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Dongjianhua
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Is it possible to use the Nvidia/AMD GPU virtualization functions in vSphere/ESXi environment without Horizon View.

Hello,

Is it possible to use the Nvidia/AMD GPU virtualization functions in pure vSphere/ESXi environment, i.e. vSphere without Horizon View. The virtual machine operation systems will be Windows Server and Linux Server.

How to do ?

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Rsahi
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Yes it is possible, but only vGPU functionality that too on the enterprise plus ...

note the vDGA and vSGA is not supported but vGPU definitly you can install and configure

This article explain the difference

https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/techpaper/vmware-horizon-view-grap...

Also, the steps to configure is well defined int the below article from nvidia

GRID Virtual GPU for VMware vSphere Release Notes :: GRID Software Documentation

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Dongjianhua
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Who knows ?

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Rsahi
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Yes it is possible, but only vGPU functionality that too on the enterprise plus ...

note the vDGA and vSGA is not supported but vGPU definitly you can install and configure

This article explain the difference

https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/techpaper/vmware-horizon-view-grap...

Also, the steps to configure is well defined int the below article from nvidia

GRID Virtual GPU for VMware vSphere Release Notes :: GRID Software Documentation

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Dongjianhua
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Ok. Thanks.

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zabcd1234567
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Hi,

as I am interested in the same or similar scenario. Does this mean in order for the Guest to have GPU accelartion the graphics card has to support Shared Pass-Through Graphics according to the compatibility guide:

VMware Compatibility Guide - Shared Pass-Through Graphics

And most important does that further mean that GPUs using MxGPU (like AMD FirePro S7150 and AMD FirePro S7150x2) will support that feature without using Horizon View?

If so, will it also work with ESXi 6.7 because the compatibility guide doesn't list those GPUs there. However, it also doesn't list the nVidia GRID cards there - only with vDGA.

Also I actually only need it for one guest, couldn't I just use a cheaper card and use Direct I/O for the PCIe? But I guess to be on the safe side I should go with the AMD FirePro S7150 which is still way cheaper than the corresponding nVidia cards, so I wanted to make sure that one is supported for what I want to do.

Also shouldn't vDGA work too and enable the GPU inside the guest without Horizon View - after all it just passes the graphics through to the guest?

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RemiliaSutton
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I have the same question. I don't need an overkill gpu like a tesla grid or firepro s series and don't want to pay stupid amounts of money. I'm using esxi 6.5 and want to use gpu virtualization without horizon view and without shelling out a grand per gpu. any idea iff cheaper options will work with esxi 6.5 and if so which gpus which edition of esxi 6.5 ie standard enterprise etc do i need and how do go about with the setup? also my gpu physical constraints are 1U full-height cards i have a dual 6+2 pin pcie power connection rigged up in my servers so thats not an issue. Also im using Windows Server and/or Windows 10 64 bit operating systems

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