Virtualization (and other lab features) for dummies (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by Radiate_Wishbone_540@alien.top to c/homelab@selfhosted.forum

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I'm almost ready to build my first DIY PC which will be used as a home NAS/server. My primary aim is media storage and playback (mostly music, only the occasional movie).

While I'm not quite done deciding between TrueNas and UnRaid (and Proxmox?), something I see discussed in all three setups is the use of VM's, or virtualization.

While I understand the concept of a VM, I don't understand how this might figure into what I'm doing.

To take my primary aim of storing and streaming music, possibly with the use of Jellyfin or Plex, how would a VM come into play, if at all? Can I simply install the OS of my choice and the install software like Jellyfin or Plex, or is this where VMs become important somehow?

Explanations, tips and resources shared are appreciated.

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[-] thomasbuchinger@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Given that you are running pretty standard Apps, it's fine to run without virtualization.

You don't need a network share to access the files
TrueNAS wants access to the physical drives

VMs add a useful abstraction layer between the hardware and the stuff you want to run. I tend to use VMs unless I have a reason not to.

Having many VMs limits the blast radius if you do something stupid. This was more relevant before Containers were widespread
If you do a major upgrade, you can snapshot the VM disk and roll back if it does not work
It's easier to backup a single directory with all the VM disks than configuring X Backups on physical Hardware
If you want to replace a server, you can run a second VM and you don't need additional Hardware

Reasons to not use VMs are basically

access to physical hardware
being able to use a display/keyboard,
running on an embedded device

this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2023

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