Possible? Headless UnRaid + VM Scripting

[Robot]

tl:dr

Is it possible to run UnRaid Headless (yes) but also with a Linux VM also headless? (accessible through screen sharing on Mac for instance). A VM that runs scripts periodically on the shares it has access to.

 

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Hi! I'm a new user, just registered to see if you guys can shed some light into my doubts.

I own three PCs, one personal and the other two are for work (I'm self employed). I work with very large files, some might be just 1GB, but others can go up to 100GB.

 

For now I've been working with external drives and network sharing between PCs, but recently I started to need to backup some stuff and external drives just don't cut it.

Some weeks ago I renewed one of my systems, so I thought of putting the old one to use with UnRaid. Specs: Ryzen 7 1700, AsRock AB350m Pro4, 16GB GSkill memory, one SSD and one 2TB mechanical drive (WD blue).

 

I downloaded UnRaid, activated my trial period, and started using it. I only have one drive yes, but this is just a test to see if I can fit it in my workflow, and mainly, if it's stable for my needs. If I end up deciding I want to keep it, I'll buy 4 WD Red and set it up properly. For now I don't store anything critical in it.

 

It's been working great these last days, stable and always showing up (I had to add a line of code to the go file, regarding c-states, but everything OK after that).

So now I'm wondering if I could have this PC to do more stuff. I'd like to know if I can run an Ubuntu VM (I know that can be done), but completely headless. Just accessing it through screen sharing using one of my other computers in case I need to do something with it. The idea is to leave it be 24/7 doing it's work.

 

The work I want this VM to do is run scripts. Scripts which check if certain folders have files, in which case the script will call other scripts to perform actions on these files depending on what they are. Not gonna get into specifics here since this isn't the question.

 

So... could this be done? Could I have the UnRaid Server + VM completely headless and just access it whenever I need to -for instance- add a new script for a new project?

Thank you very much!

Edited August 28, 2019 by Robot

[itimpi]

There is no problem running VMs without a GPU.    KVM will emulate a GPU if you do not assign a physical one and this can be accessed using VNC built-in at the Unraid level.    This is how I run all my VMs as my Unraid hardware does not support passing a GPU through to a VM.  If you want better graphics performance then installing something like Remote Desktop inside the VM can give this.

[Michael_P]

Sure, just SSH or VNC into the VM

 

[Robot]

Hi. Thanks for the responses, it's good to know!

I don't need dedicated GPU, I just need the system to perform some work on the files. For instance I need to run ffmpeg on some of the files prior to handling them to clients.

 

Example scenario: I leave my laptop copying something to the unRAID server, when done, I go to sleep.

Then at night, the VM would run a script checking if there are new files in X folder, run some scripts on them and put the results in another share, which is synced with a Google Drive for instance.

The next morning I'd just need to send the link of the files to the client.

 

That's my idea anyways, I guess this can be easily done :)

[itimpi]

Do not see any problem.

 

i would suggest you enable the Unraid VM sub-system (if it is not already running) and just try setting up the sort of VM you want so you can see how easy it is.

 

 

[Robot]

Great, thank you!