As for food functionality it is very comparable to software remote control of a computer. There are 3 key features that stand out:

• It does not rely on the target machine being booted into the OS. This means you can access it even if it crashes or locks up.
• It can “push” the power button on the machine. This requires an accessory that plugs into the motherboard. So you can force a machine off or cold boot a system.
• You can mount a boot ISO. This is like having a bootable flash drive in the target machine so you can install an OS remotely.

Edit: Because this is essentially full access to the machine as if you where physically at it, it should be considered a security risk. Not saying that you need to be scared of it, but you should be aware of the risk and protect it from unauthorized access.

If the iGPU is getting the job done, I would leave that alone. You could add a GPU and pass it through to a gaming VM. But that is an entirely different project.

Proxmox is basically a VM management software that runs in a Debian install. You may be able to add it to your current install, but I am not certain about that.

I would also make sure you have a Proxmox install USB ready to go just in case.

I can’t give you specifics but generally what is likely necessary:

1. Backup anything important. You will be doing things that risk loosing data.
2. Make a bootable USB with a live Linux.
3. Look up instructions on resizing partitions.
4. Boot into the live Linux from the USB
5. Resize your existing Proxmox partition

Just put them in a separate library and only share it with people that ask for it.

A used older desktop is a good starting machine. I think Unraid is a good starting point as the community is more welcome to completely new people needing a lot of help. Also this channel has a tone of good guides for Unraid: https://youtube.com/@SpaceinvaderOne?si=A8BWLbMq42KzHD8I

I suggest starting off cheap to learn. Then you can spend money as you determine what is necessary based on problems you encounter. One VERY important thing to remember is that HDDs fail, power surges kill motherboards, water leaks kill the whole thing. If you don’t want to loose family photos, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE IT BACKED UP OFF YOUR SERVER. Preferably “off-site”.

Yes. The important detail is that it remounts the path once the path gets called. So I setup a cron job to “ls” the path every few minutes to make sure it’s always remounted quickly.

Try looking into “autofs”.

I think 2 good concepts come to mind to help you make choices:

1. Least privilege - Only give things/people just enough access/authority to get the job done. A good example is sonarr doesn’t need access to your personal photos to do it’s job, so don’t give it access if to them.
2. Defense in layers - Nothing is perfect and you can make mistakes in configuration. Don’t rely on a single point of failure to protect you. If you want remote access use a VPN. But also take steps in your network like putting a password on the logins.

If you want cheap new drives check out https://shucks.top/.

You can get used Enterprise drives on eBay if you want to got that way. Look for a seller with lots of sales, a good rating, and a reasonable return policy.

Same

I would stay away from kubernets/k3/k8s. Unless you want to learn it for work purposes, it’s so overkill you can spend a month before you get things running. I know from experience. My current setup gives you options and has been reliable for me.

NAS Box: Truenas Scale - You can have UnRaid fill this role.

Services Hosting: Proxmox - I can spin up any VMs I need and lots of info online to do things like hardware passthrough to VMs.

Containers: Debian VM - Debian makes a great server environment as it’s stable and well supported. I just make this VM a docker swarm host. I managed things with Portainer for a web interface.

I keep data on the NAS and have containers access it over the network. Usually a NFS share.

If you are interested in a web interface for management check out portainer.

community.without.business is a good fit.