I've done a bunch of work in the past around using SmartOS for VDI [1]
that's in production at work and that I use at home. With that stuff I
use Linux machines as the client to connect to the VM.
Recently I've been doing experiments in the same direction as you have.
Right now I'm playing with (as Robert suggests below) running an X
server in the GZ.
I've got that working and can get XFCE running.
The next step for me is to get VNC working to connect to the KVM guests.
(At the moment I'm stalled because I moved the test machine out of the
server room to my desk and I need to redo its networking...)
If I can get that working, I might look at compiling the spice client in
pkgsrc to run from the GZ X server to see if that gives decent video
performance. My machine has no sound card and SmartOS doesn't seem to
have a driver for the sound side of my video card's HDMI port, so I
won't be experimenting with sound.
I did an experiment the other day where, after launching an X server I
lofs mounted the sockets into a NGZ, set the DISPLAY variable, and had
an application from the NGZ visible on the GZ X server.
This is all to say, these things can be done but you have to be aware
that it's way outside the design center for SmartOS.
Depending on what you're ultimately trying to accomplish there may be
better ways to do it.
-Nahum
[1]http://wiki.smartos.org/display/DOC/Spice+on+SmartOS
On 01/13/2015 05:11 PM, J Marc Edwards via smartos-discuss wrote:
Robert:
So, historically, wrt OpenSolaris, when SUN Microsystems was selling
workstations running X-Windows, am I going too far back when Solaris zones
were not being used for this use case? I know I must sound completely
ignorant as to even be suggesting what I am trying to do. I just made this
crazy assumption that as a descendant of OpenSolaris, that SmartOS would be
able to assign the video resources in a highly flexible manner to
accommodate this type of desktop on a locally attached display.
-M
-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Mustacchi [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2015 4:59 PM
To: [email protected];
[email protected]; 'J Marc Edwards'
Subject: Re: [smartos-discuss] Ubuntu desktop VM - VNC session not
responding to mouse...
On 1/13/15 13:53 , J Marc Edwards wrote:
I also recall in some communication with Jonathan Perkin that we can
run anything we want in the KVM zone. This communication was in the
context of running an Ubuntu desktop in the KVM zone. What I didn't
specifically say in that dialogue was that I was expecting the GNOME
desktop to be displayed on the monitor attached to the NUC.
So, am I really just hosed here with SmartOS running as a "micro
cloud" on the NUC expecting that I could run KVM zones with graphical
desktops? As I never completely elaborated on my NUC/SmartOS
use-case, I want to run BOTH Ubuntu GNOME and Chromium OS graphical
desktops in KVM zones on the display attached to the NUC.
What I seem to be hearing from you is that this is not possible.
It's not possible with the current design you have. It will not be possible
to have the NUC's video resources be used as the display that the KVM guest
thinks is associated with its VGA adapter.
That said there are a couple of options that you have here to proceed, at
least from the top of my head:
1) Put X11 into the global zone and have it connect to those environments
using something like X11 vnc.
2) It's just software, there's nothing that says what you want is strictly
impossible. You could probably write some software that basically is a video
multiplexor and try and multiplex that across your physical hardware and
emulate your own kind of video adapter that can be used to share across the
real adapter.
Of course, the devil is certainly in the details on going down that path.
But it all depends on the amount of work that you're willing to put into it.
Robert
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