This year has seen significant developments in home lab setups, particularly for users transitioning to dedicated systems. A major shift involved moving from a Windows desktop and NAS to a mini PC running Proxmox as the hypervisor. The user decided to upgrade to a Strix Halo mini PC with increased RAM after realizing that the previous mini PCs lacked sufficient power for high availability clustering.
The setup is expected to be relocated to a dedicated server housed in a 6U chassis once the holiday period concludes. This ongoing evolution has highlighted the necessity for better management of container images and virtual machines, alongside a need to enhance knowledge of automation tools. Although Proxmox provides a variety of base images, they often lack recent updates, creating additional work for users.
To streamline processes, users can create templates from existing virtual machines or containers. This method allows for quicker deployment, but a more efficient option is available through Cloud-Init, which simplifies the configuration of multiple VMs that require distinct settings. Despite the extra time needed for initial setup, Cloud-Init can significantly ease the management of virtual environments.