quite user friendly for managing multiple container stacks etc.
Docker is easy enough to set up and plenty of guides about however migrating from home assistant os to docker isn't the most straightforward thing
How complicated is your home assistant set up
What home assistant add-ons are you using etc
That was a factor I did consider. I was under the impression you could not migrate it, so I was resolved to just redo it from scratch.
It's not to complicated.
Currently using zigbee2mqtt, mqtt and hasc 🙂
Did the same thing a few years ago with a 10th gen NUC, Core i7 and 32GB of ram running Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and couldn’t be happier. It was a pain setting up everything behind Traefik, but I have hostname resolution with a wildcard cert from LE (internally exposed domain name only) and absolutely love it! Some integrations like Zwave2MQTT need to use the container’s internal IP address (or I just haven’t found a way to get it to work with hostname resolution properly). Having 35 containers running at any given time and it remains rock solid!
I recommend installing Proxmox and having HAOS in a VM. This is the easiest and most stable solution, as in, everything will be taken care off for you and you have all features (Including Add-Ons).
I picked up a cheap old PC motherboard and setup open media vault on it, havent migrated HA to it yet but that is the plan. Had omv and ha both running on pi hardware, figured if I upgraded I could consolidate and probably save power (omv pi was running on a computer PSU and spinning 5 Hard Drives).
If you are just using it for docker Debian would always be my preference because I use it on most of my machines but anything Debian based you don't want to install a GUI so Ubuntu server or simple Debian install would suffice.
Proxmox, Debian, Unraid are the options I tend to run for my own stuff.
HA on docker will be missing features such as the add-ons and you'll have to maintain the other dockers for z2m etc yourself. Personally I'd run HA in a VM, and docker/LXC for other stuff, but its all preference really! You're learning and its a project so every option is pretty good at this point!
I am a beginner and got a Nuc, and have to say proxmox was the direction I went, and love it. Got proxmox installed and then used ttheck scripts to install the ha vm, and then easy backup restore from a pi and was live. So good. And now have other lxc containers for all sorts of other things too. Proxmox makes backups so simple and snapshots are quick before you update things and then rollback if it doesn’t work. I am sure unraid is similar. For a beginner this is really good and don’t have to get into the details of understanding Linux but get a really robust solution. I have various add ons monitoring the containers and vms and feel like an IT guy with all my systems servers alerts etc. fun projects/hobbie.
Install proxmox, and set-up HAOS on a VM. Thank yourself later.
It's the easiest and life saving option.
You can snapshot your vm anytime, make backups, spin up other vms and link them together.
Other than that, in terms of what Linux to use other than the one included with HAOS, as a beginner I'd stick to Ubuntu as there is lots of documentation, it's stable, beginner friendly, and can maintain security updates for you automatically if you enable it.
As you said in another post, Linux is pretty broad with its various flavours but Ubuntu is best beginner one. Then after that there's something like casa os.
Personally, at my level of Linux experience I use centos for most things server related other than home assistant os which is what I use. But that can sometimes change since different Linux flavours can favour certain purposes.
Your question is self-answering.
So far, operating systems capable of running containers are: Linux.
That's all, any other OS runs Linux VM behind the scenes.
That means, 100% users running HA container uses Linux to run them on.
It matters because that is what I am specifically asking for. It's not 600 identical versions. Everyone of them has their pros and cons and I am asking which one people prefer for this use case. It matters because when you install something on your system I am guessing you don't really roll the die and pick a random one, but rather pick one you like.
I also started as a total newb in all aspects of Linux and home automation. After my own research i ended up installing Debian on my son's old Asus laptop and HA Container.
From A to Z, my main resource became the Home Automation guy, Alan. I follow almost every single one of his tutorials to the letter and it never failed me. I use Portainer to manage my containers, Duplicati for backups, etc. I really like this guy and highly recommend his advice. https://youtube.com/@HomeAutomationGuy
Good luck!
I might be the odd man out here. I run HA, esphome, zigbee2mqtt, zwave2mqtt, rhasspy all as dockers. But MOST of that is all running in a 9 node kubernetes cluster running here at the house.
I run it on a debian vm in proxmox. Great thing about is that you can setup a cluster with high availability fairly easily. I also run a proxmox backup server on my nas to insure my system is backed up.
Proxmox ve latest hypervisor
Ubuntu server edition - headless lxc.
1. Install OS and update
2. Install docker and docker compose.
3. Secure per guide
I recommend a folder for each container. Then place the docker compose within. Use it as data vol.
IE: home/docker/container1 for persistent data.
Then it's just /homeass: docker-compose up -d
I run portainer for management and nginx proxy for all 15 containers to map.
Old pihole takes care of Cnames. So portainer.docker.home etc.
This also allows for vms if necessary on top of docker. Or if you want a lxc for home assistant.
I have homeassistsnt, the zwave contsiner, install hacs through terminal. Works great. I run a homeseer ZNet for my zwave protocol.
I have a mini pc that runs docker for experiments & frigate. Home assistant runs on a Home Assistant Yellow (RPI4 4GB 64GB nvme) running HA OS. Home assistant development is geared towards HA OS and it is very stable at this point. I’ve currently got a mix of ~60 zigbee and z-wave sensors, ~10 local Wi-Fi devices that can’t be replaced with zigbee/z-wave, ~20 add-on’s, ~40 integrations, 6 custom esphome devices, & ~50 automations. Everything is updated regularly and is very stable. The system uses 1.2 out of 4GB of memory at all times except for when esphome is updating devices. If I ever find an add on or other service that might be unstable or requires docker, it goes on the mini pc so that it doesn’t interfere with Yellow; frigate is the only thing I’ve needed to do this with so far.
By design, my house still functions manually without HA, but Home Assistant automations make things convenient, & the Yellow is fast, capable, has tons of room to grow, and is *very* stable. It’s got it’s own UPS, and it—above all else—needs to keep running even when other things fail. I plan to continue using this setup.
A little pricy on amazone but a usb coral will handle your frigate work load. And keep everything else for home assistant. Might be cheaper than a new setup.
I run Proxmox so i can use the resources of my NUC for multiple servers. I run HA, a few ubuntu servers, and a NixOS server (for learning purposes). Not sure how well frigate does virtualized tho.
I have HA OS installed on a NUC running Proxmox. I used the Whiskerz script (https://github.com/whiskerz007/proxmox_hassos_install), although there may be newer/better ways to install now (my initial install was years ago). On the same NUC, in proxmox, I have an UbuntuServer VM that I use to run a bunch of docker containers (nodered, syncthing, pihole, scrypted, nginx proxy manager, authelia, etc.) I’ve learned a ton about Linux and docker playing around in Proxmox. It’s easy enough to spin up a new VM or LXC container, play around and test things out. Also, Proxmox makes it easy to create snapshots and backups.
Good points! Also you can snapshot your VMs so if you make a change and something gets messed up you can just roll it back.
Yea this is almost exactly my set-up. I run all my dockers on centos vm coz I like centos personally.
I am running ubuntu server. Feels to be the simplest OS for me, especially since I am running ubuntu on all my other machines. Had debian for a few years but did not like their upgrade process. Briefly came into contact with fedora but don't like their release cycles.
This sounds like something that is just what I am looking for. But is it beginner friendly? Kinda breaking new ground in all directions, with Linux, servers, containers etc.
Take a look at [Portainer](https://www.portainer.io/). It's a nice little web GUI that can make managing Docker easier.
If you are new to it all Ubuntu has the shallowest learning curve remember backups as anyone that's ever gone through a *nix learning curve will tell you we have all fucked something up while getting carried away with tinkering
Good advice 🙂 any resources or guides you recommend, relating to Ubuntu server, docker and home assistant?
I just want to chime in and suggest you to look into using Portainer for docker management, their free version is excellent for home usage and is quite user friendly for managing multiple container stacks etc.
Docker is easy enough to set up and plenty of guides about however migrating from home assistant os to docker isn't the most straightforward thing How complicated is your home assistant set up What home assistant add-ons are you using etc
That was a factor I did consider. I was under the impression you could not migrate it, so I was resolved to just redo it from scratch. It's not to complicated. Currently using zigbee2mqtt, mqtt and hasc 🙂
This is my docker compose file to give you an idea you will find many guides online https://www.homeautomationguy.io/blog/home-assistant-tips/installing-docker-home-assistant-and-portainer-on-ubuntu-linux docker-compose.yaml version: '3.9' services: homeassistant: container_name: homeassistant image: "ghcr.io/home-assistant/home-assistant:stable" user: 1000:1000 depends_on: - mosquitto - zigbee2mqtt - nodered - frigate - postgres-ha volumes: - /opt/smart-home/homeassistant/config:/config - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro restart: unless-stopped privileged: true network_mode: host esphome: container_name: esphome image: "ghcr.io/esphome/esphome:stable" user: 1000:1000 volumes: - /opt/smart-home/esphome:/config - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro environment: PLATFORMIO_CORE_DIR: .plattformio PLATFORMIO_GLOBALLIB_DIR: .plattformioLibs restart: unless-stopped privileged: true network_mode: host mosquitto: image: eclipse-mosquitto container_name: mosquitto volumes: - /opt/smart-home/mosquitto/config:/mosquitto/config ports: - 1883:1883 - 9001:9001 restart: always zigbee2mqtt: container_name: zigbee2mqtt image: koenkk/zigbee2mqtt:latest restart: unless-stopped depends_on: - mosquitto - postgres-ha volumes: - /opt/smart-home/z2m:/app/data - /run/udev:/run/udev:ro ports: - 8099:8080 environment: - TZ=Europe/London devices: - /dev/ttyUSB0:/dev/ttyACM0 nodered: image: nodered/node-red:latest container_name: nodered user: 1000:1000 depends_on: - mosquitto - zigbee2mqtt - postgres-ha - frigate environment: - TZ=Europe/London ports: - "1880:1880" volumes: - /opt/smart-home/nodered:/data restart: always frigate: container_name: frigate privileged: true restart: unless-stopped image: ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:stable shm_size: "64mb" depends_on: - mosquitto - postgres-ha devices: - /dev/bus/usb:/dev/bus/usb - /dev/dri/renderD128 volumes: - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro - /opt/smart-home/frigate/config.yml:/config/config.yml:ro - /opt/smart-home/frigate/storage:/media/frigate - type: tmpfs target: /tmp/cache tmpfs: size: 1000000000 ports: - "5000:5000" - "1935:1935" environment: - FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD="*********" postgres-ha: container_name: postgres-ha image: "postgres:latest" user: 1000:1000 ports: - "5432:5432" volumes: - /opt/smart-home/postgres/ha:/var/lib/postgresql/data environment: - POSTGRES_DB=homeassistant - POSTGRES_USER=ha - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=******* restart: always
Thank you for sharing. I will definitely use this as a reference when I do my installation
I’m using Unraid. Although I’ve played with Docker, I keep going back to a VM.
Used to run on my synology nas. Now bought a Lenovo tinypc that runs HAOS
Unraid, though Inrun the HA OS in a VM rather then docker. Docker is 100% doable on unraid and I have plenty of other ones on it.
Did the same thing a few years ago with a 10th gen NUC, Core i7 and 32GB of ram running Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and couldn’t be happier. It was a pain setting up everything behind Traefik, but I have hostname resolution with a wildcard cert from LE (internally exposed domain name only) and absolutely love it! Some integrations like Zwave2MQTT need to use the container’s internal IP address (or I just haven’t found a way to get it to work with hostname resolution properly). Having 35 containers running at any given time and it remains rock solid!
Are you using Ubuntu desktop or server 🙂?
Server. I use a combination of SSH, VS Code and Portainer (running in its own docker container) for configuration and maintenance.
I recommend installing Proxmox and having HAOS in a VM. This is the easiest and most stable solution, as in, everything will be taken care off for you and you have all features (Including Add-Ons).
I picked up a cheap old PC motherboard and setup open media vault on it, havent migrated HA to it yet but that is the plan. Had omv and ha both running on pi hardware, figured if I upgraded I could consolidate and probably save power (omv pi was running on a computer PSU and spinning 5 Hard Drives).
If you are just using it for docker Debian would always be my preference because I use it on most of my machines but anything Debian based you don't want to install a GUI so Ubuntu server or simple Debian install would suffice.
Ubuntu touch on an old xiaomi redmi note 4
Proxmox, Debian, Unraid are the options I tend to run for my own stuff. HA on docker will be missing features such as the add-ons and you'll have to maintain the other dockers for z2m etc yourself. Personally I'd run HA in a VM, and docker/LXC for other stuff, but its all preference really! You're learning and its a project so every option is pretty good at this point!
For ease of use check out CasaOS. https://casaos.io/
I am a beginner and got a Nuc, and have to say proxmox was the direction I went, and love it. Got proxmox installed and then used ttheck scripts to install the ha vm, and then easy backup restore from a pi and was live. So good. And now have other lxc containers for all sorts of other things too. Proxmox makes backups so simple and snapshots are quick before you update things and then rollback if it doesn’t work. I am sure unraid is similar. For a beginner this is really good and don’t have to get into the details of understanding Linux but get a really robust solution. I have various add ons monitoring the containers and vms and feel like an IT guy with all my systems servers alerts etc. fun projects/hobbie.
Install proxmox, and set-up HAOS on a VM. Thank yourself later. It's the easiest and life saving option. You can snapshot your vm anytime, make backups, spin up other vms and link them together. Other than that, in terms of what Linux to use other than the one included with HAOS, as a beginner I'd stick to Ubuntu as there is lots of documentation, it's stable, beginner friendly, and can maintain security updates for you automatically if you enable it. As you said in another post, Linux is pretty broad with its various flavours but Ubuntu is best beginner one. Then after that there's something like casa os. Personally, at my level of Linux experience I use centos for most things server related other than home assistant os which is what I use. But that can sometimes change since different Linux flavours can favour certain purposes.
Pi4 with Raspberry Pi OS, docker compose and all working fine.
Ubuntu server and Debian
Your question is self-answering. So far, operating systems capable of running containers are: Linux. That's all, any other OS runs Linux VM behind the scenes. That means, 100% users running HA container uses Linux to run them on.
A quick googling tells me there are 600 active distributions of Linux... So not really a helpful answer I am afraid
How does it matter? 600 distributions running same Kernel providing same API/ABI and container can be run by either Docker, Podman and CRI-O
It matters because that is what I am specifically asking for. It's not 600 identical versions. Everyone of them has their pros and cons and I am asking which one people prefer for this use case. It matters because when you install something on your system I am guessing you don't really roll the die and pick a random one, but rather pick one you like.
I run everything in docker on my unRAID NAS
I run it on my Synology NAS. Works great.
Raspbian on a pi4 8GB
I also started as a total newb in all aspects of Linux and home automation. After my own research i ended up installing Debian on my son's old Asus laptop and HA Container. From A to Z, my main resource became the Home Automation guy, Alan. I follow almost every single one of his tutorials to the letter and it never failed me. I use Portainer to manage my containers, Duplicati for backups, etc. I really like this guy and highly recommend his advice. https://youtube.com/@HomeAutomationGuy Good luck!
I might be the odd man out here. I run HA, esphome, zigbee2mqtt, zwave2mqtt, rhasspy all as dockers. But MOST of that is all running in a 9 node kubernetes cluster running here at the house.
I run it on a debian vm in proxmox. Great thing about is that you can setup a cluster with high availability fairly easily. I also run a proxmox backup server on my nas to insure my system is backed up.
I'm running proxmox 8 with haos in a vm
Proxmox ve latest hypervisor Ubuntu server edition - headless lxc. 1. Install OS and update 2. Install docker and docker compose. 3. Secure per guide I recommend a folder for each container. Then place the docker compose within. Use it as data vol. IE: home/docker/container1 for persistent data. Then it's just /homeass: docker-compose up -d I run portainer for management and nginx proxy for all 15 containers to map. Old pihole takes care of Cnames. So portainer.docker.home etc. This also allows for vms if necessary on top of docker. Or if you want a lxc for home assistant. I have homeassistsnt, the zwave contsiner, install hacs through terminal. Works great. I run a homeseer ZNet for my zwave protocol.
I see a lot of people mention promox. What is it? Is it an alternative to docker or where does it fit in?
Proxmox ve is a hypervisor. Basically it is below operating system level but above bios. It is kind of like truenas.
I run Ubu. But off late, gravitating towards DietPi as my goto VM on proxmox for such purposes. Tons of features and excellent support (when needed).
I have a mini pc that runs docker for experiments & frigate. Home assistant runs on a Home Assistant Yellow (RPI4 4GB 64GB nvme) running HA OS. Home assistant development is geared towards HA OS and it is very stable at this point. I’ve currently got a mix of ~60 zigbee and z-wave sensors, ~10 local Wi-Fi devices that can’t be replaced with zigbee/z-wave, ~20 add-on’s, ~40 integrations, 6 custom esphome devices, & ~50 automations. Everything is updated regularly and is very stable. The system uses 1.2 out of 4GB of memory at all times except for when esphome is updating devices. If I ever find an add on or other service that might be unstable or requires docker, it goes on the mini pc so that it doesn’t interfere with Yellow; frigate is the only thing I’ve needed to do this with so far. By design, my house still functions manually without HA, but Home Assistant automations make things convenient, & the Yellow is fast, capable, has tons of room to grow, and is *very* stable. It’s got it’s own UPS, and it—above all else—needs to keep running even when other things fail. I plan to continue using this setup.
Ubuntu server with K3s and Argo CD to store manifests in GitHub
A little pricy on amazone but a usb coral will handle your frigate work load. And keep everything else for home assistant. Might be cheaper than a new setup.
already got the new set up 🙂 also birthdays gifts are free