Is it possible to assign a NIC to Sage?

Menehune · #1 10-29-2005, 02:37 AM

Not being a networking guru, I'm hoping someone can answer this question for me. Is it possible to assign which NIC a sage instance uses?

My current mobo has two onboard nics, one being a gigabit and the other 100base. I was thinking about Sage system setups and was wondering if it would be possible to run two Sage servers on the same machine. It seems theoretically possible to me except for connecting the sage clients to the server. Is there a way to assign which sage instance "listens" to each NIC?

I was thinking 2 pvr-500s with only one recognised by each install of sage would work for capturing, separate physical HDs for each server (i guess the PCI bus would be saturated quickly) but how would Sage instance A know to listen to 192.168.1.100 and Sage instance B know to listen to 192.168.1.103? I know the clients can have differnet server IPs assigned, so the frontend should have no problem. It's just the backend that has me confused.

Potentially, I would like to consolidate my parent's sage server and my sage server into one case but have separate win.baks/prefs/favorites for each. Should I just buy two blade servers? I need to stop drinking caffeine before bed

mdmint · #2 10-31-2005, 02:06 AM

I'm fairly certain you can't run two instances of the core SageTV independently simultaneously on one computer system. Interesting idea but just don't think it's possible. Of course I could be wrong, so let us know if you get it to work!

Menehune · #3 10-31-2005, 01:40 PM

I haven't had the guts (or the hardware) to try it and I don't think I'd want to. Just checking to see if anyone had any ideas.

I think a dual core proc could run each sage instance in it's own "memory" so that may be one solution. It's just the darn NICs for the clients that have me stumped.

dvd_maniac · #4 10-31-2005, 01:45 PM

I wonder if running a virtual server would allow this. One case, 2 OS systems. Disable one of the 500's in each OS...? The virtual server might have rendering issues during playback, so you might have to use a client for viewing the Virtual Sage server.

This should be pretty safe to try out?

Menehune · #5 10-31-2005, 03:44 PM

I don't know what a virtual server is so I'll need to do some research on it.

dvd_maniac · #6 10-31-2005, 03:54 PM

Microsoft's VirtualPC is a software that allows your PC to act as many PC's.

Example:
Install WinXP on your PC, then install the Microsoft VirtualPC software. Create a Virtual Disk and load another copy of WinXP. Then you can install software on that OS as well. It uses generic video/sound drivers. It can share the same nic card and bind it to different IP addresses. Although, since you already have two, Just disable one of them in the new OS.

Here is some info regarding VirtualPC

Menehune · #7 10-31-2005, 04:35 PM

Thanks, I was looking at VMware's workstation as well. Didn't find the Microsoft offering though.

So I would need to have two OSes and two sage installations installed plus the MSVirtual PC app? Or should I install each Sage server into it's own virtual machine? Looks like I'll need to increase the size of my C partition

dvd_maniac · #8 10-31-2005, 04:47 PM

Regular OS install with SageTV & VirtualPC. Virtual OS on Virtual Hard Disk with SageTV 2nd Install. Disable one tuner in each OS, Disable one NIC in each OS, so that each OS is using one of the 500's and one NIC, and the other OS is using the "OTHER" 500 and NIC.

Menehune · #9 10-31-2005, 06:08 PM

Thanks. I was hoping I wouldn't need to purchase an additional copy of an OS.

dvd_maniac · #10 11-01-2005, 06:10 AM

You might have to as WinXP's activation would swtill need to be done. The last time I had it installed I installed Win2K on virtual drive.

pkadare · #11 11-04-2005, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvd_maniac

Regular OS install with SageTV & VirtualPC. Virtual OS on Virtual Hard Disk with SageTV 2nd Install. Disable one tuner in each OS, Disable one NIC in each OS, so that each OS is using one of the 500's and one NIC, and the other OS is using the "OTHER" 500 and NIC.

Interesting idea that will definitely not work. Both VMWare and Virtual PC emulate a specific, fixed set of hardware. Those lists don't include any kind of TV tuner. Any TV tuner installed physically in the host computer will not be visible in the guest.

VMWare, unlike VPC does support USB devices however the emulated USB bus is only 1.1.

pkadare · #12 11-04-2005, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvd_maniac

You might have to as WinXP's activation would swtill need to be done. The last time I had it installed I installed Win2K on virtual drive.

While you would need to activate, activation and licensing are two separate things. To run a Windows OS in a virtual machine you are required to have license to do so. Unless you've got a Software Assurance agreement with Microsoft, in which case you are granted one additional license for the guest.

The licensing model will change significantly with the release of Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition such that for each host license you are automatically granted an additional 4 licenses for guests.

Menehune · #13 11-06-2005, 01:27 PM

Unfortunately Microsoft's Virtual PC isn't working. No USB support for my USB tuner, can only use Serial COM1/COM2 devices-no PCI modem and I didn't find a way to add additional HDs to the virtual machine.

I'm off to try VMWare's solution which should at least offer USB support-hopefully USB2 not just USB1.1.

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