ideal order of setup

[knotty burrow]

hello all,

I'm in the process of setting up a Zimaboard w CasaOS as my homelab and media server. I attempted this a few days ago half blind and kind of fudged it so I wanna do it right this time.

In my mind, here is how it should go:

1. update casaOS and linux packages (done)

2. Extend storage using an external drive and the Merge Storage feature (done) **

3. setup networking access using tailscale (i was using it in the previous install but was done -after installing apps which led to some complications with ports)

4. install necessary apps (*arrs, plex ms, overseer, channels, etc) and setup accordingly with drives and tailscale ips.

now, this is not how i did it the first time around and is what i now think would lead to the smoothest setup process. Am I on the right track? what should i look at that is not mentioned here?

** i should mention that while i had previously enabled merge storages, the internal drive got full within a day of setting up so I would like to know how this actually works, as it led to my first install just refusing to update or load, hence the fresh install and attempt #2. so i guess my question here is does Merge make it so the external drive receives the data that would normally go to /var or /usr as i know that's the bulk of it? if not, what do i need to do to ensure that it happens?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm loving all this tinkering but admittedly i'm still a bit green on all of it.

[steady sonnet]

Hello, this is Jerry. Merging storage space actually combines the /DATA directory of the internal drive with the space of the external disk. So the merged storage space does not expand /var or /usr.
I guess the reason why your internal drive got filled up is that the image files of the Docker applications you installed filled it up. To solve this problem, you can manually modify the storage location of Docker's image files.
To modify the storage location of Docker's image files, you can follow these steps:

Stop the Docker service:
sudo systemctl stop docker
Back up the original Docker image file directory:
sudo mv /var/lib/docker /var/lib/docker.bak
Create a new Docker image file directory:
sudo mkdir /new/docker/path
Grant permissions to the new directory:
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /new/docker/path
Specify the new image file directory by editing the Docker configuration file /etc/docker/daemon.json. If the file does not exist, create it:
sudo nano /etc/docker/daemon.json
Add the following content to the file, where /new/docker/path is the path to the new image file directory:

  "data-root": "/new/docker/path"
}```
Save and close the file.

Restart the Docker service:

```sudo systemctl start docker```
Now, Docker will use the new image file directory instead of the original /var/lib/docker directory.