I need help with Unraid V6 concepts

[Jessie]

I was going to throw this question to Support, but I thought I'd drop it here first.  Can anyone help?

 

I have used unraid for a number of years. So comfortable with NAS side of unraid.  I am trying to come to terms with VM's and docker and Graphics card selection.  I have built up a new server close to the specs of the lime tech appliance. ie Supermicro board with 14 ports. 2 x Icydock 5 into 3 hotswap bays and a 4 into 1 icydock hotswap for the SSD's in an Antec 900 3 case. I cannot source the same Graphics cards. So have tried a ASUS Geforce Gt610 which I couldn't get to work. It currently has a ASUS Radeon R5 230, which I also can't get to work.  I am a system builder.  I intend to build Unraid systems for my clients with the primary purpose of storage. If I understand the concept properly, the machine might serve as a workstation using a virtual Windows 10, while serving movies to smart TV's in other locations in the premises. Can this be done.  I am not sure of the purpose of pass through. Is graphics pass through only applicable to devices directly plugged into the local video card or does it somehow provide acceleration to network connected devices?  I don't intend these machines to be gaming machines but would like them to be able to serve data to smart tv sets.  Therefore, I don't want to spend big dollars on Graphic cards if possible.  GTX cards in Australia start around the $200 mark.  My goal would be a device around the $100 or less.

[itimpi]

Graphics card passthru is only required if you are going to directly connect a monitor/TV to a VM running on the unRAID server.  This is required if you want the unRAID server to act simultaneously as a NAS and a Desktop client, and gives near bare metal graphics performance on the directly connected video.  It is not required if you will be accessing the unRAID server over the network.  A graphics card does not provide a performance boost to network access.

 

You do not mention how you expect the smart TV's to access the data on the unRAID server?  I expect it will be either via something running under Docker, or perhaps a VM running in headless mode?  I just mention it as some people are running a VM (running something like OpenElec) on the unRAID server with hardware passthru of the graphics card and then running a HDMI cable from that to the TV.  With a smart TV I assume this is not your intended mode of operation?

[Jessie]

Thanks for the reply itimpi.  I was a bit excited about openelec initially, but I expect that the unraid server won't be in the same room as the TV.  In the past I have just used media players such as Noontec which will play the movie straight off the hard drive over the network.  I assume the smart TV's will require something like Plex to play media over the network.  Maybe they can play the file directly.  Not sure.

 

What I want to achieve is a cost effective unraid machine which will primarily store data.  If it is sitting in a home office, it could have a windows 10 VM in it and be used as a workstation, whilst performing other tasks in the background. It would be important that the operation of the machine be as reliable and uncomplicated as possible.  The end user will be a person who expects to be able to turn on the machine and use it. Troubleshooting if possible should be negligible.  From a NAS point of view, I have a machine with 14 drives running v4.7 which has been running for years.  With the exception of a couple of failed drives I've never had to go near it. So far the VM's which are mounted on the SSD's on the new machine are reliable and very fast, so I am quite excited about the possibilities using this platform.

 

The machine that I have built for myself is currently running 2 vm's, with windows 10 and a linux mint VM.  All are being accessed through remote desktop.  The remote desktop to the Mint VM is a bit unstable atm. (It crashes)

 

I haven't had much success with the graphics card yet. When I assign eg a windows 10 vm to it, it won't start. The system also reports the graphics card as a radeon HD7450 rather than a R5 230.  Not sure how to approach this yet.

 

I haven't done anything with Docker yet, but anticipate that it will be one of the prime functions of the server once I get my head around it.