4 ms·

Have had the same problems, though it's always the Pi chewing up the SD card, a new card solves it. These guides really need a warning saying "If you find this

by wjdp 5y ago

Have had the same problems, though it's always the Pi chewing up the SD card, a new card solves it. These guides really need a warning saying "If you find this useful, switch to using a server that doesn't rely on an SD card after ~6 months" The Pi is fantastic for getting a taste of self-hosting / home automation as it's so cheap but by no means should it be relied on. I moved our Home Assistant install to a docker container on basic PC and it's been rock solid after several SD cards were eaten by the Pi. Though I still have DNS (via PiHole) running on a Pi and that's starting to act up. Only time I've found Pis reliable is when they either don't write much or are running a read-only disk most of the time. We've a network audio player using piCorePlayer[1] on a Pi running for years and never had an issue, it's running tiny core linux and only makes the disk r/w when you're upgrading or changing settings. I'm tempted to move my MQTT server to a Pi using tiny core as that'd keep messaging up while I'm rebooting or doing some other task on my single server. Something like http://akeil.net/posts/mosquitto-mqtt-on-tinycore.html http://akeil.net/posts/mosquitto-mqtt-on-tinycore.html [1]: https://www.picoreplayer.org/ https://www.picoreplayer.org/

nerdjon 5y ago
I have a TV PI that seems to so far be running just fine after about 6 months. But I also have it reboot once a day so maybe that may be some magic. I have PiHole running myself, my original plan was to use a Pi but the last thing I wanted for that thing to die and my internet stop working. An easy enough fix, but a frustrating one. Mine is also running on the my media server. Which... is fun. When I reboot it I have to start things VM's in a certain order or things get really unhappy. I agree that a warning like that should be in place, I am surprised though that a new card worked for you. I have a drawer of Pi's that I never managed to salvage.
- wjdp 5y ago
  Mix of things mean I haven't changed it (yet) - As you point out having on a shared server isn't great. I do want a separate device for DNS, I don't want the network down because the 'everything server' needs a reboot. - aand when it breaks I don't tend to be in the mood to fix it. Usually late in the evening when watching telly. It usually needs a reboot or `pihole-FTL.db` has gotten to several GB in size and needs deleting. But I'm sure it's getting closer to being unrecoverable. I've also got it doing DHCP so every device gets a <hostname>.<network>.uk domain, plus it handles some static records as well. Means it's not just a quick swapout, need to find and migrate the custom stuff I've done to it. Most of this should be in a git repo but unsure if all of it is. The joys of overcomplicating home networking!
Semaphor 5y ago
I have my PI running off a USB-SSD instead. It works very well, though initial set up can be a bit of a hassle.
- not1ofU 5y ago
  If you dont mind, do you have some link to hand that you used to set that up? Edit: - sorry, nevermind, I should have read the rest of the comments, there is a link below this comment (at time of writing)
  - Semaphor 5y ago
    I don’t see a link, so here’s the post I used: https://jamesachambers.com/new-raspberry-pi-4-bootloader-usb-network-boot-guide/ https://jamesachambers.com/new-raspberry-pi-4-bootloader-usb... Make sure you use the right adapter, I got an enclosure at first that wasn’t on the list, and it ended up not working. I switched to the recommended StarTech 2.5″ and everything worked.
    - not1ofU 5y ago
      Thank you
- paulmd 5y ago
  I used to boot my fileserver (not a Pi) like that and it worked fine for a number of years until the USB-SATA adapter died. Not sure if you meant an actual purpose-built external SSD but I don't know that I'd trust a home-brewed solution in the long term.
paulmd 5y ago
Be sure to move /var/log and other write-heavy directories to a tmpfs so they're not constantly chewing up writes. The long-term solution for this (if you're up for it) is to PXE boot from your fileserver, so you don't need a SD card at all.

by wjdp 5y ago

nerdjon 5y ago

I have a TV PI that seems to so far be running just fine after about 6 months. But I also have it reboot once a day so maybe that may be some magic. I have PiHole running myself, my original plan was to use a Pi but the last thing I wanted for that thing to die and my internet stop working. An easy enough fix, but a frustrating one. Mine is also running on the my media server. Which... is fun. When I reboot it I have to start things VM's in a certain order or things get really unhappy. I agree that a warning like that should be in place, I am surprised though that a new card worked for you. I have a drawer of Pi's that I never managed to salvage.

wjdp 5y ago
Mix of things mean I haven't changed it (yet) - As you point out having on a shared server isn't great. I do want a separate device for DNS, I don't want the network down because the 'everything server' needs a reboot. - aand when it breaks I don't tend to be in the mood to fix it. Usually late in the evening when watching telly. It usually needs a reboot or `pihole-FTL.db` has gotten to several GB in size and needs deleting. But I'm sure it's getting closer to being unrecoverable. I've also got it doing DHCP so every device gets a <hostname>.<network>.uk domain, plus it handles some static records as well. Means it's not just a quick swapout, need to find and migrate the custom stuff I've done to it. Most of this should be in a git repo but unsure if all of it is. The joys of overcomplicating home networking!

Semaphor 5y ago

I have my PI running off a USB-SSD instead. It works very well, though initial set up can be a bit of a hassle.

not1ofU 5y ago
If you dont mind, do you have some link to hand that you used to set that up? Edit: - sorry, nevermind, I should have read the rest of the comments, there is a link below this comment (at time of writing)
- Semaphor 5y ago
  I don’t see a link, so here’s the post I used: https://jamesachambers.com/new-raspberry-pi-4-bootloader-usb-network-boot-guide/ https://jamesachambers.com/new-raspberry-pi-4-bootloader-usb... Make sure you use the right adapter, I got an enclosure at first that wasn’t on the list, and it ended up not working. I switched to the recommended StarTech 2.5″ and everything worked.
  - not1ofU 5y ago
    Thank you
paulmd 5y ago
I used to boot my fileserver (not a Pi) like that and it worked fine for a number of years until the USB-SATA adapter died. Not sure if you meant an actual purpose-built external SSD but I don't know that I'd trust a home-brewed solution in the long term.

paulmd 5y ago

Be sure to move /var/log and other write-heavy directories to a tmpfs so they're not constantly chewing up writes. The long-term solution for this (if you're up for it) is to PXE boot from your fileserver, so you don't need a SD card at all.