I've been messing around with VMs on my unRAID server to see what ways I could better utilize the hardware I have in place which was originally established to be nothing more than NAS.

 

System: ASRock - B75M R2.0

CPU: Intel® Pentium® CPU G2120 @ 3.10GHz

Cache: 512 kB, 128 kB, 3072 kB

Memory: 8192 MB (max. installable capacity 16 GB)

Network: eth0: 1000Mb/s - Full Duplex

 

I currently have 3 3TB drives, and a small 64 GB cache drive.

 

Windows 7 is my second VM installed after mythbuntu.  I've been toying with the idea of setting up a client device elsewhere in the house that could use this instance of Windows 7.  Unfortunately, I've noticed that even through the gigabit local network, there is still a bit of lag, specifically on videos.  I'm sure there's a good reason, but playing a video through windows media player provides much better results than playing through VLC when using an RDP session.  Most movies I'm testing are 720p .mp4 videos.  When I RDP from my main computer, the connection is about 90% that of what it would be if it was its own instance.  When I go through my iPhone 6, I drop to maybe 60%.  I did a test on the original Raspberry Pi, and that was maybe 40%.  Word processing was smooth, web browsing was "ok", but movies were unwatchable.

 

In an RDP instance, I would have assumed that the server was the one doing all of the video processing, but from my tests it appears that the better the client device, the better results I am getting.  Are there any ways to make the server be the one to utilize it's hardware so that minimal client device like the Pi could remote in with reasonable results?  Also, is there anyway to optimize an RDP session on a local network in regards to streaming HD videos so my more robust client devices can utilize the RDP and have even better results?

 

 

The best thing to do is to forget video over RDP.

If you have a raspberry pi you can set it up with openelec and get a very good media player 

 

The best thing to do is to forget video over RDP.

If you have a raspberry pi you can set it up with openelec and get a very good media player 

 

I think you're probably right about forgetting video over RDP, at least with using the Raspberry Pi.  My regular home computer with a dedicated video card & i7 processor does a pretty good job at viewing videos over RDP, especially if done through windows media player.  When streaming online or using VLC, it can get a little choppy.  The raspberry pi stands little chance with videos however.

 

Unfortunately, your solution will not work under the circumstances.  My goal is to create another computer that will be used as a basic everyday computer for tasks such as word processing and web browsing.  Since I already have the server in place and a raspberry pi not in use, I created a windows VM in unRAID and decided to use the Pi as a client device.  It serves the purpose, but the web browsing and video viewing leaves much to be desired.

 

Are there any alternative solutions under the desired hardware setup, where the unRAID server will host a VM and the Pi would be the client device?

Sorry, this is a repost, but I think I initially posted to the wrong sub forum.  Mods, feel free to delete  one of these posts.

 

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I've been messing around with VMs on my unRAID server to see what ways I could better utilize the hardware I have in place which was originally established to be nothing more than NAS.

 

System: ASRock - B75M R2.0

CPU: Intel® Pentium® CPU G2120 @ 3.10GHz

Cache: 512 kB, 128 kB, 3072 kB

Memory: 8192 MB (max. installable capacity 16 GB)

Network: eth0: 1000Mb/s - Full Duplex

Storage: 3 3TB WD Red, 64 GB cache drive.

 

I have Windows 7 installed as a VM.  I've been toying with the idea of setting up a client device elsewhere in the house that could use this instance of Windows 7.  I have the server with the ability to run a windows 7 VM, and a client device like the Pi not in use, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  I'm ultimately looking to create a generic, everyday computer for tasks such as word processing and web browsing which will ultimately include some video streaming.

 

Unfortunately, I've noticed that even through the gigabit local network, there is still a bit of lag, specifically on videos.  I'm sure there's a good reason, but playing a video through windows media player provides much better results than playing through VLC when using an RDP session.  Most movies I'm testing are 720p .mp4 videos.  When I RDP from my main computer (dedicated graphics card, i7 processr), the connection is about 90% that of what it would be if it was its own instance.  When I RDP through my iPhone 6, I drop to maybe 60% of what it would be if it was viewing not through the RDP.  I did a test on the original Raspberry Pi, and that was maybe 40%.  Word processing was smooth, web browsing was "ok", but movies were unwatchable on the Pi.

 

In an RDP instance, I would have assumed that the server was the one doing all of the video processing, but from my tests it appears that the better the client device, the better results I am getting.  Are there any ways to make the server be the one to utilize it's hardware so that minimal client device like the Pi could remote in with reasonable results?  Also, is there anyway to optimize an RDP session on a local network in regards to streaming HD videos so my more robust client devices can utilize the RDP and have even better results?

 

The raspberry pi stands little chance with videos however.

I don't know how you set up your RPI, but using openelec the RPI plays almost everything that get's thrown at it, except 4k and some odd formats.

 

Unfortunately, your solution will not work under the circumstances.  My goal is to create another computer that will be used as a basic everyday computer for tasks such as word processing and web browsing.  Since I already have the server in place and a raspberry pi not in use, I created a windows VM in unRAID and decided to use the Pi as a client device.  It serves the purpose, but the web browsing and video viewing leaves much to be desired.

 

Are there any alternative solutions under the desired hardware setup, where the unRAID server will host a VM and the Pi would be the client device?

Your best option is to create a VM and pass through a video card and use either a long HDMI cable or HDMI over CAT5/6 cable and a wireless keyboard/mouse. There isn't any good server/client software available that can do this good as far as I know (for video playback that is).

I don't know how you set up your RPI, but using openelec the RPI plays almost everything that get's thrown at it, except 4k and some odd formats.

I meant specifically in regards to using the Pi as an RDP client to view videos.  I also have Pi setup locally with Openelec and it works wonderfully.  The problem is having the OS run on the server and RDPing in to it.

 

Your best option is to create a VM and pass through a video card and use either a long HDMI cable or HDMI over CAT5/6 cable and a wireless keyboard/mouse. There isn't any good server/client software available that can do this good as far as I know (for video playback that is).

Would this be a possible solution if someone were looking to do this for more than one VM?  Wouldn't you only be able to video output one source?

I don't know how you set up your RPI, but using openelec the RPI plays almost everything that get's thrown at it, except 4k and some odd formats.

I meant specifically in regards to using the Pi as an RDP client to view videos.  I also have Pi setup locally with Openelec and it works wonderfully.  The problem is having the OS run on the server and RDPing in to it.

 

Your best option is to create a VM and pass through a video card and use either a long HDMI cable or HDMI over CAT5/6 cable and a wireless keyboard/mouse. There isn't any good server/client software available that can do this good as far as I know (for video playback that is).

Would this be a possible solution if someone were looking to do this for more than one VM?  Wouldn't you only be able to video output one source?

 

I thought you meant the RPI video playback was bad

 

You need one video card for each VM to output to more than one source I'm afraid.

I don't know how you set up your RPI, but using openelec the RPI plays almost everything that get's thrown at it, except 4k and some odd formats.

I meant specifically in regards to using the Pi as an RDP client to view videos.  I also have Pi setup locally with Openelec and it works wonderfully.  The problem is having the OS run on the server and RDPing in to it.

 

Your best option is to create a VM and pass through a video card and use either a long HDMI cable or HDMI over CAT5/6 cable and a wireless keyboard/mouse. There isn't any good server/client software available that can do this good as far as I know (for video playback that is).

Would this be a possible solution if someone were looking to do this for more than one VM?  Wouldn't you only be able to video output one source?

 

I thought you meant the RPI video playback was bad

 

You need one video card for each VM to output to more than one source I'm afraid.

 

RPi playback is bad, but only when remoting into the VM.  As a standalone device, it's very good.

 

Maybe I haven't been clear about what I've done and what I've done.

 

Windows 7 VM is setup on unraid.  I've ran 3 RDPs from 3 client devices.

1. A Dell XPS as RDP Client ran very well, probably at 90%+ of what it would've been had the OS been local.

2. iPhone ran "okay", but clear buffering  and choppiness on videos.

3. RPi ran below average.  Word processing was okay, but even simple web browsing was a little laggy and videos were unplayable.

 

So your suggestion is to simply add a video card to the server and run a cable from server to the monitor?  There's really no better way over a high speed local area network?  And if that's the case, how do I dedicate an installed video card to a specific VM at each boot?

 

Thanks for all the help and insight.

 

 

 

RPi playback is bad, but only when remoting into the VM.  As a standalone device, it's very good.

 

Maybe I haven't been clear about what I've done and what I've done.

 

Windows 7 VM is setup on unraid.  I've ran 3 RDPs from 3 client devices.

1. A Dell XPS as RDP Client ran very well, probably at 90%+ of what it would've been had the OS been local.

2. iPhone ran "okay", but clear buffering  and choppiness on videos.

3. RPi ran below average.  Word processing was okay, but even simple web browsing was a little laggy and videos were unplayable.

 

So your suggestion is to simply add a video card to the server and run a cable from server to the monitor?  There's really no better way over a high speed local area network?  And if that's the case, how do I dedicate an installed video card to a specific VM at each boot?

 

Thanks for all the help and insight.

I do not know of a good way to do this over the network. If there would have been a solution to this I guess it would be widely available

 

You simply pass through the video card in the VM template you set up your VM in. It sounds simple, but of course there is some stuff you have to do before you get there, and your hardware must also support it. I would suggest to start by reading this in the wiki about VM Management: http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/UnRAID_6/VM_Management

You can't pass through the Intel graphics in the Intel CPU's, so you need another video card. I think that your motherboard supports Vt-d, but I'm not sure. Your CPU for sure doesn't support VT-d, so you will not be able to pass through a video card 

 

For watching movies/tv series or whatever video playback it might be a better solution to not tie it to browsing and word processing.

You could for example set up plex, kodi with a shared database or emby server and use the client on the phone/laptop/rpi. If you use a HDMI cable or HDMI extender over CAT cable you could do everything in one solution. But only if you upgrade the CPU to one that supports VT-d.

 

RPi playback is bad, but only when remoting into the VM.  As a standalone device, it's very good.

 

Maybe I haven't been clear about what I've done and what I've done.

 

Windows 7 VM is setup on unraid.  I've ran 3 RDPs from 3 client devices.

1. A Dell XPS as RDP Client ran very well, probably at 90%+ of what it would've been had the OS been local.

2. iPhone ran "okay", but clear buffering  and choppiness on videos.

3. RPi ran below average.  Word processing was okay, but even simple web browsing was a little laggy and videos were unplayable.

 

So your suggestion is to simply add a video card to the server and run a cable from server to the monitor?  There's really no better way over a high speed local area network?  And if that's the case, how do I dedicate an installed video card to a specific VM at each boot?

 

Thanks for all the help and insight.

I do not know of a good way to do this over the network. If there would have been a solution to this I guess it would be widely available

 

You simply pass through the video card in the VM template you set up your VM in. It sounds simple, but of course there is some stuff you have to do before you get there, and your hardware must also support it. I would suggest to start by reading this in the wiki about VM Management: http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/UnRAID_6/VM_Management

You can't pass through the Intel graphics in the Intel CPU's, so you need another video card. I think that your motherboard supports Vt-d, but I'm not sure. Your CPU for sure doesn't support VT-d, so you will not be able to pass through a video card 

 

For watching movies/tv series or whatever video playback it might be a better solution to not tie it to browsing and word processing.

You could for example set up plex, kodi with a shared database or emby server and use the client on the phone/laptop/rpi. If you use a HDMI cable or HDMI extender over CAT cable you could do everything in one solution. But only if you upgrade the CPU to one that supports VT-d.

Thank you for the input and thorough explanations.

 

I will continue to look into my options and post anything I find relevant.

Just to throw this out there, RDP with Windows 7 is not going to be as solid as newer versions of the OS such as Windows 8.1/10.  The RDP protocol got major upgrades in each of those releases.  Nonetheless, you should know that the best client devices for RDP performance will be Windows and Mac OS devices using the official RDP client app.  These clients have support for advanced video acceleration methods that are not present in other non-Microsoft RDP clients (such as CoRD).  So for the best RDP experience end-to-end, you need a Windows 10 VM and a Windows or Mac based endpoint.

 

Now we are experimenting with the SPICE protocol to see if we can improve general VM graphics / audio performance over a network, but it's still a work in progress.