Win Host( VM(unRAID ) ) or unRAID Host ( VM(Win) ) ??

[queeg]

I'd like to combine an unRAID server and an HTPC server on the same box using one as a virtual machine client.

 

The Win client will need access to the stream out to the HDMI port, probably the video adapter and lan.  unRAID needs direct access to the hard drives.  I will remote into Win and telnet into unRAID.

 

Is this possible?  And by possible I mean unRAID would have access the drives not some virtual interface and the Win would have access to the the video not some virtual dumbed down interface.

 

I know that various aspects of this is splattered across posts but I can't piece enough together.  I'd like to use vmware for the virtual machine environment.

 

Thanks.

[BRiT]

Yes it can be done. There is a huge thread about compiling and installing VMWare under unRAID and also about installing unRAID under Slackware which can then be used to install VMWare.

 

Personally, I suggest using unRAID or unRAID/Slackware as the Host OS with Windows as the Guest.

[queeg]

Personally, I suggest using unRAID or unRAID/Slackware as the Host OS with Windows as the Guest.

 

I was leaning towards this but I don't know if the VMware gives direct access to the video/HDMI port.  I'm planning on installing the Win OS on a SSD that's not part of the unRAID array.

[BRiT]

I think you could run XBMC under Slackware and remove the need for WinOS completely.

[queeg]

I think you could run XBMC under Slackware and remove the need for WinOS completely.

 

I didn't know anything about XBMC - thanks.

I'm still pretty new to HTPC stuff.  I want to know if XBMC can serve up movies via UPnP...can someone decode the following paragraph for me?

 

UPnP in XBMC

XBMC has (since the 10th of July 2006) a built-in UPnP-client (a so called "UPnP AV MediaServer ControlPoint" device) which can auto-detect any UPnP-server (a so called "UPnP AV MediaServer" device) on your local-network as long as that UPnP-server is not behind a firewall/router or you have opened the ports needed for UPnP in your firewall/router. XBMC also have a built-in UPnP-server (since the 24th of January 2007) which enables you to share your video/picture/audio files to all XBMC Xboxes on your local-network. XBMC's built-in UPnP-server can also stream those same video/picture/audio files to other UPnP-clients ("UPnP AV MediaServer ControlPoint" devices), however since the Xbox (XDK) does not support multicast those other UPnP-clients must support recieving broadcasts or they will not be able to auto-detect XBMC's UPnP-server, (but those UPnP-clients that do not support broadcast discovery of UPnP-servers might still be able to stream from XBMC's UPnP-server if they support manual entering of the IP-address that your Xbox with XBMC is using).

 

 

 

[DocBlock]

What I take from your quote is that XBMC supports one of the two modes of UPnP servers. My bet is that most are broadcast, and not multicast, so odds are you'll be fine. I'd argue that the time to install XBMC is probably worth it, to see whether it suits your needs, and if not, doing the VMWare thing is next up.

[queeg]

What I take from your quote is that XBMC supports one of the two modes of UPnP servers. My bet is that most are broadcast, and not multicast, so odds are you'll be fine. I'd argue that the time to install XBMC is probably worth it, to see whether it suits your needs, and if not, doing the VMWare thing is next up.

 

I don't understand the broadcast/multicast thing.

[Ford Prefect]

I'd like to combine an unRAID server and an HTPC server on the same box using one as a virtual machine client.

 

The Win client will need access to the stream out to the HDMI port, probably the video adapter and lan.  unRAID needs direct access to the hard drives.  I will remote into Win and telnet into unRAID.

 

Is this possible?  And by possible I mean unRAID would have access the drives not some virtual interface and the Win would have access to the the video not some virtual dumbed down interface.

 

I know that various aspects of this is splattered across posts but I can't piece enough together.  I'd like to use vmware for the virtual machine environment.

 

Thanks.

 

- giving raw access to host drives from the guest inside a VM is possible, but you will still suffer from a performance decrease

 I personally would want my MD layer as close as possible to the real device, so unraid as guest is not my preferred route, but it will work.

- giving access to the HDMI output to a guest OS is not a matter of the VM, but of the graphics driver of the host, I'd think.

 If you configure the device with HDMI-out as a second screen on the host and run the VM guest in fullscreen mode on that screen, you should be fine.

 Having access to other real devices (like a DVB-S card) from inside the VM guest is always an issue. USB devices would work best though.

 BTW: virtualbox non-OSS version (still free for non-commercial use) offers 2D and 3D acceleration with the VBox GuestAdditions installed in the VM....even XBMC would work inside a VM