UNRAID as a VM Station

[derpuma]

Hi, as I received my new Hardware, i am looking for a solution, to virtualize all my OS and work only over VM.

The AMD Ryzon with 64GB of Ram, two GPU (one 5700 XT and one older GTX 780) should have the potential to work flawless only via VM.

As I new UNRAID from a couple of years ago, I think I will give it a try and test, if this might be a good platform for it, in case of managing all the VMs directly from one

System.

Several questions before I start:
1) Is it worth getting a cheap USB GPU to have the GUI from UNRAID always available?
2) If I start a VM with GPU Passthrough  is connected to a dedicated monitor, the VM will boot up natively, without the need of VNC, right?
I do not want to work over VNC, especially not of browser VNC cause there will be some lag, I guess...
3) It should be possible to switch between VMs without shuting them down, when two VMs are running over one GPU (aka one Monitor)via URAID GUI, right? 

4) I have other cards (10Gbe, Thunderbolt, BT/Wifi Card, e-SATA Card) which I like to passthrough to the Gues OS VM. This should be possible too without any problems via UNRAID GUI (+ them via GUI by Editing the VM XML)?

 

Thx for any opinion and thoughts about my setup.
Frank 

 

[itimpi]

2 hours ago, derpuma said:

3) It should be possible to switch between VMs without shuting them down, when two VMs are running over one GPU (aka one Monitor)via URAID GUI, right?

If you are parring through a GPU to a VM then it cannot be shared with another running VM.   You can only use the sane GPU in two (or more) VMs if they will not be running at the same time.

 

2 hours ago, derpuma said:

4) I have other cards (10Gbe, Thunderbolt, BT/Wifi Card, e-SATA Card) which I like to passthrough to the Gues OS VM. This should be possible too without any problems via UNRAID GUI (+ them via GUI by Editing the VM XML)?

Hardware pass-through is always a bit of a hit-or-miss scenario as it is highly dependent on your exact hardware, BIOS,  Linux kernel and KVM versions (most of which are outside Limetech's control)   Until you actually try it you can never be sure if it will work for you.

[derpuma]

1 hour ago, itimpi said:

If you are parring through a GPU to a VM then it cannot be shared with another running VM.   You can only use the sane GPU in two (or more) VMs if they Hardware pass-through is always a bit of a hit-or-miss scenario as it is highly dependent on your exact hardware, BIOS,  Linux kernel and KVM versions (most of which are outside Limetech's control)   Until you actually try it you can never be sure if it will work for you.

Thx for replying.
Plan is primaly using mac OS. All the cards I like to passthrough are nativly supported by mac OS without any need of extra driver installation.
But I guess, this has nothing to do with the passthrough itself, as it looks like there has to be some examination, which card takes which bus, etc. p.p.

How about onboard USB/USB3? I guess there has to be a passthrough too, if you want to use it with full speed in VM?

[testdasi]

1. USB "GPU" won't work

2. No need for VNC display.

3. No. Each GPU can only be passed through to 1 VM at any one time.

4. Support in guest OS is assumed before passing through is even considered. The point from itimpi is the HOST hardware has got to be supportive. For example, a motherboard can have multiple USB controllers, some are happy to pass through, some are not. The 5700 XT has reset issue that is still not fixed by AMD. Some NVMe controllers (e.g. Intel 660p) just can't be passed through due to Linux kernel conflicts.

5. USB devices can be attached to VM and should run at pretty much full speed. Passing through a USB CONTROLLER is more for hot plugging convenience.

[itimpi]

16 minutes ago, derpuma said:

Plan is primaly using mac OS. All the cards I like to passthrough are nativly supported by mac OS without any need of extra driver installation.
But I guess, this has nothing to do with the passthrough itself, as it looks like there has to be some examination, which card takes which bus, etc. p.p.

Yes.   The motherboard/bios combination you are using must be capable of separating all hardware to be passed through to the VM into their own IOMMU groups.   This seems to be impossible to predict in advance.

 

18 minutes ago, derpuma said:

How about onboard USB/USB3? I guess there has to be a passthrough too, if you want to use it with full speed in VM?

You definitely want to pass through any USB controller to be used by the VM to get the best experience.