Proxmox Server

My current Proxmox install on my HP t620 thin client (upgraded to a 256 GB Sandisk SSD and 16 GB RAM):

Containers -
Myspeed
Smokeping (still need to RTFM)

VMs -
Windows XP (run as needed)
FreePBX (Debian 12)
Home Assistant (Debian 12)
1743108739075.png
 
Running multiple proxmox servers in a cluster at a fintech company. Its basic Debian so the support is not a big deal as most linux people can deal with whatever pops up. Moving online VM's between hosts work well and we have never had downtime where Proxmox or anything done by the proxmox team was the cause.

I also use it at home. Recently did this setup to keep some LXC's behind a VPN. In short, openwrt connects to VPN provider, lxc's use openwrt as gateway so traffic runs via VPN. This way its possible to only send specific vm's traffic via VPN without having to do individual VPN setups on the hosts or having it enabled on the router which affects everything on the lan.

Must-Have OpenWrt Router Setup For Your Proxmox
 
dj_jyno said:
My current Proxmox install on my HP t620 thin client (upgraded to a 256 GB Sandisk SSD and 16 GB RAM):

Containers -
Myspeed
Smokeping (still need to RTFM)

VMs -
Windows XP (run as needed)
FreePBX (Debian 12)
Home Assistant (Debian 12)
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You need some PVE Dark Mode in your life man!
 
dj_jyno said:
Which is why I have the t620 in the first place - when I bought mine, it was half the price of a RPi.
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I had a T530 for a while, but it was just not enough for my needs. Dual core CPUs really struggle in 2025, but credit where credit is due, once everything was loaded up it did quite alright for a passively-cooled device.

Now if I had a T740...
 
Mzezman said:
This looks mighty impressive …. And perfect for home labbing
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Right!? I don't need it but I feel like I do.

It can't do anything better than what my Thin Client can (for my usecase), and yet...I still want one for...reasons.
 
PhireSide said:
Right!? I don't need it but I feel like I do.

It can't do anything better than what my Thin Client can (for my usecase), and yet...I still want one for...reasons.
Click to expand...

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I can't quite explain it but since I turned my Lenovo M720q off, my power usage dropped by a good 100w:

1743920073358.png

You can see baseline was 180-280w (180w baseline, then it spikes to 280w when the gecko heating element kicks on). I switched off the Lenovo at 19:25, and there was a drop of around 80w at the time. What is weird is that the server only ran PBS, with an internal 2.5" HDD and one stick of 8GB DDR4-2400 RAM. It runs headless, too.

I also ran powertop --auto-tune on it and had the CPU governor set to Powersave. I have no idea how a 35w TDP i5-8500T system had an idle consumption of ~80w since the load averages just before I shut it down was maybe 0.03 to 0.05.
 
Finally updated my Piholes to V6, DNS resolution was slow and not even working for the first 15mins post upgrade - maybe the new settings needed time to bed in - but now its flying. Unbound also worked without any issues. Spun up a Nebula Sync Container in docker to manage the syncing between all 3.

I also decommissioned my old ass HP Proliant DL380 g7 - everything is now running on SFF dell/hp machines. I MAY bring the big server back as a backup node (PBS) as i do need more storage and backup but everything is working fine for now. I am also saving 160-250w per hour average in electricity costs AND the noise is now gone
 
Mzezman said:
Finally updated my Piholes to V6, DNS resolution was slow and not even working for the first 15mins post upgrade - maybe the new settings needed time to bed in - but now its flying. Unbound also worked without any issues. Spun up a Nebula Sync Container in docker to manage the syncing between all 3.

I also decommissioned my old ass HP Proliant DL380 g7 - everything is now running on SFF dell/hp machines. I MAY bring the big server back as a backup node (PBS) as i do need more storage and backup but everything is working fine for now. I am also saving 160-250w per hour average in electricity costs AND the noise is now gone
Click to expand...
At first I read Pihole ipv6 and thought f**k, you are brave. I'm an Adguard luddite myself but used to use Pihole many moons ago. Does Nebula just sync settings or does it sync the db as well?

You could maybe sell the DL380 (as eWaste...) and get another thin client with a biggish drive for backup duty? You'd quickly make up the difference in power savings, I'd imagine.
 
PhireSide said:
At first I read Pihole ipv6 and thought f**k, you are brave. I'm an Adguard luddite myself but used to use Pihole many moons ago. Does Nebula just sync settings or does it sync the db as well?

You could maybe sell the DL380 (as eWaste...) and get another thin client with a biggish drive for backup duty? You'd quickly make up the difference in power savings, I'd imagine.
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Mmm I wonder how much i could get for the HP - its pretty old and one of the SAS drives packed up - it DOES make sense to get a smaller newer device - i was shocked at how well the SFF devices run a Windows 11 VM for example

I do actually also run IPV6 on my LAN as my Websquad connection also gives me a public IPv6 address - the piholes do DNS across v4 and v6 with no issues. There are settings in Nebula to specify what you want synced so it does give finer level control vs a full sync

NameDefaultDescription
SYNC_CONFIG_DNSfalseSynchronize DNS settings
SYNC_CONFIG_DHCPfalseSynchronize DHCP settings
SYNC_CONFIG_NTPfalseSynchronize NTP settings
SYNC_CONFIG_RESOLVERfalseSynchronize resolver settings
SYNC_CONFIG_DATABASEfalseSynchronize database settings
SYNC_CONFIG_MISCfalseSynchronize miscellaneous settings
SYNC_CONFIG_DEBUGfalseSynchronize debug settings
SYNC_GRAVITY_DHCP_LEASESfalseSynchronize DHCP leases
SYNC_GRAVITY_GROUPfalseSynchronize groups
SYNC_GRAVITY_AD_LISTfalseSynchronize ad lists
SYNC_GRAVITY_AD_LIST_BY_GROUPfalseSynchronize ad lists by group
SYNC_GRAVITY_DOMAIN_LISTfalseSynchronize domain lists
SYNC_GRAVITY_DOMAIN_LIST_BY_GROUPfalseSynchronize domain lists by group
SYNC_GRAVITY_CLIENTfalseSynchronize clients
SYNC_GRAVITY_CLIENT_BY_GROUPfalseSynchronize clients by group
 
Bobshop should have some for sale to give you an idea of what they go for.

I saw a website called c2kit that sells some refurbished Wyse 5070’s for between R1400 and R2000 depending on spec - these could make decent PBS machines I rate.
 
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