Templates

Planning paths for Proxmox homelab builders

These packs turn compatibility pages into reusable buyer scorecards, storage planners, passthrough briefs, and recovery runbooks.

Hardware

Mini PC buyer scorecards

Pre-buy checks for CPU family, RAM ceiling, NIC model, M.2/SATA layout, cooling, and noise.

Best fit: Best for readers comparing N100, N305, Ryzen, and workstation-style mini PCs before purchase.

Start with these pages

Proxmox Mini PC NAS Checklist Check CPU, RAM, NIC, ZFS, storage, passthrough, cooling, and backups before buying a mini PC for a Proxmox NAS. Should You Buy Intel N100 For a Proxmox NAS? Check whether an Intel N100 mini PC is a good Proxmox NAS host, including RAM, 2.5G NICs, storage expansion, ZFS, and backups. Should You Buy Minisforum MS-01 For Proxmox? Check whether the Minisforum MS-01 fits your Proxmox homelab, including networking, NVMe storage, workloads, cooling, and backup planning.

Storage

Proxmox storage planners

Layouts for ZFS mirror, local-lvm, NVMe vs SATA, NAS VM ownership, and off-box backup paths.

Best fit: Best for builders trying to avoid repainting the whole storage stack after install.

Start with these pages

Proxmox ZFS Mirror On Mini PC Plan a Proxmox ZFS mirror on a mini PC, including drive count, RAM, cooling, scrub checks, backup, and NAS tradeoffs. Proxmox Storage Layout Checklist Plan proxmox storage layout checklist for Proxmox, including storage ownership, redundancy, backup separation, restore testing, and homelab risk. Proxmox NVMe vs SATA NAS Storage Compare proxmox nvme vs sata nas storage for Proxmox homelabs, including fit criteria, tradeoffs, risks, buying signals, and verification checks.

Passthrough

Passthrough readiness briefs

IOMMU, device isolation, controller ownership, boot separation, and recovery notes for HBA, GPU, and USB passthrough.

Best fit: Best for builders planning TrueNAS, GPU workloads, or Home Assistant USB devices inside VMs.

Start with these pages

HBA Passthrough To TrueNAS VM Plan HBA passthrough to a TrueNAS VM on Proxmox, including IOMMU groups, storage ownership, boot separation, and recovery checks. Proxmox GPU Passthrough Checklist Plan proxmox gpu passthrough checklist on Proxmox, including IOMMU readiness, device ownership, VM recovery, host separation, and rollback checks. USB Passthrough For Home Assistant VM Plan usb passthrough for home assistant vm on Proxmox, including IOMMU readiness, device ownership, VM recovery, host separation, and rollback checks.

Operations

Homelab operations runbooks

Backup, UPS, install, cluster, and network recovery notes for small Proxmox hosts.

Best fit: Best for users moving from a fun lab into something that stores data they care about.

Open free checklist

Start with these pages

Proxmox Backup Plan For Mini PC Homelab Use proxmox backup plan for mini pc homelab for Proxmox operations, including backups, rollback notes, restore tests, power events, updates, and recovery planning. Proxmox No Network After Install Fix Proxmox no-network issues after install by checking link, NIC name, bridge mapping, static IP, gateway, DNS, and mini PC drivers. Proxmox Installation Checklist Use proxmox installation checklist for Proxmox operations, including backups, rollback notes, restore tests, power events, updates, and recovery planning.

Decision

Architecture decision briefs

Short comparisons for Proxmox vs TrueNAS Scale, LXC vs VM, firewall host fit, and low-power tradeoffs.

Best fit: Best for readers choosing the platform shape before buying hardware.

Start with these pages

Proxmox vs TrueNAS Scale For Mini PC NAS Compare Proxmox and TrueNAS Scale for a mini PC NAS, including VM needs, storage ownership, ZFS workflow, backups, and recovery tradeoffs. LXC vs VM For Proxmox Homelab Compare lxc vs vm for proxmox homelab for Proxmox homelabs, including fit criteria, tradeoffs, risks, buying signals, and verification checks. Low Power Proxmox Homelab Build Check Low Power Proxmox Homelab Build for Proxmox fit, including CPU headroom, RAM, NIC model, storage expansion, cooling, workload match, and backup planning.

How to use these paths

Start with the pack that matches the decision in front of you. A good path should leave you with fewer unknowns: the exact hardware, the disk owner, the network rollback, and the restore test you would run before trusting the build.