[mythtv-users] OT: Virtualization

[Mike Perkins]

On 04/07/13 08:36, Tim Draper wrote:
> On 4 July 2013 07:13, Phill Edwards <philledwards at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I'm using HD Homerun as it's too
>> difficult/impossible to get PCI passthrough working for PCI tuner
>> cards. Overall, I'm really happy with it.
>
> This is not good to hear.
> I keep getting the itch to move to a virtualised platform (xen most
> likely), but i'm hearing so many different experiences with
> passthrough (It'd be PCIe tuner for me) that i just dont have enough
> interest to try if it's likely it will fail.
>
> For me, moving to virtualisation would gain me snapshots (although
> maybe i should look into LVM snapshots..) which would make upgrades
> troublefree - i've had it in the past where an upgrade (mythtv
> specifically) had a number of regressions in it. Obviously these were
> fixed but it took a few weeks for things to be all ironed out again;
> snapshot would of make that rollback so easy.
>
> I'd also want to upgrade CPU; a dual core E6550 probably isnt enough
> for 3-4 VM's. moving to a q6600 would double the power draw, and i
> just dont have that kind of money spare for a low-wattage i5.
>
Well, I'm running 4 xen VM's on an i3-2120T and haven't noticed any performance 
problems so far...

I'd suggest trying it out and seeing if there's enough performance for your 
purposes. Remember, most of the time the cpu(s) are idle anyway. There are 
straightforward upgrade paths if it isn't: pull the cpu and install a bigger 
one, or just snapshot it and move it wholesale to a beefier box :)

-- 

Mike Perkins