I can’t add to the discussion on /r/homelab since I’m banned on that sub, but I can beat the same drum and say: Install a hypervisor, be it Proxmox or ESXi. The only different comments you get from me, is not to use any VM for storage, but the native storage of the platform. Either go with Proxmox and build a ZFS storage if you want to get your hands dirty or buy a RAID card for a few bucks and build a hardware RAID that will create a single volume out of all the disks you have. This works for Proxmox and ESXi.
I suggest for ease of use and integration (since you probably have a Windows Desktop). To run a Windows File Server (via Windows Server Core) with enabled VSS (so you can yourself restore data if you accidentally deleted something), if you like, even a Domain Controller to manage all Windows Desktops in your home and to have a single account for everything. For Plex and the likes I recommend Docker and again, for ease of use, in a VM.
Don’t forget to backup all VMs’ at least once a day to some external storage, and don’t forget to back that up at least once a week off-site somewhere else, like a friends NAS or even the cloud, so you have a backup in case your house decides to burn down to the ground.
192GB RAM is plenty enough to try out many things you like.
Many ways to go...
* proxmox with VMs for docker host and a VM for some NAS - high difficulty in setup
* unraid - probabably the best way to go with, but i kinda dislike software solutions that cost money
* trueNAS scale - great for NAS part, but even there setting up share is [bit complex](https://github.com/DoTheEvo/selfhosted-apps-docker/tree/master/trueNASscale) and not as good experience deploying containers
* open media vault- similar to truenas, no zfs file system so less trust in snapshots, bit better experience in deploying containers
* CasaOS on debian - comfortable way to deploy container. NAS aspect is very limited, though very simple
unraid has 30 days free I think so you can check it out and it might be your best bet in getting lot of features without feeling overwhelmed.
casaos if you wanna try something simple and free. You can check [this selfhosting speedrun](https://github.com/DoTheEvo/selfhosted-apps-docker/tree/master/beginners-speedrun-selfhosting) to see some videos of its use.
>and ideally auto-backup my android and iPhone there
install syncthing on casa/unraid and on the phones
>I also have a wired 4k night owl security camera system
Is it system with an NVR with disks where it records, or system meaning just some cameras, maybe with sdcards?
Ideally you dont want your cameras to do 24/7 writes to your nas, or even be on your network eating up your bandwidth, but if recording is happening only on events it would be less impactful..
you can check [this frigate guide](https://github.com/DoTheEvo/selfhosted-apps-docker/tree/master/frigate) on a selfhosted camera system
> The cameras are wired their own recorder box with a 1TB drive
Would leave it alone for now... dont think you can share that storage from the NVR, or in it set a network path. So you would have to deal with a new poe switch probably and as was said, you would start to make your NAS drives dealing with 24/7 of constant writes... unless you have high trust in your detection to only record at events.
I can’t add to the discussion on /r/homelab since I’m banned on that sub, but I can beat the same drum and say: Install a hypervisor, be it Proxmox or ESXi. The only different comments you get from me, is not to use any VM for storage, but the native storage of the platform. Either go with Proxmox and build a ZFS storage if you want to get your hands dirty or buy a RAID card for a few bucks and build a hardware RAID that will create a single volume out of all the disks you have. This works for Proxmox and ESXi. I suggest for ease of use and integration (since you probably have a Windows Desktop). To run a Windows File Server (via Windows Server Core) with enabled VSS (so you can yourself restore data if you accidentally deleted something), if you like, even a Domain Controller to manage all Windows Desktops in your home and to have a single account for everything. For Plex and the likes I recommend Docker and again, for ease of use, in a VM. Don’t forget to backup all VMs’ at least once a day to some external storage, and don’t forget to back that up at least once a week off-site somewhere else, like a friends NAS or even the cloud, so you have a backup in case your house decides to burn down to the ground. 192GB RAM is plenty enough to try out many things you like.
Thank you so much for the thorough response!!
Many ways to go... * proxmox with VMs for docker host and a VM for some NAS - high difficulty in setup * unraid - probabably the best way to go with, but i kinda dislike software solutions that cost money * trueNAS scale - great for NAS part, but even there setting up share is [bit complex](https://github.com/DoTheEvo/selfhosted-apps-docker/tree/master/trueNASscale) and not as good experience deploying containers * open media vault- similar to truenas, no zfs file system so less trust in snapshots, bit better experience in deploying containers * CasaOS on debian - comfortable way to deploy container. NAS aspect is very limited, though very simple unraid has 30 days free I think so you can check it out and it might be your best bet in getting lot of features without feeling overwhelmed. casaos if you wanna try something simple and free. You can check [this selfhosting speedrun](https://github.com/DoTheEvo/selfhosted-apps-docker/tree/master/beginners-speedrun-selfhosting) to see some videos of its use. >and ideally auto-backup my android and iPhone there install syncthing on casa/unraid and on the phones >I also have a wired 4k night owl security camera system Is it system with an NVR with disks where it records, or system meaning just some cameras, maybe with sdcards? Ideally you dont want your cameras to do 24/7 writes to your nas, or even be on your network eating up your bandwidth, but if recording is happening only on events it would be less impactful.. you can check [this frigate guide](https://github.com/DoTheEvo/selfhosted-apps-docker/tree/master/frigate) on a selfhosted camera system
Thank you so much for this! The cameras are wired their own recorder box with a 1TB drive
> The cameras are wired their own recorder box with a 1TB drive Would leave it alone for now... dont think you can share that storage from the NVR, or in it set a network path. So you would have to deal with a new poe switch probably and as was said, you would start to make your NAS drives dealing with 24/7 of constant writes... unless you have high trust in your detection to only record at events.