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Which Linux distro do you recommend for running KVM? Additionally, SmartOS has good support for running KVM virtual machines [1]. It gives good solid stability

Which Linux distro do you recommend for running KVM? Additionally, SmartOS has good support for running KVM virtual machines [1]. It gives good solid stability and integration with ZFS, not sure of the performance though vs Linux. The main downside of SmartOS is somewhat sporadic hardware support (broadcom nic's out, intel nic's in). I prefer SmartOS now where I can, but knowing which Linux distro is useful especially for GPU support. 1: https://www.joyent.com/blog/why-smartos-kvm-dtrace-zones-and-more https://www.joyent.com/blog/why-smartos-kvm-dtrace-zones-and...

Nullabillity 9y ago
I recently moved my homelab to NixOS, since it lets me use the same system to manage the hosts and the guests declaratively. I wrote up my approach at [1], in case you're curious. 1: https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Virtualization_in_NixOS https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Virtualization_in_NixOS
- drvdevd 9y ago
  This is great! Thanks! What an excellent use of NixOS.
- elcritch 9y ago
  Interesting approach! When/if you update a KVM instance, does it recreate it?
  - Nullabillity 9y ago
    No, the contents of the instances are managed by a separate NixOps network, since it would be wasteful to send the full image (~1GB) for each instance each time a package is updated. The purpose of the base image is to preinstall something that's ready for NixOps to "take over" with whatever I actually want to run on the VM.
myrandomcomment 9y ago
For home - https://www.proxmox.com/ https://www.proxmox.com/ Nice simple web GUI.
- elcritch 9y ago
  Nice article from someone who setup a home data lab with Proxmox [1]. Do you use the WebUI to manage ZFS datasets? 1: https://medium.com/@MARatsimbazafy/journey-to-deep-learning-nvidia-gpu-passthrough-to-lxc-container-97d0bc474957 https://medium.com/@MARatsimbazafy/journey-to-deep-learning-...
Scarbutt 9y ago
I use KVM on Debian, but does it matter? KVM is distro agnostic.
- tw04 9y ago
  The management tools are not.
  - elcritch 9y ago
    The management tools along with the stability of the overall system. Debian might be a good choice for stability. Though it seems Redhat (maybe CentOS?) has a good lead on much of the KVM enterprise tools.

Nullabillity 9y ago

I recently moved my homelab to NixOS, since it lets me use the same system to manage the hosts and the guests declaratively. I wrote up my approach at [1], in case you're curious. 1: https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Virtualization_in_NixOS https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Virtualization_in_NixOS

drvdevd 9y ago
This is great! Thanks! What an excellent use of NixOS.
elcritch 9y ago
Interesting approach! When/if you update a KVM instance, does it recreate it?
- Nullabillity 9y ago
  No, the contents of the instances are managed by a separate NixOps network, since it would be wasteful to send the full image (~1GB) for each instance each time a package is updated. The purpose of the base image is to preinstall something that's ready for NixOps to "take over" with whatever I actually want to run on the VM.

myrandomcomment 9y ago

For home - https://www.proxmox.com/ https://www.proxmox.com/ Nice simple web GUI.

elcritch 9y ago
Nice article from someone who setup a home data lab with Proxmox [1]. Do you use the WebUI to manage ZFS datasets? 1: https://medium.com/@MARatsimbazafy/journey-to-deep-learning-nvidia-gpu-passthrough-to-lxc-container-97d0bc474957 https://medium.com/@MARatsimbazafy/journey-to-deep-learning-...

Scarbutt 9y ago

I use KVM on Debian, but does it matter? KVM is distro agnostic.

tw04 9y ago
The management tools are not.
- elcritch 9y ago
  The management tools along with the stability of the overall system. Debian might be a good choice for stability. Though it seems Redhat (maybe CentOS?) has a good lead on much of the KVM enterprise tools.