Virtualised TV-Server (1 Viewer)

[mulva]

Hey everyone,

I have been running MP for many, many years now and in several configurations. My current configuration includes TV-Server running alongside VMware. I have to admit, I'm not at all happy with VMware server. It's version 1.0 and doesn't play very nicely with my dual-port ethernet devices but I need it since I need to present raw disk devices to my Linux and Windows guests. Also, my host is running Windows XP SP 3 and apart from the fact that this OS will not be supported soon, it's definitely not good as a server OS (I once tried Windows Server 2003 as my TV-Server host but I was incredibly unsuccessful). I have a Windows XP laptop in my living room and Windows XP on an HP thin client in my family room running as MP clients.

So here's what I want to do: Now that MP 1.1.0 is released and I HAVE to upgrade, I am going to buy an Intel i5-650 which supports IOMMU (vt-d) as my new hardware platform. I am going to install Linux on my host and use KVM as my virtualisation infrastructure. Apart from being a much better virtual technology than VMware server, it will allow me to pass through my DVB-T cards to the guest. That means that I can now run TV-Server in Windows XP as a guest and have the stability on the server side with Linux.

My question to the forum is: has anyone attempted what I'm about to do? If you have, what were your experiences?

Even if you haven't, your thoughts are very welcome.

TIA

 

[Guzzi]

AW: Virtualised TV-Server

Hi, I have not yet tried, but the best to check, if it's a workable solution is:
1.) Check, if you can passthrough your devices (TV-cards)
2.) Use dpc latency checker, if the guestsystem has enough capabilities for "realtime applications"
I moved from virtualized environment to separate XP machine to get rid of all the problems - and have full support of the team ;-) - Thanks to s3 the extra cost is not too much ....

 

[orencha]

I have not tried your suggested configuration, but I have good experience with some Virtualization platforms, and would like to share my plans for Virtualized configuration at home.

I currently run 2 servers: 1 is a combination of HTPC and "Home Server", running Windows Server 2008 (x86), including MediaPortal TV-Server and TV-Client, which run just fine. The 2nd server is used for virtual machines, currently running Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64) with Hyper-V. The 2nd server is shut down most of the time, unless I need to work on my Virtual Machines.

From all virtualization platforms I've tried so far, I liked Hyper-V the most. It is the only Virtualization platform I know of, which combines the following two features, making it ideal as a development platform:
1. Enterprise-grade virtualization platform. The Hypervisor works directly with the hardware, and not through the Host O/S (much like VMware ESX).
2. Host O/S console - unlike ESX, you have a full O/S with GUI, and you can install software on top of it.

Installing Hyper-V is simple: just install Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64), enable VT (hardware assisted virtualization) in your BIOS, and install the Hyper-V role. Note: although you install the Virtualization platform after you install the host O/S, Hyper-V is *not* a host-based virtualization platform. The virtualizer is not installed "on top" of the host O/S. It is installed "under" it, so the host O/S becomes a (special) virtualized guest, with full GUI, after installing the Hyper-V role.

However, when it comes to linux virtualization, it sucks (compared to VMware products which support linux distros very well). Limited support exists for linux distros, but it is possible to compile the Linux kernel to support Hyper-V natively (not easy though). Since I rarely install Linux as a VM, I plan moving to the following configuration:

* Keep the Hyper-V server on 24/7.
* Move all TV cards to the Hyper-V server.
* Install MediaPortal TV-Server on the Hyper-V server, install it at the Host - not under a guest O/S (so the TV service have access to all TV cards without driver and virtualization issues).
* Remove TV-Server from the HTPC, make it a "tv client" only, and power on only when using it. I consider re-installing it with client O/S, such as Windows 7 - as it will no longer function as a server.

The idea is having all the stuff that requires "24/7 operation" on a single, "green" (eco-friendly) box, as I found myself more than once keeping the two servers running for a few days.

I will share my experience as soon as I move to the above configuration.
Insights and suggestions are, of course, welcome!

 

[Jay_UK]

Hi there,

Have you tried ESXi yet? Its quite good

J.

 

[dreamdx]

Im actually planing on doing something similar. Small difference being that im replacing 2 MCEs, 1 Workstation & 1 Server with only ONE dedicated PC.
IOMMU (AMD-Vi) via 890FX and ESXi or KVM as a base.
2 MCE VMs with one dedicated/passthrough ATi HD5450 each.
1 Workstation VM with a ATi HD5770
& and 1 server VM with a Dell Perc5 Raid Controller via passthrough.

TV-Cards not planned yet. Dont watch TV anyway
Couple of interesting and frustrating days ahead...

 

[pnyberg]

You guys should definitely check this thread for experiencies made with virtualizing MP/TVE3..

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/ongoing-htpc-projects-60/whole-house-technology-solution-75715/

Good luck!

 

[Bolk]

I have a fileserver with multiple o/s-es. The config is an E6600 with 8 GB of mem and 6x 2TB disks in RAID 6. The problems I have are to do with USB passthrough. Both Hyper-V and ESXi don't support USB/Firewire passthrough. This concerning USB/Firewire TV cards. Therefore I use a seperate Atom box as a TV server and run NewCS as a cardserver on my server. I might be able to get it working with USB via ethernet programs or so but I haven't tried it yet.

I haven't looked into KVM yet, but it sounds promising I think your setup will work though. I have some spare hardware, so it might be worth testing. Another project added to my list

 

[dreamdx]

ESXi 4.1 USB passthrough: Enable USB Support for ESXi with VMDirectPath

 

[Arn01805]

I'm running TVServer(Windows 7) for more as one year already on VMWare's ESXi 4. This works great and stable!

Connected to the server are 3 FireDTV tuners (2xDVB-C and 1xDVB-S2). For the firewire(FireDTV works with Firewire connections) I have 'passthrough-ed' the onboard Firewire ports with VMDirectPath(CPU and Motherboard(BIOS) must have Intel VT-d enabled for this! Not all CPU's and Motherboards are capable of this!!).

Be aware: maximum of 2 Passthrough devices for 1 virtual machine!! (3 FireDTV tuners = 1 Firewire device(in my case; 2 firewire ports))

Recently I upgraded to ESXi 4.1 and tried out the new USB passthrough function to connect a DVB-T stick to my TVServer(Windows 7). For the USB Passthrough, you don't need VMDirectPath as stated in this thread before. USB Passthrough doesn't have the maximum of 2 devices and has nothing to do with VMDirectPath (You don't VMDirectPath your controller to the Virtual Machine, you just connect the USB Device to the virtual USB Controller in your VM). For USB Passthrough; you've to use the recent ESXi 4.1; 4.0 will not do!

How to do this:
1. You've to add a virtual USB Controller to the VM, save the configuration. (First save, then next step!)
2. Plug in the USB Device
3. Open the configuration of the virtual machine and add an USB device, the wizzard will show you the available (plugged in) devices on the ESXi server.
4. Done... the device is connected to the virtual machine.

You can do hot-add (when VM is powered on) or add when the VM is powered off at your own choice.

I've tested this with a DVB-T dongle obtained from dealextreme (Very cheap; about $10 if I remember right) to TVServer and it works great.

If you don't see you plugged in device, maybe you've to enable the USB arbitrator manually on the ESXi machine. To do this, Log in the shell of ESXi (Search google how to do this; login locally or with SSH)

Then enter:

/sbin/chkconfig usbarbitrator on

VMWare's ESXi is a great free platform that has a low memory and CPU footprint. But plan your hardware carefully, especially if you want to do VMDirectPath!

I've 5 other virtual machines running next to the TVServer machine. Another big profit for ESXi --> You don't need a monitor and keyboard for this machine (only during installing the hypervisor). Put the machine in a corner (on the attic, basement of whatever); plugin the network and power (antenna cable for tvserver) and you're good to go. All management tasks (including installing virtual machines) will be done from the windows vSphere Client.

 

[xenz]

Arn01805, would you mind telling me your TVserver hardware spec please. I was on this VT-d / IOMMU / ESXi VMdirectpath hunt for 2 weeks now, it's quite difficult to find tech spec on motherboard that say they support such features. All I want is to have VMdirectpath enable so I can record TV within one of the VMs.