New home server: what hypervisor/OS?
I have a couple of home server, both with Proxmox as hypervisor, one VM with Ubuntu 22.04 that does just Docker containers, one with Open Media Vault, one with Home Assistant (HA OS) and a couple of Windows VM to do some tests. Since I wanted to move from OMV, right now I see 2 options:
- stay with Proxmox and find another NAS OS
- use Unraid as NAS and hypervisor
What other option would you suggest?
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Running a Debian Bookworm hypervisor using KVM/QEMU with virt-manager for vms + Incus for lxc containers gives you a lot of freedom with how you use it.
edit: It also means you build your own hypervisor from parts - kinda like installing postfix/dovecot/mariadb/spamassassin instead of a packaged solution like mail-in-a-box. It takes more time and effort but I find I understand the underlying technologies better afterwards.
That's something I like, just plain Debian with KVM. How is virt-manager compared to the Proxmox UI? Does it needs to be installed on a separate PC (Windows?)?
No problem running virt-manager on the hypervisor itself. You can also use https://cockpit-project.org with the cockpit-virtual-machines addon to manage kvm vms from https://machineip:9090
Cool! I think that I'll give it a go! Does the cockpit needs to be installed directly on the host OS or...?
Yeah, you need to install cockpit on any linux you wanna manage using it, then you can use the ssh keys to setup so your cockpit session on the hypervisor gives you access to your vms too.
I recently switched from Proxmox to Debian Bookworm with Incus(LXD fork) as my primary setup, it's been a pleasant experience. I also like the idea of using something like Cockpit to manage VMs though haven't come to a need yet for a VM over a container. I'll also point out that Incus can handle VMs as well.
Stéphane Graber, Project leader of Linux Containers is also on the fediverse and responds to questions often.