Interface for hw pass-through over multiple VMs; and controlling hosts

[Konstantin Kharlamov]

Hello! I work in a small NAS company and am solving an interesting
problem which I wonder if it has been solved before…

So before reinventing the wheel I decided to ask if there are existing
solutions, projects…

Basically, we have growing number of developers but limited amount of
hardware nodes. So the idea came up to create Virtual Machines on each
host, and then whenever a developer needs access to an actual hardware
(e.g. a Fiber Channel, specific HDD/SDD model, or certain network
adapter), pass-through it to the VM.

Sounds simple so far, but the following two points arise:

1. Some interface needed (whether terminal-based or not) for developer
to chose hw to pass through, which should also account for whether the
hw is being used in another VM.
2. Some interface is needed for small maintenance tasks over all such
hardware hosts, e.g. to update the OS or to add some config.

While I could find something for 2, I have no expertise in 1 (not to
say I have expertise in 2 though, I just know people do that). I
mention both points though, any ideas are welcome!

Any thoughts?