htpcnewbie

My upgrade from b12 to b15 went smooth. Deleted VM Manager and libvrt, deleted docker.img and created all the dockers from scratch. Seemed to be working okay for about a day until I found the machine unreachable. It appears like emhttp and ssh crashed, cannot access the machine from LAN. However, Win8.1 KVM running on the unraid seems to be working okay. I had to cold reboot the machine and after about a day, I get the same symptoms - cannot reach the machine but KVM works. This is the second time this has happened since upgrading to b15 few days ago. My previous b12 version was amazingly stable, no issues at all and was running for about 3 months before I rebooted for b15 upgrade. Has anyone experienced similar issue on b15? Anything I can look for to fix this issue? I will try to get the log through the KVM machine, it is in use right now.

Good start Justin, I have been thinking about this as well but haven't had the time to dig into details. Will keep a tab on your progress, good luck!

+1 on b12 until the b13 issues are sorted out. Can you please elaborate on what does vm-tools help with? I would love to have the ability of some programs (like Plex) bypassing the VPN. (not related to vm tools at all) EDIT: open vm tools: http://open-vm-tools.sourceforge.net/about.php

dmacias - That would be great. Selecting a location and backup frequency (eg days) would be very welcome. However if the VM needs to be stopped before taking a snapshot would introduce some uncertainty and confusion I guess. My plan was to add another table above snapshots and allow multiple cloning of the image to a folder of choice probably using rsync. But I really wasn't looking at automatic right now. Just manual. But I'm open to ideas on how automatic should work and look. Which could also lead to automatic snapshots. But really I try to keep in mind to try and keep things simple.

Looking to get some timeline on when we can expect an IGPU pass through capability in KVM. This will help me plan longer term (~ 6 mo) on how I want to handle my HPTC requirements. Any leads?

++1 I would love this ability too. The last I heard (about a year ago) was that this currently is not possible. Only the kvm's do not get routed through the VPN client. I am. Using Peter's VPN client.

dmacias - Is using the VNC different from using remote desktop (RDP)? on my Win 8.1 KVM which has GPU passthrough I regularly use MS RDP from another Windows machine. I assume a similar option maybe available using XRDP in Linux env. Can this function in lieu of the VNC or is there more functionality in using a VNC compared to this RDP? No there's no way to have both. However you could edit your xml. Copy the content and paste in as a new xml. Then change the uuid by one number/letter and remove the passthrough. Then you would have 2 separate vm's pointing to the same image and you could run one or the other when needed. Also have you run qemu-img check on the image?

Glad you got it figured, the key part is done! You can add USB by their vendor and product id's. I don't think it will be plug n play but as long as you don't keep adding and removing devices that need to go to the vm, it will be okay. Below is a snippet of my xml code when I had the USB devices added. You should be able to get the USB device info from devices tab in unraid gui. <input type='tablet' bus='usb'/> <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'> <source> <vendor id='0x046d'/> <product id='0x082d'/> </source> </hostdev> <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'> <source> <vendor id='0x04d8'/> <product id='0x003f'/> </source> </hostdev> <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'> <source> <vendor id='0x0471'/> <product id='0x0815'/> </source> </hostdev> <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'> <source> <vendor id='0x046d'/> <product id='0xc713'/> </source> </hostdev> EDIT: archedraft and I pass the controller for USB. If you can figure that out quickly that's the best option. I would recommend trying the USB device first and having that accomplishment grin before messing with the vfio-bind and rebooting the server multiple times.

Likely because the first couple of header lines are not there. Check my xml in the link below. Also, is the xml getting added when you add in the 'add xml' sectionn?

Thanks dmacias, I figured as much. As you guessed, the files in the disk got corrupted, no big deal as I was just checking with samples files. I am using Windows, so I am out on 9p sharing. It would have been nice if M$ included the 9p sharing ability in Win 8.1.

The vfio-bind addresses seem correct but the intel/amd passthrough in syslinux.cfg is missing. You need to have that to enable passthrough. I think for intel board it should be "append intel_iommu=on vfio_iommu_type1.allow_unsafe_interrupts=1 pcie_acs_override=downstream initrd=/bzroot " Also make sure you have the qemu lines in the xml file.

I have seen the GUI non-responsive couple of times when attempting to clean stop, maybe something in my VM settings could be the cause. I am more comfortable with the terminal and hence I have used it to stop and start the VM. The Win 8.1 installation on my system behaves pleasantly strange. The VM goes into a 'suspend' mode. When I destroy and restart it, it seems the VM starts from a suspend state, all the previous windows are back on. Copied below is my terminal script. I also use this script through my Android phone using "Script Kitty" and it works perfectly. root@Tower:~# cat /boot/bin/restartvm.sh virsh destroy win81pci2 virsh start win81pci2 As for the installation part, I have edited the xml's manually and used the GUI only for creating the VM's and hence cannot help much there.

I'd second what the previous poster said. Make a copy of the VM. There are two things you will need to do for passthrough: a. add vfio-bind to the address - the video and audio b. Disable VNC passthrough in your xml and add the corresponding qemu lines for passthrough devices. Look in my signature for a link to xml. The thread also has some discussion on what the addresses are for and could help in your understanding of the pci addresses and how to modify the xml file. Give a shout if you need help.

Oh okay, thanks Sparkly. I have been going round in circles since last night due to that connection lost message. Where do you pass the video library to be added? Any recommended link to help me configure the client gui? Thanks!

Looks like I am missing something else. 1. deleted /mnt/cache/SSD2/apps/kodi < install for kodi 2. deleted /mnt/cache/SSD2/apps/mariadb < install for mariadb 3. Started mariadb 4. Connected to mariadb from windows, created user/pass as xbmc/xbmc with Global Rights (attached pic 1) 5. Started kodi with docker template settings (attached pic 2) 5. Clicked on Kodi docker Gui and connected to 10.10.1.121:8089 6. clicked on Profiles > master pass and got "Connection to server lost" (attached picture 3) What am I missing here?

I have been looking at editing the container and the template instructions didn't register, thanks for the reminder. The reason I asked was I had initially set it up as my unraid server ip last night from the template description but was still getting connection lost error. I am kind of lost now and do not know what else to check. There aren't many options to cross-check since this is a new installation. I will take a break from setting this up for now. Thanks your suggestion and help though.

I didn't know that and I learnt something new today, thanks. I now changed the host ip to % in HeidiSQL, defined xbmc:xbmc for MYSQLuser/pass in Kodi docker. Does the MYSQLip remain as my unraid ip (10.10.1.121) or changes to localhost?

Sparkly - Still not working I have copied snapshots below, can you have a look? The IP address 10.10.1.121 is the unraid server address. auto-generated advancedsettings.xml <videodatabase> <type>mysql</type> <host>10.10.1.121</host> <port>3306</port> <user>xbmc</user> <pass>xbmc</pass> </videodatabase> <musicdatabase> <type>mysql</type> <host>10.10.1.121</host> <port>3306</port> <user>xbmc</user> <pass>xbmc</pass> </musicdatabase> <services> <devicename>XBMC Server</devicename> <esallinterfaces>false</esallinterfaces> <escontinuousdelay>25</escontinuousdelay> <esenabled>true</esenabled> <esinitialdelay>750</esinitialdelay> <esmaxclients>20</esmaxclients> <esport>9777</esport> <esportrange>10</esportrange> <upnpannounce>true</upnpannounce> <upnprenderer>false</upnprenderer> <upnpserver>true</upnpserver> <webserver>true</webserver> <webserverpassword>xbmc</webserverpassword> <webserverport>8080</webserverport> <webserverusername>xbmc</webserverusername> <webskin>webinterface.default</webskin> <zeroconf>true</zeroconf> </services>

Thanks Sparkly, I am still having difficulty in accessing the database from kodi, get connection lost message. a. I created a user and pass in HeidiSQL with xbmc and xbmc with Global privileges. Is the IP address localhost (I currently have this defined) or the IP of the server address? b. The default Mariadb login user and passwd is root:<none>. This is what I used in the definition of kodi container definition. Copied below is my advancedsettings.xml. Seems like I am still not doing something right.. advancedsettings.xml <videodatabase> <type>mysql</type> <host>10.10.1.121</host> <port>3306</port> <user>root</user> <pass></pass> </videodatabase> <musicdatabase> <type>mysql</type> <host>10.10.1.121</host> <port>3306</port> <user>root</user> <pass></pass> </musicdatabase> <services> <devicename>XBMC Server</devicename> <esallinterfaces>false</esallinterfaces> <escontinuousdelay>25</escontinuousdelay> <esenabled>true</esenabled> <esinitialdelay>750</esinitialdelay> <esmaxclients>20</esmaxclients> <esport>9777</esport> <esportrange>10</esportrange> <upnpannounce>true</upnpannounce> <upnprenderer>false</upnprenderer> <upnpserver>true</upnpserver> <webserver>true</webserver> <webserverpassword>xbmc</webserverpassword> <webserverport>8080</webserverport> <webserverusername>xbmc</webserverusername> <webskin>webinterface.default</webskin> <zeroconf>true</zeroconf> </services>

Hi - Need some help doing a fresh install of kodi-server (no db import) and mariadb. I installed the kodi-headless using the template (picture attached below) and installed needo/mariadb using docker run -d --name=mariadb -v /mnt/disk/SSD2/apps/mariadb:/db -v /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro -p 3306:3306 needo/mariadb Installed HeidiSQL on my stand alone Windows computer and connected to MariaDB using the ip, user:root and pass:<none>. The database seems to work. My profiles.xml and advancedsettings.xml are copied below and seem to be consistent with what I read here. In Kodi-headless, after I click profiles and select the "Master user", I get connection lost red highlight box on top. Do I need to create a specific user in HeidiSQL and use that in profiles.xml? Looks like I am missing a trivial detail here. Also, how do I create new users in HeidiSQL? Thanks! profiles.xml <profiles> <lastloaded>0</lastloaded> <useloginscreen>false</useloginscreen> <autologin>-1</autologin> <nextIdProfile>1</nextIdProfile> <profile> <id>0</id> <name>Master user</name> <directory pathversion="1">special://masterprofile/</directory> <thumbnail pathversion="1"></thumbnail> <hasdatabases>true</hasdatabases> <canwritedatabases>true</canwritedatabases> <hassources>true</hassources> <canwritesources>true</canwritesources> <lockaddonmanager>false</lockaddonmanager> <locksettings>0</locksettings> <lockfiles>false</lockfiles> <lockmusic>false</lockmusic> <lockvideo>false</lockvideo> <lockpictures>false</lockpictures> <lockprograms>false</lockprograms> <lockmode>0</lockmode> <lockcode></lockcode> <lastdate>01/17/2015 - 6:45 AM</lastdate> </profile> </profiles> advancedsettings.xml (truncated) <videodatabase> <type>mysql</type> <host>10.10.1.121</host> <port>3306</port> <user>root</user> <pass></pass> </videodatabase> <musicdatabase> <type>mysql</type> <host>10.10.1.121</host> <port>3306</port> <user>root</user> <pass></pass> </musicdatabase> <services> <devicename>XBMC Server</devicename> <esallinterfaces>false</esallinterfaces> <escontinuousdelay>25</escontinuousdelay> <esenabled>true</esenabled> <esinitialdelay>750</esinitialdelay> <esmaxclients>20</esmaxclients> <esport>9777</esport> <esportrange>10</esportrange> <upnpannounce>true</upnpannounce> <upnprenderer>false</upnprenderer> <upnpserver>true</upnpserver> <webserver>true</webserver> <webserverpassword>xbmc</webserverpassword> <webserverport>8080</webserverport> <webserverusername>xbmc</webserverusername> <webskin>webinterface.default</webskin> <zeroconf>true</zeroconf> </services>

I am trying get started setting up a kodi server. Installed Mariadb but little lost at this point on what to do. Can someone help with a quick walk through for a fresh install to get this docker for kodi server and the appropriate setup for kodi client? another build finished, with this "stable" build. have removed the EDGE routine, because if this stable version works better, running edge to update will screw it up again.

Excellent detailed write up and will be very helpful for new users starting dockers, thank you for helping the community. well I decided to try out docker and try and learn how to set it up and it is pretty easy now that I have messed with it. I made a guide as there doesn't seem to be a guide for the new interface. here is the link. http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=37732.0

Depending upon the motherboard, the in-built usb ports are on few pcie controllers. I did not add a card, I passed the in-built Intel USB controller to KVM (ASMedia controller passthrough did not work for me). If you can identify and map out which usb ports reside on what controllers, you can pass a specific controller corresponding to those usb ports needed in Windows KVM. The thread linked in signature shows a suggested approach by "archedraft" on how you can identify usb ports and its controllers. In some cases, it may not work and that's when an add-on usb pci card would be helpful. I have seen users who have been able to passthrough pci in Win7 as well, I do not think you can tell whether it will not work before trying. I recommend you passthrough the video and audio using your current Win7 setup and see what it can't do before buying additional hardware. To that effect, assume this Win7 may not be used and spend the effort in setting up the KVM, you can translate this Win7 KVM setup xml file easily to Win 8.1 if needed. Windows 8.1 Pro education license is $69 if any of your kids are in college/school (after verifying their academic email addr).

I bought a Win 8.1 license since my attempts with Win7 for pcie passthrough weren't working, time to debug this issue was getting to be more precious than the price of a Win8.1 license. That being said, I do not have experience with Win8. I imagine Win8.1 has better support than Win8 but all Win8 licenses should work for Win 8.1, isn't that a free upgrade? With Win7, I did not have any trouble with the audio and video passthrough. They work fine! Also usb devices passthrough using the device id's work fine. The problem with Win7 in my case was passing the entire pcie controller on which the usb devices reside. A quick primer on this- there are two ways to pass through the usb devices, first using usb device id and second passing the entire pcie controller of the usb device. In the former, you need to specify apriori which device you want to passthrough. In the latter, any device that is plugged into that controller gets passed through - a truly plug n play device port. For passing though a pci device, you need to vfio-bind the device address. Once you identify this address you can put that in the /boot/config/go file so that it gets vfio-bind every time a reboot occurs. For passing through the videocard and audio, you need to do this and that's where the vfio-bind references occur. Beware that once you vfio-bind an address, Unraid cannot see that pci device and you will need to reboot. The plugins are in Unraid and not dependent on the KVM. Are you planning to install Plex and XBMC in the Windows KVM? I am using Plex docker and it works perfectly. I haven't tried XBMC plugin or docker. There is an active discussion about installing a headless XBMC docker and I believe it is still under development. I have XBMC (known as Kodi now) installed in my Win8.1 and works well. However, my primary HTPC media organizer is J River Media Center.

Glad you got it working. In my signature there is a link to a thread where I have the xml for win8.1. In that xml I pass through audio, video and the corresponding pcie controller for USB ports. I initially started off with win7 but switched to win8.1 since I wanted to pass through USB Pci controller and I couldn't do that with win7 on my setup. I saw a thread about passing through cdeom, jonp was helping figure out the details. Passing through audio and video should work without much effort.