[ddeeds]

Deleted

[Dezz]

I've been doing this for the past year or so (with Xen 4.1 and lately 4.2 on Mint).

I'm currently running XBMC on a Win 8 VM as a media centre to my TV and can confirm that it works very well.

I thought it was many ATI, many Intel and only the Quadro series Nvidia GPU's that could be passed through.

[Netix]

If i get that correctly, could I use Zen on my Windows 7 pc to run UNRAID on the internal hdd that are in my windows pc ?

[Dezz]

If i get that correctly, could I use Zen on my Windows 7 pc to run UNRAID on the internal hdd that are in my windows pc ?

No. Xen won't run on a Windows host.

Xen works with a Linux host, or XenServer is a baremetal install (ie; installs a cut down version of Linux along with the XenServer hypervisor).

[bash]

How are you finding the performance of XBMC, I have toyed with the idea of building a high end box and using it for both unraid storage and also XBMC via Xen.
In your opinion would I be better off going with a Intel CPU with on die GPU or getting a Xeon with a discrete card for xbmc?

My Ideal setup would be:

Arch/Xen
VM>unraid
VM>OpenElec

[Dezz]

How are you finding the performance of XBMC, I have toyed with the idea of building a high end box and using it for both unraid storage and also XBMC via Xen.
In your opinion would I be better off going with a Intel CPU with on die GPU or getting a Xeon with a discrete card for xbmc?

My Ideal setup would be:

Arch/Xen
VM>unraid
VM>OpenElec

The performance of XBMC has been excellent.

It's possible to passthrough an on die GPU to a XBMC VM, but would mean the Arch/Xen host and Unraid VM would be headless. You would need a seperate client to console into the host and Unraid VM.

If you only want a single GPU, you could possibly use Windows or Linux as the underlying OS for your XBMC VM and possibly use that VM as the client.

I'm using a Xeon chip with a HD4000 GPU (for the Linux host) and a discrete ATI card (for XBMC).

If you are going to use a Intel CPU and Xen PCI passthrough, make sure both the CPU and mainboard support VT-d.

[bash]

How are you finding the performance of XBMC, I have toyed with the idea of building a high end box and using it for both unraid storage and also XBMC via Xen.
In your opinion would I be better off going with a Intel CPU with on die GPU or getting a Xeon with a discrete card for xbmc?

My Ideal setup would be:

Arch/Xen
VM>unraid
VM>OpenElec

The performance of XBMC has been excellent.

It's possible to passthrough an on die GPU to a XBMC VM, but would mean the Arch/Xen host and Unraid VM would be headless. You would need a seperate client to console into the host and Unraid VM.

If you only want a single GPU, you could possibly use Windows or Linux as the underlying OS for your XBMC VM and possibly use that VM as the client.

I'm using a Xeon chip with a HD4000 GPU (for the Linux host) and a discrete ATI card (for XBMC).

If you are going to use a Intel CPU and Xen PCI passthrough, make sure both the CPU and mainboard support VT-d.

Thanks for the quick reply
I will probably just use a discrete card for the xbmc VM and do whatever I can for the host and unraid GFX.
I still have allot of research to do with how unraid handles being in a xen VM.

I ordered a Norco 4224 and I will be using that case as a basis for this box its going to be a huge undertaking. I plan to have the server in the room behind the entertainment center with the HDMI coming through the wall to the HDTV.

I will probably be going with the Xeon E3-1245 V2

[Rich.T.]

This is an absolutely fantastic thread. Thank you so much!

I put together a home server nearly a year ago, installed Ubuntu Server and after a lot of configuring, learning and many consecutive re-installs, I decided that I needed to install some sort of VM setup, so that I could seperate major functions and roll-back any mistakes etc. One of the major intended uses of the machine is as a MythTV Backend Server, so I decided that I needed to use Xen with PCI passthrough for my DVB-S tuner card. This is the sort of thing I had in mind:



Unfortunately at the time I was unable to find a decent tutorial and the information I did find was intimidating and confusing, so the project went on the back burner indefinitely.

Recently, I decided to revisit this project and after some searching, found this tutorial, which recommends the use of xen-tools and gives some pointers in the right direction. This encouraged me to search further and to my surprise, this searching brought me here, where I have been very recently following and contributing to another project. Small world, eh?

Here is a list of my hardware:

Server Hardware:
Motherboard: ASUS M5A78L/USB3
Processor: AMD Bulldozer FX-6 Six Core 6100 Black Edition 3.30Ghz (Socket AM3+)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 PC3 12800 1600MHz
Case: X-Case X2 MPC Black Red - Micro Media Case - No Psu
PSU: Generic 300W - Temporary
GPU: Onboard AMD Radeon HD6000
Storage Controller: HighPoint Rocket 640L Lite Version 4-Port PCI-Express 2.0 x4 SATA Raid Controller
System Drive: OCZ Agility 3.20 - SATA III 2.5" SSD
Drive Caddy: Icy Dock 5-in-3 3.5" HDD Cage
Storage: 4TB Hitachi 0S03356 Deskstar 7K4000
3TB Hitachi 0S03230 Deskstar 5K3000
2x 3TB Western Digital WD30EZRX CaviarGreen
Cooling: Akasa AK-CBFA03-45 Flexa FP5 PWM Splitter Cable
2x AVC 120mm 12CM 4pin PWM Dynamic Speed Dual Ball Bearing computer case fan 2.5A
Stock CPU Cooler
Expansion: Akasa BayMaster Card Reader & Drive Reader 3.5" SSD/HDD

HTPC Hardware:
TV: Panasonic 37", Full HD, 1080p, 3D, LED, 400Hz, BLS, FreeviewHD, FreesatHD, 4 HDMI, Wi-Fi ready TV [TXL37DT30B]
Motherboard: ZOTAC Z68-ITX WiFi Supreme [Z68ITX-B-E]
Processor: Intel Core I5 2500K 3.3Ghz Quad Core CPU
GPU: Onboard Nvidia Geforce GT430 / Onboard Intel HD3000
Cooling: Stock CPU Cooler
Memory: Crucial 8GB SODIMM Kit
System Drive: OCZ Nocti mSATA 120GB SSD
Samsung 830 Series 256GB 2.5-inch SSD SATA 6.0 Gps (Basic)
Storage: WD Caviar Green WD30EZRX 3TB 3.5" HDD
DVB-S Card: TBS6984 DVB-S2 Quad Tuner PCIe Card
Optical Drive: Panasonic UJ240 6x Blu-ray Burner BD-RE/8x DVD±RW DL SATA Drive
Case: X-Case Mini Micro Black/Silver Micro Atx, ITX Case (Heavily Modified)
PSU: CiT 500W Micro Atx PSU [M-500U]
Cooling: 4x AVC 60mm 6CM 4pin PWM Hydraulic Bearing Dynamic Speed computer case fan 0.23A
Akasa AK-CBFA03-45 Flexa FP5 PWM Splitter Cable
Other: 2x Illuminated Push-to-Make Switches
LinITX Slim CD/DVD + 3.5" HDD Drive Bay Bezel Kit
Cable Sleeving Kit
DisplayPort to HDMI Cable
HP OEM Windows 7 Vista Media Center MCE PC Remote Control and Infrared Receiver
Xbox 360 Wireless Controller for Windows

Also Possibly Available:
Case: Aerocool 10-bay mid-tower case
PSU: Hiper HPU-5B880 Type-R MK II 880W SLI USB PSU
Storage: 2x Samsung SpinPoint HD501LJ 500GB SATAII Hard Drive 16MB Cache
SSD: OCZ Agility 3.20 - SATA III 2.5" SSD
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 6870
HIS Radeon HD 5850 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E 2.0 x 16 Graphics Card
2x Sapphire Ultimate Radeon X1950 PRO
Cooling: 4x Fractal Design Silent Series FD-FAN-60 (60mm) case fans
2x Gelid 1-to-4 PWM Fan Splitter

Once I have read up on this some more and had a go at Xen-ing, I will come back here and let you know how I go on, but in the mean time; if you have any thoughts or recommendations about my hardware or the software set-up that you haven't mentioned above, please let me know.

Anyway, I really just wanted to say a big thank you!

[johnodon]

I am also following the thread on the unRAID forum but since I am more interested in virtualizing multiple OpenELEC instances than unRAID, I figured this would be a better place to ask my questions even though the author is the same at both sites.

So, the operable word in the above statement is "multiple" as is 3 or 4. Has anyone done this on a single XS box? My MB has 7 PCI-e slots but I'm not sure how many can be dedicated to vid cards (2 are being used by controller cards for the unRAID drives). Here are my high-level specs:

Platform: ESXi v5.5
Case: Norco RPC-4220
Motherboard: SuperMicro X8DTH-iF (http://www.supermicro.com/products/mothe...dth-if.cfm)
Processor: Dual Xeon E5530 @2.40GHz
Memory: 24GB PC10600 (3GB for unRAID)
Controllers: 2x AOC-SASLP-MV8
PSU: SeaSonic X850

1. How does PCI passthrough in XS look for me? I imagine OK since I am doing it in ESXi now.
2. If I am able to jam 4 just-good-enough vid cards into this MB, do you think I could actually stream 1080p content through all 4 at the same time?

John

[prae5]

2. If I am able to jam 4 just-good-enough vid cards into this MB, do you think I could actually stream 1080p content through all 4 at the same time?
John

Any reason for you not doing it in esxi? I've passed video cards through esxi with openelec and it worked fine in the past.

[johnodon]

2. If I am able to jam 4 just-good-enough vid cards into this MB, do you think I could actually stream 1080p content through all 4 at the same time?
John

Any reason for you not doing it in esxi? I've passed video cards through esxi with openelec and it worked fine in the past.

I guess the main reason would be that USB pass through is still fubar'd in esxi 5.5. This could be a factor depending on what I decide to do for remote/kb/mouse, etc.

The other reason is that I actually did try but failed miserably. I was able to pass through the vid card as a PCI device but could not get the vim to use it as the primary display device. I was unable to remove the default one (not sure if I should be able or want to do that). Any guidance would be appreciated.

John

[asa79]

Once you put Windows in a VM you change the licensing for it, and need "Windows Virtual Desktop Access (Windows VDA)" licensing so your oem license or retail license are invalid to use with this

[prae5]

2. If I am able to jam 4 just-good-enough vid cards into this MB, do you think I could actually stream 1080p content through all 4 at the same time?
John

Any reason for you not doing it in esxi? I've passed video cards through esxi with openelec and it worked fine in the past.

I guess the main reason would be that USB pass through is still fubar'd in esxi 5.5. This could be a factor depending on what I decide to do for remote/kb/mouse, etc.

The other reason is that I actually did try but failed miserably. I was able to pass through the vid card as a PCI device but could not get the vim to use it as the primary display device. I was unable to remove the default one (not sure if I should be able or want to do that). Any guidance would be appreciated.

John

Thats true, I hadn't thought about the USB aspect - esxi is still pretty poor in that respect. It didn't matter for me as I was using a tablet to control it. If you want to do it, i strongly suggest downgrading to about esxi 5.0 passthrough support worked a lot better in some old releases.

I didn't really have too many issues and got it working, it does seem to be a little picky about mobo / gpu combos.

There is a spreadsheet linked in this thread somewhere that gives a list of confirmed working combo's:

https://communities.vmware.com/message/2176852?tstart=0

http://www.webbosworld.co.uk/blog/?p=471

[Rich.T.]

I notice that ddeeds has deleted the original post from this thread, so I thought that it might be useful to provide a link to a sister thread to this: Virtualizing unRAID in XenServer 6.2, on Lime Technologies' Unraid Server Forum.

Original Thread:
http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.p...#msg255191

Also, I have a thread on Ubuntu Forums about Installing and configuring Ubuntu Server 13.10 Saucy Salamander with Xen Cloud Platform (dom0) and an Ubuntu 13.10 guest (domU) which may also be of use to some people.