Install a new server

[dzjr]

Hello everyone,

I intend to completely rebuild my domoticz server on a new raspberry Pi 4 (4GB) with a new (sandisk 64GB C-10) SD Card.
I think the current server (Pi-3 with domoticz beta) is too unstable, crashes every 1 or 2 days, luckily Monit causes the Pi to restart, perhaps an SD Card problem?
Previously I had a reboot 1x per 7 hours, but after I have deployed a second server (Pi2 With stable) it is slightly better.

I prefer to run on one server with domoticz stable version.

Now I got the tip on the MySensors forum https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/10846 ... controller to equip the Raspberry Pi with an SSD / HDD that could handle the amount of data better than an SD card.

I only read on the RaspberryPi forum https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... p?t=248999 that a Pi4 does not (yet) support booting from a USB device.

What is your advice on how to build the new server?

My setup is:
2x MySensors Ethernet gateways (both RS485) where I collect sensor data and control dimmers. relays, valves etc.
option for a 3rd MySensors gateway (RF Gateway).
DMX Garden lighting control (via MySensors with its own Ethernet gateway)
Z-Wave Stick for the smoke detectors in my house.
IKEA Tradfri plugin, possibly with a ConBee-II Zigbee stick instead of the IKEA Gateway.
P1 Smart energy meter thru USB (Dutch energy meter)
APC UPS (via USB)
RF Link (for 433mhz components)
Sonos control
Modbus readout for a power meter.
Read out Luftdaten sensor (via Json)
Push notification via PushOver
2x Luftdaten sensors thru dzVents

I am very curious what your advice is

Thanks in advance!

dzjr

[Egregius]

If you can afford a Intel Nuc I would recommend that. Since I moved to that I didn't had a single crash or reboot.

[ben53252642]

If you can afford a Intel Nuc I would recommend that. Since I moved to that I didn't had a single crash or reboot.

I also think you should get an Intel NUC (with a genuine Samsung SSD) and 4gb of ram.

[waaren]

I am very curious what your advice is

Any solution including SD card IO will be sub optimal as the SD card often turns out to be the weakest link.

If you already have a Synology NAS, my advice would be to use berryboot and connect your RPI-4 . With the 1Gb ethernet on the RPI-4 the IO is no performance bottleneck but also with the 100Mb in RPI-3B it already works pretty good.
For me another big advantage of this setup is the option to create hourly snapshots. On several occasions this turned out a real lifesaver when I messed up (again).
I now have 3 * RPI-3B and 1 * RPI-4 connected to my Synology 916 using Berryboot.

[dzjr]

If you can afford a Intel Nuc I would recommend that. Since I moved to that I didn't had a single crash or reboot.

I also think you should get an Intel NUC (with a genuine Samsung SSD) and 4gb of ram.

@Egregius & @ben53252642
Thank you both for your answer!

It sounds really good, and you will probably find an application for the new Pi!

Can you perhaps tell something more about the setup?
-What type of Intel-Nuc do you use?
-In saw in @ben53252642 's message that he had used 4GB, assume that is sufficient in the beginning?
-SSD drive I will probably come out, 250GB seems more than sufficient.
- Which OS do you recommend?

Thanks again!

[dzjr]

Any solution including SD card IO will be sub optimal as the SD card often turns out to be the weakest link.

If you already have a Synology NAS, my advice would be to use and connect your RPI-4 . .

Thank you @Waaren for your response,

I do have a NAS, but that is an older Iomega for which (unfortunately) there is no support anymore, so there will probably be a new NAS, but not this year.
   

I don't think the tip about the Intel Nuc (see above) is bad either

dzjr

[ben53252642]

-In saw in @ben53252642 's message that he had used 4GB, assume that is sufficient in the beginning?

4gb is plenty for running Domoticz, a GUI desktop like Mate and a lot of plugins (I've never even come close to using all 4gb).

-SSD drive I will probably come out, 250GB seems more than sufficient.

I think that's plenty

- Which OS do you recommend?

If your used to working with the Pi via SSH without a desktop (mouse and icons to click on etc...) then Debian.

If you want a desktop as well I'd suggest Ubuntu Mate since it uses minimal resources but provides a good desktop experience for when you need to do maintenance etc...

[dzjr]

If your used to working with the Pi via SSH without a desktop (mouse and icons to click on etc...) then Debian.

If you want a desktop as well I'd suggest Ubuntu Mate since it uses minimal resources but provides a good desktop experience for when you need to do maintenance etc...

I use both, on desktop & sometimes with SSH, so i think i chose Ubuntu Mate!

I saw this NUC, https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/712951/ ... 6cayh.html is that a good solution for it?
Yes it is the most cheapest

[ben53252642]

Spend a tiny bit extra and get a Nuc model with the Intel core i3 processor.

Make sure you buy the Samsung SSD from a reputable store so you know your getting a genuine, storage is important, you don't want a cheap potentially fake SSD.

Domoticz is basically an advanced database server which is why the reliable storage is so important.

[qwerk]

Good topic,

It triggered me to possibly swap my RPI3 for a NUC.
Does anyone knows of it is easy/difficult to go from a Razberry to a USB z-wave stick?
I have z-wave 60 devices, I would like to use the same home-id

[Egregius]

I have a Intel Baby Canyon NUC7i3BNH with 8GB RAM and a cheap Kingston SSD of 120GB.
I run Proxmox on it as a hypervisor, so Domoticz runs in a virtualized KVM container on Debian 10.
I also added a second USB network card. Thanks to that I can also run pfSense on the same NUC. pfSense is an advanced firewall. In pfSense I can block access to my domoticz from all countries other than my own. That blocks several hundreds of access attempts every day.
Because I use a hypervisor I didn't spent much on the SSD as I can easily make backups to the nas.
If the SSD crashes I only have to reïnstall Proxmox and restore the images.
If also the NUC dies completely it's the same story without having to worry about hardware compatibility.

Screenshot at dec. 27 12-05-24.png (47.2 KiB) Viewed 3172 times

[dzjr]

I looked around this afternoon, and finding out "just a NUC" is not something you just do .....

In the meantime, I understand that with every NUC you have to order both memory and a disk,
But which NUC is "Good", (@ben53252642) called an i3 minimal, but then ...

For an SSD you can again choose from a large list of different disks ....
Not to mention memory.

In any case, I do not think that you have a complete NUC for less than € 300, do not yet know whether I think it is worth it ....

For the sake of clarity, I am a hobbyist who likes to be able to automate things at home, but certainly not a computer expert.

I think I will first build the new Pi4, possibly later with an external SSD disk and maybe something will come my way ...

Sorry for the effort you put into it ....

[ben53252642]

Na, an i3 is not minimal, it's a huge amount of speed for a Domoticz / home automation system, I've run > 10 virtual machines on one.

I like the i3 because it's low power consumption and doesn't generate a lot of heat.

[Egregius]

I think any Nuc will be faster and more reliable.

They don't need to cost more than € 300:

Screenshot at dec. 28 07-42-46.png (46.04 KiB) Viewed 3087 times

[dzjr]

I think any Nuc will be faster and more reliable.

They don't need to cost more than € 300:

Thank you for helping me choose, I now have the above set, but then 240 instead of 120 GB, for around € 200!
If all goes well, it will be Monday here.

[dzjr]

I think any Nuc will be faster and more reliable.

They don't need to cost more than € 300:

Received the NUC today, unfortunately the SSD was not the right size, I ordered an adapter, hope it arrives tomorrow ....

[Egregius]

The WD Green in the June Canyon? Should be both 80mm (according to the webshop where I looked).

[waaren]

Received the NUC today, unfortunately the SSD was not the right size, I ordered an adapter, hope it arrives tomorrow ....

I experienced the same what adapter have you ordered ?

[dzjr]

The WD Green in the June Canyon? Should be both 80mm (according to the webshop where I looked).

it is a M.2 SSD a small PCB

I experienced the same what adapter have you ordered ?

i ordered this one at AlleKabeltje.nl https://www.allekabels.nl/m2-ssd/15535/ ... odule.html


I hope it comes tomorrow, if PostNL does it's job....

[waaren]

i ordered this one at AlleKabeltje.nl https://www.allekabels.nl/m2-ssd/15535/ ... odule.html
I hope it comes tomorrow, if PostNL does it's job....

Thx. Mine will arrive Thursday. Luckily I had a spare SSD so could start playing now