Max # of VMs using vGPU per host

[EyKeule]

What's the maximum number of VMs per host that can use a vGPU? Unfortunately the "Configuration Maximums" doc for vSphere does not include this piece of information.

--> I understand that this also depends on the number of GRID cards you can fit into a server. So I'm just interested in understanding if there is any limitation from vSphere.

Thanks!

[rcporto]

Check if helps: In-depth: NVIDIA GRID vGPU with VMware Horizon 6.1 | VMware End-User Computing Blog - VMware Blogs

[EyKeule]

Thanks for the link. According to this I can have a maximum of 32 VMs per GRID board (K120Q on K1). Now I'm wondering how many GRID boards I can have per vSphere server. Let's assume I've a server with 4 slots / boards, could I have 128 vGPU enabled VMs on that box or is there any limitation?

[krd · Accepted solution]

The maximum number of vGPU VMs is largely determined by the server platform and number of physical GPUs.  Many servers support two PCIe x16 GPUs. vSphere 6.0 supports at most 16 physical GPUs (ex. four GRID K1) but not many servers support that configuration now.. The most vGPU VMs we've tested on a single system is 96 across three physical GRID K1 GPUs with K120Q profile.

[EyKeule]

Awesome!

This is the information I've been looking for. Do you happen to have a link to an admin guide / best practices guide that includes this statement? I'd love to include it as reference in some internal documentation.

Thanks again!

[NTStech]

Here is a link to Nvidia's GRID-certified server list: Graphics Accelerated Virtual Desktops and Applications | NVIDIA GRID | NVIDIA

you will notice that no systems allows more than two grid K1s currently.  I believe this has to do with the amount of resources each GPU takes up (there are FOUR per K1, remember).  Given that a motherboard with more than 7x pci-e slots was pretty rare, this bios limitation hadn't been an issue up till now.  I'm guessing anything more than 2 grid cards per server is going to require at minimum a special bios or more likely special hardware.