Hi all, this is my first post here, and I hope it's OK that I'm posting a generic request for advice instead of posting a specific problem. I'm not a Proxmox user yet, but it does sound like a good solution for my purposes based on what I have read so far.
With AMD's Zen around the corner, I am getting ideas about what I might do with a crazy number of CPU cores. I am thinking that Proxmox might be a good solution for what I want to do, so I am here to seek advice.
I am looking to build a computer for use as a multi-seat workstation. I would like to have my host be some very stripped down OS (as close to "bare metal" as possible), and exclusively do all my work and play in various virtual machines. I am also intrigued by the concept of using dockers, but that is something I know even less about. I want to run 3 OSs, at least one of which will be Windows 10, and at least one of which will be some flavor of Linux.
My essential requirements are:
1. Pass-through of USB, video, audio, and network devices, such that I have a keyboard, mouse, and monitor bound to each OS.
2. Easy and fast access to shared storage from all devices.
3. Seamless copy-paste between OSs
4. Seamless boot- When I turn on the machine, all VMs are launched.
5. Better than 90% native performance (including for gaming).
Is this doable with Proxmox?
From what I've read so far, my thinking is to set it up like this:
- 8 core CPU, server board, three video cards of different types (one nice and two cheap), one PCI audio card, USB card with multiple controllers, lots of RAM
- Proxmox on an M.2 drive, managing VMs stored on VM-dedicated SSDs within a ZFS pool.
- Data, Dropbox etc all in one shared ZFS pool on large mechanical drives, accessible to all OSs at all times.
- A Windows 10 VM (for data science, media and a little gaming), a work Linux VM (for data science), and a Linux VM specifically for web browsing.
- The Windows 10 VM uses the nice video card, the PCI audio card, and its own network controller and usb controllers.
- The work Linux VM uses a cheap video card, no audio, and its own network and USB controllers
- The web browsing Linux VM uses a cheap video card and on-board audio.
- Apps on OS-dedicated SSDs, files in shared
Anyway, I'm open to suggestions regarding all my choices: hardware, virtualization solutions, file system choice etc. I'm also curious what people think will be the main hurdles (I'm particularly worried about the audio, multiple USB keyboards, VMs getting corrupted, and syncing problems).
Any advice or relevant experience people can share would be greatly appreciated.
With AMD's Zen around the corner, I am getting ideas about what I might do with a crazy number of CPU cores. I am thinking that Proxmox might be a good solution for what I want to do, so I am here to seek advice.
I am looking to build a computer for use as a multi-seat workstation. I would like to have my host be some very stripped down OS (as close to "bare metal" as possible), and exclusively do all my work and play in various virtual machines. I am also intrigued by the concept of using dockers, but that is something I know even less about. I want to run 3 OSs, at least one of which will be Windows 10, and at least one of which will be some flavor of Linux.
My essential requirements are:
1. Pass-through of USB, video, audio, and network devices, such that I have a keyboard, mouse, and monitor bound to each OS.
2. Easy and fast access to shared storage from all devices.
3. Seamless copy-paste between OSs
4. Seamless boot- When I turn on the machine, all VMs are launched.
5. Better than 90% native performance (including for gaming).
Is this doable with Proxmox?
From what I've read so far, my thinking is to set it up like this:
- 8 core CPU, server board, three video cards of different types (one nice and two cheap), one PCI audio card, USB card with multiple controllers, lots of RAM
- Proxmox on an M.2 drive, managing VMs stored on VM-dedicated SSDs within a ZFS pool.
- Data, Dropbox etc all in one shared ZFS pool on large mechanical drives, accessible to all OSs at all times.
- A Windows 10 VM (for data science, media and a little gaming), a work Linux VM (for data science), and a Linux VM specifically for web browsing.
- The Windows 10 VM uses the nice video card, the PCI audio card, and its own network controller and usb controllers.
- The work Linux VM uses a cheap video card, no audio, and its own network and USB controllers
- The web browsing Linux VM uses a cheap video card and on-board audio.
- Apps on OS-dedicated SSDs, files in shared
Anyway, I'm open to suggestions regarding all my choices: hardware, virtualization solutions, file system choice etc. I'm also curious what people think will be the main hurdles (I'm particularly worried about the audio, multiple USB keyboards, VMs getting corrupted, and syncing problems).
Any advice or relevant experience people can share would be greatly appreciated.
