Hi everyone!

Recently I got a mini PC/router from Aliexpress with the following specs:

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• Intel Pentium Gold 8505 (5C/6T)
• 4x i226 2.5Gb NICs

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and installed:

• 32Gb of RAM
• 3Tb storage:
  • 1Tb Sata SSD, 1Tb NVME SSD and another 1Tb SSD using USB3.0

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I’d like to turn it into an router / NAS / Media server

My initial idea is to install Proxmox and spin up 2 VMS

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• 1º VM for OPNSense with 1P-core (2 threads) and 1 E-core and 8Gb of RAM
• 2º VM running debian and OMV to run containers (jellyfin, arr’s, nextcloud, pi-hole, etc…) with 3 E-cores and 24Gb o RAM

I’d use ext4 file system and LVM to keep it simple and flexible, because I’m still a beginner and it would be easier to setup and maintain.

I already have some familiarity with debian, OMV and containers because I’m running a similar setup on a raspberry pi 4 at the moment. As I researched more about what I want to accomplish, I stumbled upon some alternatives that raised some questions:

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1. Should I look into TrueNAS scale for the OS of the second VM? I’ve heard it’s good but not beginner friendly

2. Should I use ZFS as the file system? I really liked the snapshot and deduplication features, but it seems that it might bring more problems than solutions if you don’t know what you’re doing (Which I don’t, at the moment, but plan to learn it in the future).

3. Is it better to run the containers directly on a LXC Container in Proxmox? I know that it would be lighter, but my biggest concern would be the security of the OPNSense VM. Can an privileged container mess with the VM? Are there other concerns? In my head a VM would be better at isolating things but I know very little of LXC containers.

4. Are there any better alternatives or something that I’m missing?

Any and all help is appreciated!