Switching to Linux Need recommendation

[Ulysseus17]

Installing a new Linux system, and am planning on running hardware virtualization for windows platform. 

System specs 

Threadripper 1920x

64GB Ram

GTX 1080ti 

10TB SSD Raid 0 

 

I need some recommendations for a Linux system that runs well with virtualization, specifically hardware passthrough. I know there will be some performance degredation due to the relay but I'm tired of Windows updates breaking things. Suggestions please. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

pcie passthrough still has some issues on amd ryzen, so a x299 is a better bet here.

 

amd has better open source driver support here.

 

If you want to do gpu passthrough, having a second gpu for the host makes it much easier.

 

What are you doing here?

[wasab]

18 minutes ago, Ulysseus17 said:

Installing a new Linux system, and am planning on running hardware virtualization for windows platform. 

System specs 

Threadripper 1920x

64GB Ram

GTX 1080ti 

10TB SSD Raid 0 

 

I need some recommendations for a Linux system that runs well with virtualization, specifically hardware passthrough. I know there will be some performance degredation due to the relay but I'm tired of Windows updates breaking things. Suggestions please. 

http://biebian.sourceforge.net/m

or 

http://hannahmontana.sourceforge.net/

or

http://ubuntusatanic.org/

[Ulysseus17]

30 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

pcie passthrough still has some issues on amd ryzen, so a x299 is a better bet here.

 

amd has better open source driver support here.

 

If you want to do gpu passthrough, having a second gpu for the host makes it much easier.

 

What are you doing here?

Primarilly I'm going to use it for development but I wanted a virtual system so I could still do some gaming. I was thinking I might have to get a second GPU but with the new serries launching this year I may wait a little while. I have another system I could game on but it's not quite as good. 

[Catsrules]

1 hour ago, Ulysseus17 said:

10TB SSD Raid 0 

 

What are you doing that would need 10TB SSD Raid 0? That is a lot of storage for a Raid 0.

Quote

I was thinking I might have to get a second GPU but with the new serries launching this year I may wait a little while. I have another system I could game on but it's not quite as good. 

From how I understand it, the host OS will need a video card as well as the guest OS. They can't both share a single video card. Depending on your needs of your host and guest will depend on what type of video card you will need for each.

 

Quote

I need some recommendations for a Linux system that runs well with virtualization,

As for the OS, I have personally never done hardware pass through before. But for what I have read about, most modern Linux distros will work, Ubuntu Fedora and Arch. I have heard some people say Arch is the better choice for hardware pass-though but in the end I think it is just personal preference. 

I would pick whatever one you like and works best with what your going to be developing. 

 

 

[Ulysseus17]

2 hours ago, Catsrules said:

What are you doing that would need 10TB SSD Raid 0? That is a lot of storage for a Raid 0.

From how I understand it, the host OS will need a video card as well as the guest OS. They can't both share a single video card. Depending on your needs of your host and guest will depend on what type of video card you will need for each.

 

As for the OS, I have personally never done hardware pass through before. But for what I have read about, most modern Linux distros will work, Ubuntu Fedora and Arch. I have heard some people say Arch is the better choice for hardware pass-though but in the end I think it is just personal preference. 

I would pick whatever one you like and works best with what your going to be developing. 

 

 

The main reason I have that raid is for management of my storage 

I do alot of video rendering and editing and having a "single letter path makes it easier" plus having the sequential speed boost of a Raid 0 makes the system run smoother for me. 

Thanks for the recommendation on the OS it's been a while since I've used arch but I'm feeling adventurous so I'll probably give that shot. I will likely try to get another 1080ti depending on whether I can find one at a decent price. I intend to use each system for a specific purpose so I would like to have hardware for both in the virtualization. 

[wasab]

10 hours ago, Ulysseus17 said:

The main reason I have that raid is for management of my storage 

I do alot of video rendering and editing and having a "single letter path makes it easier" plus having the sequential speed boost of a Raid 0 makes the system run smoother for me. 

Thanks for the recommendation on the OS it's been a while since I've used arch but I'm feeling adventurous so I'll probably give that shot. I will likely try to get another 1080ti depending on whether I can find one at a decent price. I intend to use each system for a specific purpose so I would like to have hardware for both in the virtualization. 

You go man. Don’t forget the rgb led lights. 

[Fleetscut]

Before you commit to a specific distro check how your IOMMU groups work out. When i set up GPU passthrough the card i was going to give the guest ended up in the same IOMMU group as the card for the host (just the way my motherboard does its PCIe lanes). If you're in the same situation you need a kernel that has the ACS patch installed in order to separate them so you can only pass over one card. Luckily for me the arch aur has a kernel with the patch called vfio-linux. If the distro you want to use doesnt have the patch installed and its not available in a repo you would need to rebuild your kernel with the patch every time an update is released.

[Ulysseus17]

6 hours ago, Fleetscut said:

Before you commit to a specific distro check how your IOMMU groups work out. When i set up GPU passthrough the card i was going to give the guest ended up in the same IOMMU group as the card for the host (just the way my motherboard does its PCIe lanes). If you're in the same situation you need a kernel that has the ACS patch installed in order to separate them so you can only pass over one card. Luckily for me the arch aur has a kernel with the patch called vfio-linux. If the distro you want to use doesnt have the patch installed and its not available in a repo you would need to rebuild your kernel with the patch every time an update is released.

Thank you for that info I'll make sure I double check that. 

[Linus_torvalds]

Arch linux!!!

[lacion]

im running this combo

 

Kingston HyperX Fury DDR4 2133 16GB

MSI A320M PRO-VH PLUS

AMD RYZEN 7 1700 3.7GHZ

 

using ubuntu 16.04 with kernel 4.15.7-custom and latest bios fw.

 

lots and lots and lots of problem I don't get on my Intel server, random kernel errors and lockups it very frustrating i thing the longest that machine has gone without a restart is 8 days.

 

not sure if threadripper support will be better.

[Dockland]

I have similar HW (intel though) and am running Gentoo Linux and Arch Linux. Gentoo is a dream on this kind of HW. Compiling takes minutes, not hours.