An Astronaut Whos Into Homelabbing

An Astronaut Who’s Into Homelabbing: A Guide to Setting Up Proxmox and TrueNAS for Backup Infrastructure

Welcome to this comprehensive guide where we delve into the fascinating world of homelabbing, focusing on a story that recently made waves in the tech community - an astronaut who’s also into homelabbing! If you’re an experienced sysadmin or DevOps engineer looking to build and manage your own infrastructure, this post is for you. We’ll walk through setting up Proxmox and TrueNAS, two powerful tools that NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick has been exploring for his home backup environment.

Prerequisites

To follow along with this guide, you’ll need:

1. A suitable server or workstation (minimum 4 cores, 8GB RAM) running CentOS 7 or Ubuntu 20.04 LTS as the operating system.
2. Access to the internet for downloading software and documentation.
3. Basic knowledge of command-line interfaces and network configuration.
4. A secondary storage device to be used as a NAS (Network Attached Storage).
5. Familiarity with SSH and SFTP for remote access.
6. Root or sudo permissions on your server.

Installation & Setup

Proxmox VE

Install Proxmox VE (Version 6.4) using the official ISO image:

wget https://download.proxmox.com/stable/6.4.x/pve-full-6.4-21-p0.iso
qemu-system-x86_64 -cdrom pve-full-6.4-21-p0.iso -boot d -m 4G -smp 4

Configure the network settings and disk layout during the installation process.

TrueNAS SCALE

Install TrueNAS SCALE (Version 22.03-U5) on a separate storage device:

1. Write the TrueNAS ISO image to an USB drive using Etcher or similar tools.
2. Boot your storage device from the USB drive, following the instructions provided by the tool you used for writing the image.
3. During the installation process, configure your network settings and storage layout according to your needs.

Configuration

Proxmox VE

Configure virtual machines (VMs) to store your data on your TrueNAS device:

1. Create a new VM, select the proper template (e.g., CentOS 7 or Ubuntu 20.04 LTS), and assign resources as needed.
2. Attach the shared folder from your TrueNAS device to the VM’s storage configuration.
3. Boot the VM and set up your preferred operating system.

TrueNAS SCALE

Configure storage pools, shares, and permissions according to your needs:

1. Create a new storage pool using the available disks in your device.
2. Create a share for your data, grant appropriate access permissions to your VM(s).
3. Mount the share on your VMs for easy data access.

Usage & Operations

Manage your data by creating and managing VMs, adding and removing storage, and monitoring system resources using the Proxmox web interface and TrueNAS SCALE GUI. Backup and recovery can be handled via snapshots and replication options within both systems.

Troubleshooting

Common issues include incorrect network configurations, insufficient system resources, and storage-related problems. Familiarize yourself with the respective documentation for troubleshooting steps and tips:

1. Proxmox VE Documentation
2. TrueNAS SCALE Documentation

Conclusion

With this guide, you’ve embarked on a journey to build and manage your own backup infrastructure using Proxmox VE and TrueNAS SCALE - just like an astronaut! You’re now equipped to handle data storage for your self-hosted environments, with security, performance optimization, and scalability in mind. For further learning, explore advanced topics such as containerization, virtualization, and cloud computing. Happy homelabbing!