Hello everyone,
I am currently in the process of planning a new server-rack based homelab to manage various tasks such as storage, backups, running virtualized systems, and managing personal data.
One aspect I am unsure about is to decide whether to split virtualization/compute and storage into separate nodes or to have a single rack-mounted system with directly connected storage.
To explain my use case, let me briefly describe my current setup (to be replaced):
Current Setup:
- 1x Intel NUC running Proxmox with various VMs/Containers
- 1x System running TrueNAS with ZFS and substantial storage
Issues with Current Setup:
- Storage Management on Proxmox System: The Proxmox system has minimal storage with only an 1TB internal SSD. There is currently no backup system for the VMs; snapshots are stored on the same SSD, not on the TrueNAS system.
- Accessibility of Data to VMs/Containers via SMB: My current solution to make ZFS datasets accessible to VMs/Containers on the Proxmox system, is to simply mount them on boot via SMB. This feels like a pretty half-assed solution…
Planning the new Rack System:
So, I want to ensure to get the new setup right, and address all the shortcomings of my current setup.
The following criteria are important for me and need to work with the new setup:
- Easy management of ZFS pool & datasets
- Easy management of virtualized systems
- Automated backups of my datasets
- Automated backups of my virtualized systems
- Be able to make datasets accessible to other workstations and virtualized systems
So, this leaves me with the question:
- Have one powerful system with the mass storage directly connected to it, or separate virtualization/compute and storage into physically different systems?
- If separate systems, how to connect to make the storage accessible to the Proxmox system?
- Use only Proxmox and drop TrueNAS? There is a Proxmox backup solution, is it an adequate replacement for TrueNAS?
- Is management of ZFS datasets easy with Proxmox? It was very easy with TrueNAS
- How to properly setup manage and setup backups for private data (ZFS datasets) when using only Proxmox, not TrueNAS? Is it possible?
I hope my questions were not to convoluted, - I am not entirely sure yet myself what I want 
I am trying to figure out what is a good approach for my scenario.
Based on your requirements and current setup, transitioning to a single, powerful rack-mounted system running Proxmox is likely the best solution. This approach consolidates virtualization, storage management, and backup capabilities into one platform. By directly connecting storage to this system and using Proxmox’s ZFS implementation, you can efficiently manage datasets and virtualized environments. Proxmox Backup Server can handle both VM and dataset backups. This setup eliminates the complexities of your current dual-system approach, resolves issues with VM backups and storage accessibility, and streamlines making datasets available to other workstations and virtualized systems. There may be a learning curve in transitioning from TrueNAS to Proxmox for ZFS management, but the benefits of a unified system should outweigh this. This solution meets your current requirements and provides a flexible foundation for future homelab expansion.
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How would I set up encrypted datasets with proxmox?
Also, I don’t think proxmox provides a way to expose datasets via services like SMB or NFS etc.
Or at least, I am not familiar with how to do that.
People often recommend to have two separate systems, because TrueNAS is primarily NAS solution (and thus provides more NAS-specific features) while Proxmox is primarily a hypervisor (and thus provides more hypervisors features).
Thats why I am unsure about the combining everything into Proxmox.
In my order of preference for a *ux hypervisor:
iSCSI operates at the block level, which means it allows VM hosts to interact with storage devices as if they were directly attached block storage. That means better performance and lower latency.
I use NFS for my Proxmox backups.
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@shadragon
Thanks for the reply. iSCSI seems like a sensible choice then.
How do you manage ZFS datasets in Proxmox? How do you expose them to other end devices where iSCSI is not an option?
Also, would you generally separate virtualization and storage into two physical nodes? Or would you have one node and handle all the NAS functionality also with Proxmox?
Anything to do with ZFS is handled natively in Proxmox. I only expose services through the vm’s themselves.
If you want to use HA and / or Ceph you need shared storage. If not, then local storage on each host is fine.
My full explanation is here: 2 x 10GB SFP+ NAS Project