[6.9.2] Using GPU attached to Unraid host via GUI mode as a display for non-passthrough VMs?

[Jahf]

Apologies if this is already well documented, I've been searching but most of the terms are generic enough that I'm not seeing an answer to what I'd like to do. And I'm still very new at QEMU KVMs. 

 

I have 2 GPUs on my system, and working passthrough VMs for my big GPU. I am hoping there's a way to use the smaller GPU (GTX 1060 6GB) attached to the Unraid host in GUI mode and then start up other VMs using that as the display. 

 

Reasons:

 

1. use the 1060 for occasional transcoding (just to 1 TV in my house, it isn't shared outside)

2. use my kbd/mouse on the host to control these VMs while using evdev to send input to my passthrough VM

3. ability to run multiple non-passthrough graphical VMs at the same time

 

I'm fairly sure from reading various bits that QEMU can work like this (similar to running VMWare host on Windows, which I'm passingly more familiar with). 

 

What I'm not sure of is if the minimal desktop provided by Unraid GUI mode would allow this setup?

 

If so I'm assuming I'd need to make manual edits to the XML as the Unraid VM config doesn't give an option like this. 

 

If I'm thinking down the wrong lines, I might look into doing a nested VM setup for my less used machines (I like to dabble, I also want to have some special purpose VMs for locked down networking for financial stuff, etc) and attaching it to the 1060 ... but ... that will:

 

* kill evdev usefulness from what I can see as it looking like evdev only handles going from 1 host to 1 VM at a time rather than switching between multiple VMs (or am I wrong, I've only started reading on evdev)

* remove the ability to use the nvidia driver on Unraid dockers

 

My other possibility is to use a Proxmox host (with an added desktop environment) and virtualize Unraid, which might actually be the better answer. Would still lose the GPU transcoding, but I can make an input/control scheme that works well for my plans. Just trying to see if I can make the current setup work without adding that step. 

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by Jahf