So, I finally got my server hardware updated, and am just finishing up with updating the BIOS and am about to boot to unRAID for the first time with the new hardware.  I removed an old IDE 200GB drive that was part of the array, added a new 4TB drive and another 2TB drive (I think, it was already installed but not connected, since I didn't have any extra SATA ports until this new hardware).

 

Anyway, I will need to preclear the 2 new drives, then have the data from the 200GB drive put onto one of these new drives, and I should be all back to where I was with unRAID, but with more room.  I'm planning on doing this with regular unRAID to not throw too many changes at one time.

 

Once all this is finished, I will upgrade to v6b4, and want to run XEN (or something) as a virtual machine, so I can install windows and Linux on this machine.  I need Windows for JRiver Media Center, and plan to install SABnzbd and SickBeard on the Linux partition, and perhaps see what other programs might be useful to me also.

 

I have an ATI video card (4550?) installed, and the CPU has an HD4600 also.  I'd like to use the HD4600 for JRiver, and use the ATI card for unRAID, but I think that may not currently be possible with XEN 4.3 (or whatever version is currently used/installed by unRAID).  I think I read that XEN 4.4 does allow passthru of the IGP, which is what I want, but I'm not sure if it's possible to install XEN 4.4 currently, and if it is possible, I don't know yet how to do it.

 

I believe I need to run the APC plugin on unRAID, but can run all other plugins in a Linux partition.

 

I want to allow Windows (JRiver MC) and Linux to have direct access to the storage, to give me the fastest possible access, but I'm not sure if that requires special setup, or if they will do so 'by default'.

 

So, that's what I want to do.  I'm really not sure where to get started on all this.  Any help or guidance would be most appreciated.

 

Here is a thread I wrote a while back asking for advice on hardware, which has some more details on my hopes for this system.

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=32252.0

You'd probably see more if you put this post in the main xen forum, but here are some quick thoughts after just going and setting this up myself:

 

Setup unRAID6 beta4/5a

-The only issue here is that if you run plugins (I ran a few in 5), then to keep running any as plugins, you need to get 64bit versions. Not all have been updated. If you can swing this, or use very few, then you should be fine on v6.

 

Setup some VMs

- I'd suggest you start with the premade ArchVM, which IB made. It can do a lot, and has a pretty small footprint, but it'll get you going with how XEN works, seeing how to start/stop VMs, what they can/can't do, etc

 

A few other points, setting up linux VMs isn't that bad, you just need to source the right files, and they will usually run in a VM. Windows is a different story, and you need to run it has a different type of VM, since you can't modifiy it like you can linux (IE, you can add things to a linux kernal to support XEN, you can't modify windows kernal, so you do it differently). All of this has links/etc in the XEN forum.

 

Learn by doing, thats what I say, so just go do it already

Thanks for the response.  Good advice indeed.

 

To that end, I've installed the archVM provided by IronicBadger, struggled for days with getting SAB & SB working together correctly (permissions issues), then tried a ubuntu VM, but never bothered finishing that install, since I finally got the arch VM working correctly, and last night, I finished installing my Windows7 VM.  I'm currently updating windows in a VNC window connection, and once it's all updated, I'll shut it down, and work on PCI passthru.  I didn't try passing anything thru to Windows yet, as I figured it would just add to the noise of learning the basics.

 

It's been a tough several days, trying to learn all the terms, and how this all works together, but I'm pretty close at this point

Yes, now I noticed that your username is on a few other threads, oh well, this forum isn't frequented nearly as much, but I hate starting a topic and then get left hanging.

 

Don't think I'll be able to pull off a windows VM (maybe i'll try anyway) since I know my MB won't do passthrough, which if it did, i'd totally get rolling next on a XBMC setup with video passthrough. As it stands now, my pi just sits on top of my server and gets power from the USB port, since its all on the wall behind my TV.

 

Glad you stuck with it, and it looks like you've been able to contribute as well!

My windows VM is running right now with nothing passed thru.  if you don't need to pass thru a video card, and can live with low resolution (i.e. you just need a simple windows machine), you might give it a try.  It's working for me right now.

 

I'm currently working on figuring out which PCI devices are which from the list unRAID provides, then I'll amend my windows7.cfg file to try to pass them thru to the windows 7 install, and see how it goes.

 

I'm really waiting for Tom to update to XEN 4.4, which I understand allows passthru of my iGPU, since that's MUCH better than the really crappy video card I have installed, which I only bought because I couldn't get unRAID to run without some sort of video connected.  I'm afraid he's going to take another 30-90 days to release the next beta. Oh well, such is life

 

Oh well, it's all a big learning curve, isn't it?!?!

Yes, now I noticed that your username is on a few other threads, oh well, this forum isn't frequented nearly as much, but I hate starting a topic and then get left hanging.

 

Don't think I'll be able to pull off a windows VM (maybe i'll try anyway) since I know my MB won't do passthrough, which if it did, i'd totally get rolling next on a XBMC setup with video passthrough. As it stands now, my pi just sits on top of my server and gets power from the USB port, since its all on the wall behind my TV.

 

Glad you stuck with it, and it looks like you've been able to contribute as well!

 

If your primary goal is XBMC you are much better off using OpenELEC. It's a tiny footprint and runs much better than under Windows. I used to have Win7/XBMC on a couple machines, but have moved them all to OpenELEC - it makes setup a no-brainer.

 

I am impressed you stuck with the PI. I just got frustrated with it's responsiveness and ditched it for an ASUS ChromeBox and am now running Intel NUCs on the other TVs.

I don't think you can virtualize OE, if you could, that's a no brainer then!

 

There are a lot of people actively working on making OE on the pi faster/better than ever. You can overclock it and it works really well, even better with gotham (i'm still on frodo). It IS very slow on library updates though, i do those with the salud addon, or right now, since i'm running V6, i'll just update via my laptop (I have it all connected with sql).

 

See here if you still have a Pi and want to see the latest XMBC work for on it:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=192380

 

 

I don't think you can virtualize OE, if you could, that's a no brainer then!

 

There are a lot of people actively working on making OE on the pi faster/better than ever. You can overclock it and it works really well, even better with gotham (i'm still on frodo). It IS very slow on library updates though, i do those with the salud addon, or right now, since i'm running V6, i'll just update via my laptop (I have it all connected with sql).

 

See here if you still have a Pi and want to see the latest XMBC work for on it:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=192380

 

I think you are right. However, I think you can do XBMCbuntu, which is still likely a better choice than most of the others.

 

As for the pi, I did try and overclock it, but it had stability problems and would reboot periodically. I tried one of the Gotham betas, but was still not overly impressed (I guess I am too impatient).

I don't think you can virtualize OE, if you could, that's a no brainer then!

 

 

Sure you can there is even a virtual branch it is just completely unsupported.

 

Edit: however if you are passing through a GPU likely you just want Generic. Unconfirmed havent tried it.

Unless you are planning to game on this Windows VM a *nix solution like openELEC or XBMCbuntu is a much better solution.

 

Kryspy

Unless you are planning to game on this Windows VM a *nix solution like openELEC or XBMCbuntu is a much better solution.

 

Kryspy

 

Was that directed towards me?  I need Windows because JRiver Media Center only runs (with video support) on Windows.  They have a Linux build out, but it's rough, and only has audio support at this time.  I have no desire to learn XMBC, or any other media players/servers at this point.  I've used JRiver for over a decade, so I'm pretty used to it.

Need a box with passthrough either way 

 

Next I can start working on a PVR, I had tvheadend going before on an OE build, so I'm gonna try that or mythtv. Of course, I'll have to buy mpeg2 codecs for all my pi's in that case! Thankfully, my tuner is network based, so don't need to pass it through.

 

 

Need a box with passthrough either way 

 

Next I can start working on a PVR, I had tvheadend going before on an OE build, so I'm gonna try that or mythtv. Of course, I'll have to buy mpeg2 codecs for all my pi's in that case! Thankfully, my tuner is network based, so don't need to pass it through.

 

Maybe not exactly what you're looking for but I use argus TV on a Windows 7 VM for back end and have found it rock solid and it plays nice with passthrough tuners and hard drives

 

I've tried a lot of potential solutions over the years but find my current set up of argus + mediaportal to be one of the most stable, Fully featured and flexible solutions of them all.

 

Peter.