Help with homelab setup v5.0

[echoroger1]

Hello All

I am new to proxmox and working on building a homelab. My goal is to do a number of VMs for services at home, testing and playing around.

My hardware:

• HP Proliant DL160 G6
• Quad core L5630 2.13GHz (2)
• 100 GB Memory
• 4 x 1TB sata drives
• 250 gb SSD
• No Hardware Raid controller
• Dual NICs

For a few weeks now I have been reading up and trying to figure out how to install and get going. But I haven't been able to figure out if the setup I going with is the best way. What I have done so far is:

• SSD - boot drive with ext4
• ZFS Raidz1 with the 4 drives

My questions are:

1. Is the boot on the SSD with ext4 the best way to go?
2. While reading up on ZFS there are many mentions of setting up eithe ZIL or L2ARC partitions on an SSD. Do I need to bother with doing that?
3. Eventually I want to setup different subnets for testing. Can I do that within Proxmox or is the better option to go with something like Open VSwitch? I am not an expert on networking but I would definitely like to learn to do more advanced setups.
4. Backup strategy -- I haven't been able to find good recommendations for this; Is there a preferred method? I would like to start with something basic in the beginning, but eventually move to something more advanced and solid.
5. Monitoring - I have read a number of post/blogs about monitoring options, but I haven't found anything that what exactly is the most important things TO monitor.

Thanks

 

[jeffwadsworth]

1. Fine, though the ZFS option is good too.
2. It will increase your performance.
3. Check under each node->Networking. It has the ability to create many different types of networks.
4. Proxmox has built-in backup capability that works very well. You just need to verify the backup storage and the resulting backup file.
5. The GUI can be reached from any node. Quite informative. Just set up a test environment and play around.