Hello this is technically my second post, but first thread on this forum. I find unRAID extremely interesting and I kinda don't need help on installing or configuring it (yet).

 

I've tried to search for this answer on this forum and all through the internet, but I couldn't find any.

 

I am planning on using my rig with two VMs (unRAID, of course) with the following configuration:

 

Core i7-4790k

32GB DDR3 RAM

1x 500GB SSD

1x 1TB HDD

1x nVidia GTX 760 (planning on upgrading later)

 

I need to use one VM with the 760 (passthrough) and the other VM with the 4790k IGP. Is that possible? I intend to run unRAID headless because the web config is more than enough.

 

I came to this doubt because I thought about unRAID as something like VMWare: VMWare uses my video, but the VMs also use the same video (sharing). Can unRAID share resources like that too? IF I don't passthrough the 760, will I be able to share it among VMs?

 

Thanks for your patience and explanations!

Here are some points you probably missed:

- unRaid is NOT like VMWare. Its an operating System, which can rum VM's - while VMWare is limited to VM's only. unRaid is capable of way more. Running VM's is just one feature, which is not the main focus.

- basicly unRaid can run on pertty low end hardware, but then it just offers the basic raid features. If you want to go with virtualization, the hardware requirements depend on the use of your VMs

- there is no 'headed' configuration of unRaid.

- you need at least one Parity drive which must be greater or equal largest drive in the array (so add at least one more 1TB HDD - I suggest switching to at least 4TB drives!)

- I assume u want to use the SSD as your 'OS Drive', this is not how unRaid works. It spreads data accross all drives and can utilize SSDs as cache drives (for fast read/write during initial File Transfer over Network).

- Therefore if you are looking for "Fast drives", you need controllers, which allow you to read/write data simultanious to/from multiple drives.

Here are some points you probably missed:

 

Thanks for your answer Jaster! On the HDD/SSD department I'm more than covered so that wasn't my main concern. If I need another 1TB drive or another SSD, I already have them or at least I can get them easily. My main question is related to what I'm planning on doing:

 

- I intend to run 2 VMs on unRAID. I know unRAID is an OS and not an app/program.

- I only have one dedicated graphic processor: GTX760

 

Given those points: do I need another graphics card to run 2 VMs or can I run one VM using PCIe passthrough and the other one using the IGP on the 4790k?

 

Related to that: If I want to run, say, 4 VMs and I'm not interested in video passthrough. Will I be able to do it by sharing video resources in a way VMWare does? Can the VMs share the video with the main OS (unRAID in this case) or do they 100% need an exclusive video out for them to work properly?

 

Thanks in advance!

If you are prepared to use a VNC or RDP connection to access a VM then it does not need its own dedicated GPU.    Using that type of approach you could run different VMs from different windows in the unRAID GUI, and that can be running either locally or on a directly attached monitor (which can be in the IGPU) or over the network from another machine (or even another VM).

 

The one time that dedicated GPU's start becoming important is for things like gaming where the graphics performance can really matter.

If you are prepared to use a VNC or RDP...

 

So basically I can run one VM on one monitor with its own dedicated GPU and another one on another monitor using the IGPU, provided I use the unRAID GUI for this second one?

 

That sounds like a perfect answer for me. That way my resources will be better spread and used. I'm now using a real machine with Windows 10 and a VM under VMWare, but the resources are not shared properly and the USB passtrough kind of sucks (for mouse and keyboard)

 

Thanks for your answer, itimpi!!

Curious if you are wanting to use unraid mostly as a VM platform and not a storage platform why don't you just go proxmox?