Virtual Box Sagetv

[Hunter69]

I am looking to change my current setup. I am currently running an esxi server with a virtualized sagetv server. I am looking to change my setup and am wondering if my plan will work.

My esxi server has 2 VM's that are important. 1 VM is my sagetv server. It has a drive mapped to it utilizing RDM for recording on.

I want a more powerful plex server (for better trancoding) without spending a ton of money. So onto my plan:

I run an unraid server. Unraid can have plex server installed on it. VItual box can also be installed on it. So I am contemplating removing my esxi box. Moving my unraid box to this hardware platform. Then getting virtual box installed on unraid.

If I move to Virtual box I lose direct hardware access. My sage server only has a hdhomerun for recording since I only record HD QAM local channels with it. So I guess my question would be:
Would Sagetv be fine recording to a virtual drive in virtual box?

Thanks for the info in advance.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Hunter69

I run an unraid server. Unraid can have plex server installed on it. VItual box can also be installed on it. So I am contemplating removing my esxi box. Moving my unraid box to this hardware platform. Then getting virtual box installed on unraid.

FWIW, unRAID 6 has integrated xen:
http://lime-technology.com/forum/ind...?topic=31606.0
http://www.xenproject.org/

When unRAID 6 goes final I might have to see about rebuilding by unRAID box and putting my Sage into a VM. The biggest issue I see is I don't think the unRAID pool is fast enough for being a Sage recording drive so you'd want to see if it's possible to have the VM use disks outside the pool.

[ehanekla]

I have SageTV and Unraid running as VMs. Both are VMs in ESXI. Unraid has 3 drives RDM'd to it. SageTV is recording to an Unraid Share.
This setup is working for longer than 2 years now.

I haven't had any performance issues so far, but I don't do HD recordings, only SD.

I hope that helps.

Best regards,
ehanekla

[BobPhoenix]

I use ESXi and a VM each for unRAID and Windows (SageTV).

I've used RDM for the Windows box recording drives as well as a passed through controller - current choice. Have always used a pass through controller for unRAID. Specifically I pass through a single M1015 controller to unRAID and use an Intel RES2SV240 SAS expander to give me 24 drives off a single M1015 for my unRAID VM. Then I pass through another controller to the Windows VMs and use those as recording drives. I've used many different controllers for the Windows VM as I tried different options but having a controller with discrete ports as opposed to using a port multiplier has been working the best for me. The order of reliability for me would be 1) discrete SATA Ports, 2) USB3.0 and external drive cage, 3) RDM'd drives, 4) port multiplier and external drive cage. The only reason I put RDM'd drive at 3 is that I wasn't able to get drive health reports on it.

I will be switching to unRAID 6 with Xen/KVM in the near to mid future if things test out. Already have with non-SageTV VM on unRAID with Xen.

[starfire]

I'm running my system on unRAID v6 with Sage in an VM under Windows XP and another Windows 7 VM for various apps.

Windows C drive is on the cache drive, my Sage recording drive is on the unRAID array (physically on one disk and of course parity) and I don't have any issues with multiple recordings at the same time.

[al_uk]

Hi Starfire, did you have to do anything in your bios to get the 6285 to pass through properly. I'm having problems where the picture is fine when native windows 8, but blocky on passthrough with Xen on UnRaid?

[starfire]

Hi,

No changes to BIOS I can think of other than enabling VT-d.

syslinux.cfg I then just use:

append /xen dom0_mem=2048M --- /bzimage xen-pciback.hide=(03:01.0)(03:01.1)(03:01.2)(05:00.0)(03:02.0)(03:02.1)(03:02.2)(03:02.4)(03:00.0)(03:00.1)(03:00.2)(03:00.4) --- /bzroot

to enable pass through, then in the VM config:

pci=['05:00.0','03:02.0','03:02.1','03:02.2','03:02.4']

[al_uk]

Thanks Starfire. I've only passed through the 1 device that I can see from lspci. Is this correct? Have you passed through the individual tuners?

thanks!


My Syslinux is

append /xen --- /bzimage xen-pciback.hide=(09:00.0) --- /bzroot

The last part of the .cfg file is

acpi = '1'
apic = '1'
viridian = '1'
xen_platform_pci = '1'
sdl = '0'
vnc = '1'

# This is the IP address of your unRAID server.
vnclisten = '192.168.27.3'

# vncpasswd = '' No password.
stdvga=1
usb = '1'
usbdevice = 'tablet'  
localtime = 1
on_poweroff = "destroy"
on_reboot = "restart"
on_crash = "destroy"
pci = ['09:00.0']

The last line of lspci shows the TBS card.

root@Tower2:~# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Haswell DRAM Controller (rev 06)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Haswell PCI Express x16 Controller (rev 06)
00:01.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Haswell PCI Express x8 Controller (rev 06)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 05)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Lynx Point PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev d5)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Lynx Point PCI Express Root Port #3 (rev d5)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Lynx Point PCI Express Root Port #4 (rev d5)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Lynx Point PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev d5)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Lynx Point LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point 6-port SATA Controller 1 [AHCI mode] (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation Lynx Point SMBus Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point Thermal Management Controller (rev 05)
02:00.0 Serial Attached SCSI controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS2308 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-2 (rev 05)
03:00.0 PCI bridge: ASPEED Technology, Inc. AST1150 PCI-to-PCI Bridge (rev 03)
04:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ASPEED Technology, Inc. ASPEED Graphics Family (rev 30)
05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I210 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I210 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
07:00.0 PCI bridge: Pericom Semiconductor Device 2304 (rev 05)
08:01.0 PCI bridge: Pericom Semiconductor Device 2304 (rev 05)
08:02.0 PCI bridge: Pericom Semiconductor Device 2304 (rev 05)
09:00.0 Multimedia controller: Philips Semiconductors SAA7160 (rev 02)
root@Tower2:~#

[starfire]

Yes, I was messing with other devices I have hence the other entries.

Just one entry needed for the 6285, my lspci:-

root@Tower:~# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev c4)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev c4)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev c4)
00:1c.6 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 7 (rev c4)
00:1c.7 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 8 (rev c4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Z77 Express Chipset LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
02:00.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1083/1085 PCIe to PCI Bridge (rev 03)
03:00.0 Multimedia video controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder (rev 05)
03:00.1 Multimedia controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder [Audio Port] (rev 05)
03:00.2 Multimedia controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder [MPEG Port] (rev 05)
03:00.4 Multimedia controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder [IR Port] (rev 05)
03:01.0 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 61)
03:01.1 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 61)
03:01.2 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 63)
03:02.0 Multimedia video controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder (rev 05)
03:02.1 Multimedia controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder [Audio Port] (rev 05)
03:02.2 Multimedia controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder [MPEG Port] (rev 05)
03:02.4 Multimedia controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder [IR Port] (rev 05)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 06)
05:00.0 Multimedia controller: Philips Semiconductors SAA7160 (rev 02)
06:00.0 SATA controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1062 Serial ATA Controller (rev 01)
root@Tower:~#