April 25, 201412 yr Hello! I am thinking about migrating my current unRAID 5.x server into using virtualization. Ideally I would like to achieve the following: * Run unRAID on server (obviously ) * Run Linux desktop environment (Linux Mint 16/17 for instance ) * Run Windows 7 VM using VMDirectPath VGA passthrough * Use only this server for both Linux & Windows desktop environment (not be dependent on using another computer for remote control of VM ) I am anxious about the "official" unRAID 6.x virtualization approach with regards to my wishes above. Am I correct in assuming that it will be rather difficult to achieve? If I have understood things correctly the official unRAID 6.x virtualization approach is to run unRAID as the hostOS (XEN dom0 ) ? This would make it difficult to have a complete Linux desktop environment on the same server, yes? Especially since I want to run a Windows7 VM using VGA passthrough. To achieve a full Linux desktop environment on the same server I would then have to run an additional Linux VM also utilizing a second discrete graphics card using VMDirectPath passthrough. Has anyone successfully done that? I mean: Run unRAID on XEN dom0 and Windows7 and some Linux distro in each of their own domU VMs - both using VMDirectpath VGA passthrough ? There are also practical limitations - since my current setup is as follows: * Motherboard: AsRock Z77 extreme4-M * CPU: Pentium G860 * HBAs: 2 * IBM M1015 flashed with IT-firmware The motherboard has 3*PCIE-x16 (2*PCIE 3.0 and 1*PCIE 2.0), but when populated they will run in x8,x8 and x4 mode. In addition there is 1 PCIE-x1. Currently the 2 IBM M1015 HBA cards occupy the 2 PCIE-x16 (PCIE 3.0) (in x8 mode) slots. Hopefully it will be ok to insert a Radeon HD5450 graphics card in the last PCIE-x16 (PCIE 2.0) slot running in x4 mode. (The HD5450 is not a very demanding card I think and merely the fact that Radeon HD5450 PCIE-x1 cards are available kind of indicates that....) ALternatively I guess I will have to place the HD5450 graphics card in the first PCIE-x16 slot and move one of the IBM M1015 cards into the PCIE-x16 slot running in x4 mode ( is that problematic ? ). The current Pentium G860 CPU obviously needs to be replaced with either a core i5/i7 CPU (I am leaning towards a core i7 3770 ) To achieve my wishes above I have been thinking about doing the following instead: * Install Linux Mint 16/17 as hostOS * Install XEN 4.3/4.4 * Run unRAID 5.x as guestOS in a domU VM. * Run Windows7 VM as guestOS in a domU VM using VMDirectPath VGA passthrough. Any reason why this approach might be a bad idea? What about the "future-proofability" of that approach? What about 64-bit unRAID 6.x availability?
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