Virtual Box - Build question

[SuperVirtual]

I'm planning my first Freenas box. I'm stuck in the planning phase at this question. If running VirtualBox for Mythbuntu/Transmission from a PCI-E tv tuner ("tuner" )

Do I need particular hardware specs to do this? I read something about needing IOUMA? (can't find where I read it)

So far my build should be:

1. Motherboard - Asrock C2750D4I Intel Mini ITX Motherboard
2. Ram - 32 GB ECC RAM Size (Probably Crucial not sure)
   
3. Hard Drives - 4TB * 6 WD Red Hard Drives RAIDZ2
   
4. Addon Card - TV Tuner (above)
5. Case - Fractal Design Mini
6. PSU -Seasonic 460w FANLESS '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply

I may upgrade to a MATX board if needed.

Would this board be sufficient for virtualbox + Plex + Owncloud + Crashplan et. al.

Am I going down the right route?

EDIT: Added PSU, Increased ram to 32GB

 

[JoeVulture]

I have a FreeNAS Mini, which has the same motherboard and amount of RAM as your proposed configuration.

You'll have no problems running Plex (with transcoding), and Transmission will be fine (I run them both in jails). I don't run Owncloud or Crashplan, so I couldn't say, but if it can run in a jail the odds are it won't stress the system too much.

Your problem will likely be VirtualBox (and by extension Mythbuntu). First of all, you'll probably want more RAM to offset for the extra overhead of VirtualBox (given that you're already under the suggested amount of RAM of 8GB + 1GB per 1TB of disk), and it might eat up more of your CPU, since you're effectively emulating a PC.

Secondly, your TV tuner might not show up as a usable device in either FreeNAS or VirtuaBox. Even if it had a FreeBSD driver, it still probably wouldn't work with MythTV, since it expects the Video4Linux API and it's doubtful that FreeBSD would use the same interface. You'd probably have better luck with a HDHomeRun device for TV.

 

[cyberjock]

Your tuner is certainly not going to work on FreeNAS or Virtualbox. :/

If you plan to run plex and virtualbox you should seriously consider more RAM. I'd just max out the RAM now at 32GB because DDR3 RAM is not getting any cheaper (and will start going up in price as the year goes on).

 

[SuperVirtual]

Your tuner is certainly not going to work on FreeNAS or Virtualbox. :/

If you plan to run plex and virtualbox you should seriously consider more RAM. I'd just max out the RAM now at 32GB because DDR3 RAM is not getting any cheaper (and will start going up in price as the year goes on).

Not even as just a back end? I've read on here of getting Mythtv working in a jail, I'm looking to have it run as a record/transcode/streamer for tv. It's a shame hd homerun don't have a tuner for T2 (UK Freeview HD) as this would be simple. Is it a PCI issue i.e. if it was a usb tuner it would work?

I'll go upgrade to 32GB cheers.

 

[cyberjock]

Pretty sure you'd need a type-1 hypervisor to do PCI passthrough (and virtualbox is a type-2). I can tell you that in a jail you'll 100% need the drivers for the TV tuner (and those definitely aren't in FreeNAS).

We had one person buy multiple tuner cards hoping to get one to work in a jail and never succeeded. I want to say he bought at least 4 cards.

USB might work, but as the guy above tried some USB ones without success the most correct answer is "not supported". If you want to spend the money and try for it, be my guest. The other guy dropped over $400 on hardware before giving up. :P

 

[SuperVirtual]

Pretty sure you'd need a type-1 hypervisor to do PCI passthrough (and virtualbox is a type-2). I can tell you that in a jail you'll 100% need the drivers for the TV tuner (and those definitely aren't in FreeNAS).

We had one person buy multiple tuner cards hoping to get one to work in a jail and never succeeded. I want to say he bought at least 4 cards.

USB might work, but as the guy above tried some USB ones without success the most correct answer is "not supported". If you want to spend the money and try for it, be my guest. The other guy dropped over $400 on hardware before giving up. :p

Thanks Cyberjock! I'll put myth in its own build.