The original post: /r/selfhosted by /u/No_Kangaroo_3618 on 2024-11-13 21:04:17.

Originally posted this in the wrong communtiy r/homelab, so I’m repenting and posting here.

Currently refactoring my home lab. Currently coming from a NAS with TrueNAS and a conglomeration of old computers running Ubuntu Server. My TrueNAS machine could probably survive another year or two, but I think she’s ready to croak.

I want to consolidate, reduce the amount of old machines. I got a new HP tower with 64 GB of RAM and I bought a GPU (sweet deal on an NVidia 3070 ti) to go with it for some upcoming ML projects. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the options for refactoring.

Here’s what I am considering (open to more options):

  1. Proxmox on bare metal running TrueNAS, Ubuntu Server, and Ubuntu Desktop
  2. Proxmox on baremetal, using Cockpit for storage management, Ubuntu Server, and Ubuntu desktop (I have never used Cockpit)
  3. TrueNAS on bare metal, running Ubuntu Server and Ubuntu Desktop in VMs within TrueNAS (forgetting Proxmox entirely)
  4. Ubuntu Desktop on bare metal running TrueNAS and Ubuntu Server as a VM, or forgetting Ubuntu server entirely.
  5. Ubuntu Desktop, forgetting TrueNAS and Ubuntu Server entirely.

Someone suggested NixOS with Incus to run VMs if I need a particular OS, but research suggests that NixOS has somewhat of a steep learning curve.

Uses: Fileserver, backups, Immich (photo server and webapp), machine learning development and testing, development (webapps and stuff), and I would use Ubuntu Desktop as somewhat of a daily driver.

I’ve never used Proxmox but I consider it something perhaps valuable to learn. Also heard that Cockpit+Proxmox is excellent for managing ZFS and I’m down to clown around with it as a replacement for TrueNAS, but I’ve never even dinked around with it.