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I saw a recent thread about running an X server on Windows for Linux applications, and this is sort of the opposite. You can run a Windows VM with GPU passthrou

I saw a recent thread about running an X server on Windows for Linux applications, and this is sort of the opposite. You can run a Windows VM with GPU passthrough on a Linux host and if you want to run them side by side without switching windows, you can use a VNC window or other, but the problem is you don't get hardware acceleration. Looking Glass solves this by copying the Windows GPU frame buffer onto the Linux side so it can be read transparently. It's also open source. Source: https://github.com/gnif/LookingGlass https://github.com/gnif/LookingGlass Quickstart: https://looking-glass.hostfission.com/wiki/Installation https://looking-glass.hostfission.com/wiki/Installation Reddit discussion: https://old.reddit.com/r/vfio https://old.reddit.com/r/vfio This only works on a Linux host with Windows. There have been rumors that Apple might implement their own version for running perhaps a Windows VM or other VM transparently on a macOS host but those are just based on some virtIO development that seems to be going on in macOS. Or maybe it's to virtualize iOS or iPadOS, who knows? Personally I use Proxmox, which is a Linux hypervisor based on QEMU / KVM but with other features and a web GUI for administration, to run Windows, macOS, and Linux simultaneously, as well as host containers for side projects and other self hosted services.

beagle3 7y ago
What's your experience with running macOS under ProxMox? Do you have a guide for that you can point to?
- cercatrova 7y ago
  Nick Sherlock has great guides: https://www.nicksherlock.com/2019/10/installing-macos-catalina-10-15-on-proxmox-6/ https://www.nicksherlock.com/2019/10/installing-macos-catali... I'd recommend trying to use OpenCore instead of Clover though. It's more stable even in a VM, and you don't need all the kexts as what the kexts are emulating for a bare metal machine are, in fact, emulated already as a VM. You can also check out /r/Hackintosh, they have some info on it.
lostlogin 7y ago
Thanks for this. > Personally I use Proxmox How do you find it to manage? With ESXi it’s quite easy to manage with Fusion, so I keep going back. Are you using the browser for Proxmox and Apple Remote Desktop/VNC to get into the machine?
- cercatrova 7y ago
  Proxmox is very easy to manage, they have a web GUI. As for macOS, I either use VNC (NoMachine) or I switch the inputs on my monitor. I have each GPU hooked up to my monitor which has 4 display inputs. Then I have to use something like evdev or Barrier but it's usable.
  - lostlogin 7y ago
    Thanks - that way of passing through the graphics would never have occurred.
  - lazylizard 7y ago
    And pct can execute things inside containers so you can do everything from the host.
Yetanfou 7y ago
I use Proxmox on a server where it manages a herd of containers plus a few VMs for those times I need to run Windows. On a single DL380G7 Proxmox shepherds the following: Containers: - router (OpenWRT) - mail - web - media (serves audio, video, books, photos etc) - database - authentication, central letsencrypt instance - remote desktop/app session - build services - hydra (NSA's decompiler) - peer to peer apps - 'cloud' (Nextcloud) - comms (Jitsi meet, Nextcloud Talk + related services) VM: - Windows, several versions for experimenting - ELSA (VAG online service manual) All on a single box, easily managed through either the Proxmox web interface or - for those things which the web interface does not facilitate - through the CLI tools or by editing LXC or QEMU config files. While there are some areas where I have had to intervene to make things behave the way I want them to behave (e.g. I don't want to use ZFS since I prefer LVM raid so I had to set up storage 'by hand', the snapshot backup system does not cope with FUSE filesystems so I have to use hook scripts to unmount those before backup and remount them afterwards, etc) all in all the experience with Proxmox has been mostly positive.
- beagle3 7y ago
  Impressive. Can you give a rough guideline about how much men and CPI you allocate to each task (and how much physical men and CPU are in the host)?
  - Yetanfou 7y ago
    I assume that by 'men' you mean 'cores'? If so, the host has two 6-core/12-thread CPU's (X5675@3.07GHz) and 128GB of memory, the internal array is populated with 8x146GB, the machine is hooked up to a NetApp DS4243 with 24x600GB (20 of which are in use, 4 cold spares). The machine has plenty of spare capacity, both CPU-wise as well as memory-wise. Storage is getting a bit short, eventually I'll start swapping drives in the DS4243 with higher-capacity versions. The whole contraption is housed in a sound-proofed cabinet with equipment in top, produce drying racks in the bottom. A forced draft fan all the way in the bottom of the rack draws in air through a large truck air filter in the top. This was the spare heat is used for a productive purpose instead of just wasted. Resources are used as needed, when a container seems to be running close to capacity I add cores, memory or storage. In the current configuration I assigned 2 cores/1GB to mail, 2 cores/1GB to auth, 8 cores/8GB to build, 6 cores/16GB to (data)base, 8 cores/16GB to serve (which runs a host of web services), 6 cores/8GB to session (which runs remote desktop/single app sessions through X2go), 4 cores/1GB to panopticon (CCTV), 2 cores/1GB to p2p, 4 cores/4GB to comms and 4 cores/512MB to router. Total load on the machine is negligible, memory pressure is... absent (currently ~8GB in use, ~84GB buffer/cache, ~36GB free). A machine like this one can be had for not that much ex-lease. As long as you get a G7 or newer power usage is acceptable, G6 and under are power hogs.

beagle3 7y ago

What's your experience with running macOS under ProxMox? Do you have a guide for that you can point to?

cercatrova 7y ago
Nick Sherlock has great guides: https://www.nicksherlock.com/2019/10/installing-macos-catalina-10-15-on-proxmox-6/ https://www.nicksherlock.com/2019/10/installing-macos-catali... I'd recommend trying to use OpenCore instead of Clover though. It's more stable even in a VM, and you don't need all the kexts as what the kexts are emulating for a bare metal machine are, in fact, emulated already as a VM. You can also check out /r/Hackintosh, they have some info on it.

lostlogin 7y ago

Thanks for this. > Personally I use Proxmox How do you find it to manage? With ESXi it’s quite easy to manage with Fusion, so I keep going back. Are you using the browser for Proxmox and Apple Remote Desktop/VNC to get into the machine?

cercatrova 7y ago
Proxmox is very easy to manage, they have a web GUI. As for macOS, I either use VNC (NoMachine) or I switch the inputs on my monitor. I have each GPU hooked up to my monitor which has 4 display inputs. Then I have to use something like evdev or Barrier but it's usable.
- lostlogin 7y ago
  Thanks - that way of passing through the graphics would never have occurred.
- lazylizard 7y ago
  And pct can execute things inside containers so you can do everything from the host.

Yetanfou 7y ago

I use Proxmox on a server where it manages a herd of containers plus a few VMs for those times I need to run Windows. On a single DL380G7 Proxmox shepherds the following: Containers: - router (OpenWRT) - mail - web - media (serves audio, video, books, photos etc) - database - authentication, central letsencrypt instance - remote desktop/app session - build services - hydra (NSA's decompiler) - peer to peer apps - 'cloud' (Nextcloud) - comms (Jitsi meet, Nextcloud Talk + related services) VM: - Windows, several versions for experimenting - ELSA (VAG online service manual) All on a single box, easily managed through either the Proxmox web interface or - for those things which the web interface does not facilitate - through the CLI tools or by editing LXC or QEMU config files. While there are some areas where I have had to intervene to make things behave the way I want them to behave (e.g. I don't want to use ZFS since I prefer LVM raid so I had to set up storage 'by hand', the snapshot backup system does not cope with FUSE filesystems so I have to use hook scripts to unmount those before backup and remount them afterwards, etc) all in all the experience with Proxmox has been mostly positive.

beagle3 7y ago
Impressive. Can you give a rough guideline about how much men and CPI you allocate to each task (and how much physical men and CPU are in the host)?
- Yetanfou 7y ago
  I assume that by 'men' you mean 'cores'? If so, the host has two 6-core/12-thread CPU's (X5675@3.07GHz) and 128GB of memory, the internal array is populated with 8x146GB, the machine is hooked up to a NetApp DS4243 with 24x600GB (20 of which are in use, 4 cold spares). The machine has plenty of spare capacity, both CPU-wise as well as memory-wise. Storage is getting a bit short, eventually I'll start swapping drives in the DS4243 with higher-capacity versions. The whole contraption is housed in a sound-proofed cabinet with equipment in top, produce drying racks in the bottom. A forced draft fan all the way in the bottom of the rack draws in air through a large truck air filter in the top. This was the spare heat is used for a productive purpose instead of just wasted. Resources are used as needed, when a container seems to be running close to capacity I add cores, memory or storage. In the current configuration I assigned 2 cores/1GB to mail, 2 cores/1GB to auth, 8 cores/8GB to build, 6 cores/16GB to (data)base, 8 cores/16GB to serve (which runs a host of web services), 6 cores/8GB to session (which runs remote desktop/single app sessions through X2go), 4 cores/1GB to panopticon (CCTV), 2 cores/1GB to p2p, 4 cores/4GB to comms and 4 cores/512MB to router. Total load on the machine is negligible, memory pressure is... absent (currently ~8GB in use, ~84GB buffer/cache, ~36GB free). A machine like this one can be had for not that much ex-lease. As long as you get a G7 or newer power usage is acceptable, G6 and under are power hogs.