Welcome to the Virtualization section, this post aims to dispel and debunk as many myths about Xen as possible. It will be updated as time goes by and our collective knowledge improves.

 

Introduction

 

As of unRAID v6 beta3 we are now able to use unRAID itself to create and run Virtual Machines (VMs) or guests using the Xen hypervisor. unRAID is now the host (dom0). This is in stark contrast to the historical talk of virtualization on these boards which was about running as a guest on another host (ESXi etc). You can still run unRAID as a guest if you want, but the big change is that you can now use it as a host. Read that again, let it sink in, understand it - it's important.

 

What hardware do I need to take advantage of the new stuff?

 

You should be able to run the new unRAID release on all existing 64 bit capable hardware. You do not need a $1000 CPU / Motherboard. There are special edge cases where you will need the good stuff but for the majority what you've got will be fine.

 

Xen can run two types of guest, Para Virtualised (PV) and Hardware-assisted Virtual Machine (HVM). There is a big difference between the two and it is explained in great detail here. http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Xen_Overview#Xen_Paravirtualization_.28PV.29

 

PV Guests

In summary a "PV [guest] does not require virtualization extensions from the host CPU. However, paravirtualized guests require a Xen-PV-enabled kernel and PV drivers, so the guests are aware of the hypervisor and can run efficiently without emulation or virtual emulated hardware.". This means that even if you run an Intel Atom processor (which doesn't support vt-x) you will be able to run a PV guest.

 

HVM Guests

"Full Virtualization or Hardware-assisted virtualizion uses virtualization extensions from the host CPU to virtualize guests. HVM requires Intel VT or AMD-V hardware extensions. Xen uses Qemu to emulate PC hardware, including BIOS, IDE disk controller, VGA graphic adapter, USB controller, network adapter etc. Virtualization hardware extensions are used to boost performance of the emulation. Fully virtualized guests do not require any kernel support. This means that Windows operating systems can be used as Xen HVM guest. Fully virtualized guests are usually slower than paravirtualized guests, because of the required emulation."

 

In English, that means your CPU / motherboard must be of a certain standard to make the cut for HVM. Intel requires vt-x (check the ark part of the intel site if you're unsure) and AMD have AMD-V technology (I'm not as familiar with this).

 

HVM Guest with IOMMU

 

IOMMU is what's required to use PCI passthrough (allowing Windows direct access to a graphics card for example). Intel K series processors are generally not supported, but in addition to the CPU supporting vt-d, your motherboard and more specifically your exact BIOS revision must as well.

If your system supports these hardware extensions you will be able to do something called PCI passthrough thus allowing you to give your Windows HVM Virtual Machine direct access to your 3D GPU for gaming. Yes that's right, a Virtual Machine for gaming. See this YouTube video I made for a performance example of Windows 8 running F1 2013 with my GPU (a HD7970) in passthrough mode -

 

What is PVHVM?

PV on HVM is a mixture of paravirtualization and full hardware virtualization. The primary goal of PV on HVM is to boost performance of fully virtualized HVM guests through use of specially optimized paravirtual device drivers (also called PVHVM or PV-on-HVM drivers).

 

PV-on-HVM drivers are optimized PV drivers for HVM environments that bypass the emulation for disk and network IO. They also make use CPU functionality such as Intel EPT or AMD NPT support. Thus, giving you PV-like or better performance on HVM systems. You can find information about performance trade-offs in this presentation. In a nutshell:

 

For workloads that favor PV MMUs, PV on HVM is similar to PV

For workloads that favor nested paging (in hardware with Intel EPT or AMD NPT support), PV on HVM performs better than PV

 

Link to full article - http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/PV_on_HVM

 

Windows PVHVM

James Harper maintains a set of PV drivers that allow Windows to make use of the network and block backend drivers in Dom0. This gives Windows on Xen a substantial performance boost.

 

Link to signed drivers page - http://wiki.univention.de/index.php?title=Installing-signed-GPLPV-drivers

 

Direct link to the drivers:-

http://apt.univention.de/download/addons/gplpv-drivers/gplpv_Vista2008x32_signed_0.11.0.372.msi (32bit) Windows Vista >

http://apt.univention.de/download/addons/gplpv-drivers/gplpv_Vista2008x64_signed_0.11.0.372.msi (64bit) Windows Vista >

http://apt.univention.de/download/addons/gplpv-drivers/gplpv_2003x32_signed_0.11.0.372.msi (32bit) Windows 2003

http://apt.univention.de/download/addons/gplpv-drivers/gplpv_2003x64_signed_0.11.0.372.msi (64bit) Windows 2003

http://apt.univention.de/download/addons/gplpv-drivers/gplpv_XP_signed_0.11.0.372.msi (32bit) windows XP

 

Linux PVHVM

OK so the above covers Windows, but how about Linux?, can i use PVHVM for Linux?, looks like the answer is also yes, the Linux kernel includes PVHVM drivers so works out of the box, here is the tweak you would need to do to your cfg file for this to work:-

 

Xen PVHVM drivers configuration example

 

vif = [ 'mac=00:16:5e:02:07:45, bridge=xenbr0, model=e1000' ]
disk = [ 'phy:/dev/vg01/vm01-disk0,hda,w', ',hdc:cdrom,r' ]
xen_platform_pci=1

 

With this example configuration when "xen_platform_pci" is enabled ("1"), the guest VM can use optimized PVHVM drivers: xen-blkfront for disk, and xen-netfront for network. When "xen_platform_pci" is disabled ("0"), the guest VM will use Xen Qemu-dm emulated devices: emulated IDE disk and emulated intel e1000 nic.

 

NOTE! If you have "type=ioemu" specified for the "vif"-line, PVHVM drivers WILL NOT work! Don't specify "type" parameter for the vif. (with type=ioemu the pvhvm nic in the VM will have mac address full of zeroes - and thus won't work!).

 

Link to article - http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Xen_Linux_PV_on_HVM_drivers#Xen_PVHVM_drivers_for_Linux_HVM_guests

 

Can I use XenCenter with Xen 4.3 included in unRAID?

No.

 

How do I use Xen?

 

This could be an entire thread by itself but I'll just list the basic commands to get you going below. First off you'll need a .cfg file to tell Xen about the VM you want it to run. Here are two examples:

 

PV Guest .cfg example

name = "archVM"
bootloader = "pygrub"
#kernel = "/mnt/arch/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz"
#ramdisk = "/mnt/arch/boot/x86_64/archiso.img"
#extra = "archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=ARCH_201301"
memory = 2048
vcpus = '2'
disk = [ 
'file:/mnt/user/cache_only/ArchVM/arch.img,xvda,w',
#	'phy:/dev/disk1,xvdb,w'
]
vif = [ 'mac=00:16:3e:xx:xx:xx,bridge=br0' ]

 

The kernel, ramdisk, extra lines are only required during the installation phase. This general procedure applies to other Linux OSs but works very well in Arch.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/xen#Configuring_a_paravirtualized_.28PV.29_Arch_domU

 

HVM Guest .cfg example

builder = 'hvm'
vcpus = '4'
memory = '8192'
device_model_version="qemu-xen-traditional"
disk = [
        'file:/mnt/disk2/win.img,hda,w',
#        'phy:/dev/vg1/winDATA,hdb,w',
        'file:/data/Windows8Pro.iso,hdc:cdrom,r'
]
name = 'windows'
vif = [ 'mac=00:16:3E:51:20:4C,bridge=xenbr0,model=e1000' ]
on_poweroff = 'destroy'
on_reboot = 'restart'
on_crash = 'restart'
boot = 'dc'
acpi = '1'
apic = '1'
viridian = '1'
xen_platform_pci='1'
sdl = '0'
vnc = '1'
vnclisten = '0.0.0.0'
vncpasswd = ''
stdvga = '0'
usb = '1'
usbdevice = 'tablet'
#pci = ['01:00.0','01:00.1','00:1d.0']

 

This particular example is for Windows, you'll need the usbdevice 'tablet' bit to make your mouse pointer usable via VNC (during install for example). A HVM guest does not output video via the graphics card during install usually and requires VNC during this phase until it's graphics drivers are installed. Also of note is '  device_model_version="qemu-xen-traditional"  ' this is required to make the GPU work properly.

 

Xen Commands

 

To start your VM you will need to make sure you have a .cfg file, a .img file to act as the hard drive and probably an .iso file for your intended OS.

 

You run these commands from the unRAID command line. You can do this via telnet or SSH as well as the actual physical unRAID console.

 

xl create /path/to/file.cfg     <---- append -c if a PV guest to boot straight into VM console
xl list       <---- lists all running VMs (including dom0, unRAID)
xl top       < --- realtime process monitor for Xen
xl shutdown <vm name>    <--- attempts to gracefully shutdown your VM
xl destroy <vm name>     <--- yanks the power cord from your VM

 

For now, I think that's it. This post will probably get updated over the coming weeks.

A few thoughts

 

* shouldn't this be on the wiki itself? I think a page like this should start with the use cases, i.e. give people a reason to care.

* you start by saying "you need xyz in order to do abc" but then don't say how to determine whether you have xyz

* annotating each section with links to the relevant bits of the xen wiki for further reading would make sense

* a factual inaccuracy

 

In English, that means your CPU / motherboard must be of a certain standard to make the cut for HVM. Intel requires vt-d (check the ark part of the intel site if you're unsure) and AMD have AMD-V technology (I'm not as familiar with this). Intel K series processors are generally not supported, but in addition to the CPU supporting vt-d, your motherboard and more specifically your exact BIOS revision must as well.

you're conflating HVM and IOMMU, as the xen wiki says

 

Note that IOMMU/VT-d support is not the same as HVM support; it is possible to have HVM support without an IOMMU, or vice versa.

 

vt-d is required for passthrough to an HVM and is highly recommended, but not required, for passthrough to a PV.

 

 

Can this be added to the FAQ? Obviously i don't expect you to write all these, but i am trying to think of pertinent questions a new user would ask themselves

 

How do i enable Xen?

 

How do i setup the network bridge?

 

What do i do if i don't have a cache drive?

 

How can i use my unRAID array storage as part of the VM?

an example is allowing plex server access to files store in /mnt/user/movies/

Will this work? https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MountWindowsSharesPermanently

 

How do i now invoke a safe shutdown procedure of unRAID if i have VMs running?

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31700.0

 

After a reboot how do i start everything back up?

 

What happens if i use a UPS, does the power down script work in the event of a power cut?

 

Ok, i have chosen an OS to run in a VM, what do i need to get started? (an example)

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31674.msg287853#msg287853 and susing one of the 2 .cfg examples above?

Also came across this with loads of premade xen images, but a lot you have to pay for. These are the free ones: http://stacklet.com/downloads/images/public?distro=All&format=xen3&arch=All&archive=All

 

How do I install git and use it to install apps from source? Example is couchpotato, and then how would I be able to install from a different branch/fork.

 

Will there ever be webgui plugin to support the management of VMs?

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31698.0

 

Where can I learn more about these config files?

http://wiki.prgmr.com/mediawiki/index.php/Appendix_B:_The_Structure_of_the_Xen_Config_File

Note that IOMMU/VT-d support is not the same as HVM support; it is possible to have HVM support without an IOMMU, or vice versa.

 

vt-d is required for passthrough to an HVM and is highly recommended, but not required, for passthrough to a PV.

 

Edited. Cheers!

 

We will work on the wiki, but I know I go to forums before the wiki - I'm sure others will too.

 

@Ockingshay, I will certainly cover some of those excellent topics in future, but anyone else can feel free and I'll add it to my OP.

For the using unraid shares, could we use cifs? I found this on the Ubuntu wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MountWindowsSharesPermanently

 

Edit: I'll edit my first post with the things I find to keep things tidy.

For the using unraid shares, could we use cifs? I found this on the Ubuntu wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MountWindowsSharesPermanently

 

Mount your samba shares like this in my Arch Appliance VM.

 

mount -t cifs //Tower/data /mnt/tmp -o guest,rw

I think it should be added that Windows cannot be run as PV guest and must run as HVM guest.

 

How do I revise dom0 memory at boot ?

relevant threads:

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31525.msg286624#msg286624

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31682.msg287910#msg287910

 

 

Adjustments can be made to /boot/syslinux.cfg

label Xen/unRAID OS
  menu default
  kernel /syslinux/mboot.c32
  append /xen dom0_mem=2097152 --- /bzimage --- /bzroot

 

unformatted - size is in kilobytes -- 2097152 kilobytes = 2 gigabytes

 

As an example - to revise to 1GB use this:

 

label Xen/unRAID OS
  menu default
  kernel /syslinux/mboot.c32
  append /xen dom0_mem=1048576 --- /bzimage --- /bzroot

 

reboot Unraid & confirm with xl list:

root@tower:~# xl list
Name                                        ID   Mem VCPUs	State	Time(s)
Domain-0                                     0  1024     4     r-----     624.6

 

References:

http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Xen_Best_Practices#Xen_dom0_dedicated_memory_and_preventing_dom0_memory_ballooning

https://wiki.debian.org/Xen#dom0mem

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E27300_01/E27308/html/vmiug-server-dom0-memory.html

 

I think it should be added that Windows cannot be run as PV guest and must run as HVM guest.

 

+1.  Should also add other OS's that must be run as HVM (assuming there are others). 

 

Also need to add a bit (or a link to the Xen topic) regarding the GPLPV drivers for Windows, allowing Windows to be run as a PVHVM.

hi all,

i consider myself halfway able to deal with the 'old' unraid and also most linux and win OS. anyway, the whole vm area was never an issue for me before. with other words, a complete new world

so, i am looking at the forum here (much of what gets discussed is way beyond me), try to read up on it......

i wonder if any of the 'advanced vm users' here could write some kind of 'idiot' guide to get started with the whole xen vm thing under unraid. dont wanna bother tom with it, he as enough around his head with getting 6.0 going as a stable version.

so basically sb who can explain in simple terms what to do to get it set up and running without getting lost in all the microdetail nerdy gibberish.

i am sure i am not the only one looking at it like the horse at the new barn

i get the basic idea and advantage myself. now, how do we make all that new 'goodness' as painfree as poss. happen?

for some others it might be even an advantage to get some ideas explained why all that is great. as somebody mentioned before (maybe in another thread) - it is great to serve it to the ppl, explain why and how it is great.

as i said, instead of detailed command lines etc, maybe some general advise and guidelines to get a basic vm set up (maybe forked into linux and win examples?)

 

i try to solve the puzzle at the moment, reading here, on xen site, and other vm forums - i am sure for some ppl all that is a bigger mystery still than for me.

 

cheers, L

hi all,

i consider myself halfway able to deal with the 'old' unraid and also most linux and win OS. anyway, the whole vm area was never an issue for me before. with other words, a complete new world

so, i am looking at the forum here (much of what gets discussed is way beyond me), try to read up on it......

i wonder if any of the 'advanced vm users' here could write some kind of 'idiot' guide to get started with the whole xen vm thing under unraid. dont wanna bother tom with it, he as enough around his head with getting 6.0 going as a stable version.

so basically sb who can explain in simple terms what to do to get it set up and running without getting lost in all the microdetail nerdy gibberish.

i am sure i am not the only one looking at it like the horse at the new barn

i get the basic idea and advantage myself. now, how do we make all that new 'goodness' as painfree as poss. happen?

for some others it might be even an advantage to get some ideas explained why all that is great. as somebody mentioned before (maybe in another thread) - it is great to serve it to the ppl, explain why and how it is great.

as i said, instead of detailed command lines etc, maybe some general advise and guidelines to get a basic vm set up (maybe forked into linux and win examples?)

 

i try to solve the puzzle at the moment, reading here, on xen site, and other vm forums - i am sure for some ppl all that is a bigger mystery still than for me.

 

cheers, L

 

IronicBadger has already taken care of this for you. The following thread has everything you need - including YouTube video step by step guides:

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31687.0

 

 

hi all,

i consider myself halfway able to deal with the 'old' unraid and also most linux and win OS. anyway, the whole vm area was never an issue for me before. with other words, a complete new world

so, i am looking at the forum here (much of what gets discussed is way beyond me), try to read up on it......

i wonder if any of the 'advanced vm users' here could write some kind of 'idiot' guide to get started with the whole xen vm thing under unraid. dont wanna bother tom with it, he as enough around his head with getting 6.0 going as a stable version.

so basically sb who can explain in simple terms what to do to get it set up and running without getting lost in all the microdetail nerdy gibberish.

i am sure i am not the only one looking at it like the horse at the new barn

i get the basic idea and advantage myself. now, how do we make all that new 'goodness' as painfree as poss. happen?

for some others it might be even an advantage to get some ideas explained why all that is great. as somebody mentioned before (maybe in another thread) - it is great to serve it to the ppl, explain why and how it is great.

as i said, instead of detailed command lines etc, maybe some general advise and guidelines to get a basic vm set up (maybe forked into linux and win examples?)

 

i try to solve the puzzle at the moment, reading here, on xen site, and other vm forums - i am sure for some ppl all that is a bigger mystery still than for me.

 

cheers, L

 

IronicBadger has already taken care of this for you. The following thread has everything you need - including YouTube video step by step guides:

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31687.0

 

ohh! thx mate, guess sth i didnt get to sofar . will go and take a look in there rite now!

 

cheers, L

 

ohh! thx mate, guess sth i didnt get to sofar . will go and take a look in there rite now!

 

cheers, L

 

No worries. I just finished following the videos to setup my ArchVM. Ironic makes life very easy for those of us new(er) to Linux/Xen.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

vt-d is required for passthrough to an HVM and is highly recommended, but not required, for passthrough to a PV.

 

VT-d (or AMD-Vi) is required for device passthrough PERIOD, regardless of the type of VM you are passing it to.

 

Perhaps you were referring to VT-x (or AMD-V)?  VT-x is required for HVM, but has nothing to do with passthrough.  It is not required for PV, nor am I aware of an instance where it's recommended.

vt-d is required for passthrough to an HVM and is highly recommended, but not required, for passthrough to a PV.

 

VT-d (or AMD-Vi) is required for device passthrough PERIOD, regardless of the type of VM you are passing it to.

 

Perhaps you were referring to VT-x (or AMD-V)?  VT-x is required for HVM, but has nothing to do with passthrough.  It is not required for PV, nor am I aware of an instance where it's recommended.

i was quoting the xen wiki earlier.

 

No iommu means a security flaw but this doesn't seem like a massive concern in a home network (opinions may vary of course). Full details on the relevant page -  http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Xen_PCI_Passthrough

 

A quick Google shows examples of people using this feature recently - http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.emulators.xen.user/80723

 

i was quoting the xen wiki earlier.

 

No iommu means a security flaw but this doesn't seem like a massive concern in a home network (opinions may vary of course). Full details on the relevant page -  http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Xen_PCI_Passthrough

 

A quick Google shows examples of people using this feature recently - http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.emulators.xen.user/80723

 

Yes, and I did read it, but obviously not closely enough. 

 

I was unaware that Xen had the capability to do PCI passthrough to a PV without IOMMU.  I stand corrected.

If I'm reading the OP correctly, we should not be installing PV drivers into Windows, for a HVM builder? Maybe that's why my VM won't stay up for more than a day.

Just checking in to see if anyone has had any luck with the Turnkey Linux appliances available from www.turnkeylinux.org.

 

They have available the appliances in tar.bz2 format.  I have played around with a bunch of different .cfg configurations, but I cannot seem to get it to boot up.

 

Turnkey's site is pretty weak in terms of xen support, although they post "xen" images.

 

I appreciate any info or help.

 

Thanks!

 

Excellent post ironicbadger!, this answered one of my questions that has been at the back of my mind, can i actually run a windows vm using amd-v only (hvm), sounds like thats a yes from your OP :-).

 

So that got me thinking, what about a blended approach, such as PVHVM, as i have heard this is possible, can i run windows using this to speed up performance?, the answer is yes!!.

 

I dont know if you want to add this to the OP, but this is what i have found so far on the subject:-

 

What is PVHVM?

PV on HVM is a mixture of paravirtualization and full hardware virtualization. The primary goal of PV on HVM is to boost performance of fully virtualized HVM guests through use of specially optimized paravirtual device drivers (also called PVHVM or PV-on-HVM drivers).

 

PV-on-HVM drivers are optimized PV drivers for HVM environments that bypass the emulation for disk and network IO. They also make use CPU functionality such as Intel EPT or AMD NPT support. Thus, giving you PV-like or better performance on HVM systems. You can find information about performance trade-offs in this presentation. In a nutshell:

 

For workloads that favor PV MMUs, PV on HVM is similar to PV

For workloads that favor nested paging (in hardware with Intel EPT or AMD NPT support), PV on HVM performs better than PV

 

Link to full article - http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/PV_on_HVM

 

Windows PVHVM

James Harper maintains a set of PV drivers that allow Windows to make use of the network and block backend drivers in Dom0. This gives Windows on Xen a substantial performance boost.

 

Link to signed drivers page - http://wiki.univention.de/index.php?title=Installing-signed-GPLPV-drivers

 

Direct link to the drivers:-

http://apt.univention.de/download/addons/gplpv-drivers/gplpv_Vista2008x32_signed_0.11.0.372.msi (32bit) Windows Vista >

http://apt.univention.de/download/addons/gplpv-drivers/gplpv_Vista2008x64_signed_0.11.0.372.msi (64bit) Windows Vista >

http://apt.univention.de/download/addons/gplpv-drivers/gplpv_2003x32_signed_0.11.0.372.msi (32bit) Windows 2003

http://apt.univention.de/download/addons/gplpv-drivers/gplpv_2003x64_signed_0.11.0.372.msi (64bit) Windows 2003

http://apt.univention.de/download/addons/gplpv-drivers/gplpv_XP_signed_0.11.0.372.msi (32bit) windows XP

 

Linux PVHVM

OK so the above covers Windows, but how about Linux?, can i use PVHVM for Linux?, looks like the answer is also yes, the Linux kernel includes PVHVM drivers so works out of the box, here is the tweak you would need to do to your cfg file for this to work:-

 

Xen PVHVM drivers configuration example

 

vif = [ 'mac=00:16:5e:02:07:45, bridge=xenbr0, model=e1000' ]
disk = [ 'phy:/dev/vg01/vm01-disk0,hda,w', ',hdc:cdrom,r' ]
xen_platform_pci=1

 

With this example configuration when "xen_platform_pci" is enabled ("1"), the guest VM can use optimized PVHVM drivers: xen-blkfront for disk, and xen-netfront for network. When "xen_platform_pci" is disabled ("0"), the guest VM will use Xen Qemu-dm emulated devices: emulated IDE disk and emulated intel e1000 nic.

 

NOTE! If you have "type=ioemu" specified for the "vif"-line, PVHVM drivers WILL NOT work! Don't specify "type" parameter for the vif. (with type=ioemu the pvhvm nic in the VM will have mac address full of zeroes - and thus won't work!).

 

Link to article - http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Xen_Linux_PV_on_HVM_drivers#Xen_PVHVM_drivers_for_Linux_HVM_guests

Great stuff. I'll add it for sure, you just clarified a few things for me there too!

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

one question for you ironicbadger, i see in PV mode you specify "PHY" for your disk config?:-

 

disk = [ 
'phy:/mnt/user/cache_only/ArchVM/arch.img,xvda,w',

 

after a bit of googling i found that this is generally used when the file is on a block device such as a physical disk, whereas  specifying "file" is to do with raw disk images accessed by using loopback.

 

so my question is, which one is correct, file or phy?, i have seen both used in different cfg files but haven't actually tried this out yet (waiting for b4).

grumpy has already pointed this error out to me, it's a hangover from my personal setup where I use LVM.

 

either option will work but i believe file is best practise in this scenario with .img.

grumpy has already pointed this error out to me, it's a hangover from my personal setup where I use LVM.

 

either option will work but i believe file is best practise in this scenario with .img.

 

ahh great!, i did think file was the way to go, that is until we have LVM for unraid thanks for clarifying that for me it's been niggling me for a week or so!

Thanks.

 

It seems I can do passthrough to my GPUs but only if I change my i3-3220 to a Xeon of some sort.

 

I think I'll stick with my Slackware build for now...