I just bought a mini PC to use as a Plex Server and realised that maybe it’s a good way to host my Home Assistant instance as well. Currently HA is on a raspberry pi 4.

What’s the best approach to get both running on a mini PC? And is it even the best approach or should I just leave HA the way it is now?

Mini PC I got is the Beelink EQ12

    • @yesterdaysheroOPEnglish
      1•1 year ago

      Is docker very different to HAOS? Anything major I’d have to do differently?

      I’ve also heard of doing it using Proxmox, but not sure if there’s any advantages/disadvantages?

      Also, thanks so much for those links. Super helpful.

      • @[email protected]English
        3•1 year ago

        HAOS does the same thing where it runs HA Core (the actual server software) in docker.

        There are two possibly major drawbacks to managing docker yourself:

        1. You’ll have to manage updates, backups, etc.
        2. You won’t have access to the add-on store. You can still install add-ons by running their docker images but you’ll have to configure their communication channels in addition to everything in point 1.

        Proxmox on the other hand manages full virtual machines for you. There is an official HAOS virtual machine image which gives you the benefit of doing everything for you while still allowing you to run other virtual machines alongside it. Proxmox can manage full VM backups for you and collects performance statistics for each VM. Main drawback would be the added complexity and increased resource usage.

      • @breadsmasherEnglish
        0•1 year ago

        Docker is sort of like a virtual machine but lighter than a VM. Proxmox I think is a virtual machine host?

        https://geekflare.com/docker-vs-virtual-machine/

        Personally I would leave HAOS on the Pi as it currently is, and then look at running the rest of the stack (Plex server and then whatever else you want) on the mini PC

        • @yesterdaysheroOPEnglish
          1•1 year ago

          Sorry for the dumb question, but would I be able to achieve something similar to the Plex server Docker config you shared, but without docker? If I don’t bother trying to get HA running on the same mini PC?

          I might have a play around with the mini PC before I try do anything major with HA.

          Edit: have found a couple guides, so will try it out.

          • tehcpengsiudai
            3•1 year ago

            Hey if you haven’t heard, HAOS has a community add-on for Plex - which is basically docker instance of Plex under the hood.

            You might wanna check that out.

            I would give priority to HAOS because it removes a ton of setup headaches with other add-ons you might use like Z2M until you establish a proper home lab pipeline.

            You’d lose the add-on store if you go the HA docker route and you’d have to manage some networking config within docker if you need to setup other containers to be used with HA - Eg: MariaDB, MQTT Servers, etc…