virtualization

[GordonShumway]

Just built a new Frankenbox PC.  Intel I7-14700, 64GB ram, 1 x 1TB and 1 x 4TB M.2 SSD, Gigabyte Z790 board.  The primary use is an NVR app called Blueiris that I have used for years to manage 18 misc. POE IP cameras.  I started with bare metal Ubuntu Server and installed KVM but found that Blueiris ran better with bare metal Windows 11 and did not need the Gigabyte 3060 video card that was in the original install (board has on-board graphics).

Now I find myself with a LOT of extra cycles and memory and am considering moving my Jellyfin instance off a HP DL380 G9 server (Ubuntu QEMU/KVM virtualized) to this new box.  I don't really want to run JF on native Winders and later have to reinstall Windows and wreck everything so I am considering a type 2 Virtualization app like Virtualbox (or Hyper-V).  I *think* that if I do this I should probably reinstall the 3060 graphics card for Jellyfin's benefit.  I have not really found the write-up that tells me that Hyper-V or Virtualbox is the "better" solution for GPU passthru.

What would you recommend?

note: my media library is currently on NAS and available either from an Ubuntu NFS server or a Synology array (backup).  All devices have 10G NICs and are connected to a 10G switch.

[TheDreadPirate]

If you run Jellyfin directly on Windows, as long as you backup the data directory Jellyfin writes to it would be simple to restore in the case of an OS reinstall. Literally copying a single directory and restoring it would restore Jellyfin to its previous state.

By default, all of the permanent Jellyfin data and configs are written to C:\ProgramData\Jellyfin. Backup that directory and you will have everything you need to restore Jellyfin.

IMO, just running Jellyfin directly on Windows and setting up a scheduled task to backup that directory is by far the best solution.

Also, the 14700's iGPU has a pretty capable encoder. You can install the 3060, but you don't need to. Unless your NVR is using Intel Quick Sync for encoding camera streams or something.

[GordonShumway]

Thanks very much for your input, that's probably what I will do with JF. I still have a boatload of free cycles on the box so if I do want to run anything else I'll have to give it the same consideration whether to run it native or virtualized. If its a relatively stable Windows app then I'll probably go native. If it's a *nix app then I'll probably go with Virtualbox.