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Nvidia Quadro <3 vSphere 5.1?

fredr3k Aug 28, 2012 6:04 AM

I assume that many of you with exictement have read through all news in vSphere 5.1

What cought my eye in View point of view was this:

Improved 3D Graphics Support – (View Only) – hardware acceleration with possiblity to leverage NVIDIA’s hardware cards installed in ESXi server, where those graphics cards are virtualized and used in View Desktops. It’s targeted for graphics intensive workloads, CAD designers, medical imaging etc…

NVIDIA Quadro 4000/5000/6000 and NVIDIA Tesla M2070Q are supported graphics cards. Note that the ESXi Image profile must be installed with the NVIDIA GPU VIB file."

It certainly raises some questions for me:

a) The Nvidia GPU VIB-files is that free of charge or is it licensed from Nvidia or Vmware?

b) Have anyone tested 5.1 with Quadro-cards (and VMware Techie out there?) Pros? Cons?

c) Is the GPU fully accessible from the View guest or is there some kind of abstraction layer in between? After some research it seems like the abstraction layer is utilizing Xorg in a clever way.

1. Re: Nvidia Quadro <3 vSphere 5.1?

jecourtney Sep 11, 2012 8:45 AM (in response to fredr3k)

Does anyone have any updates on the Quadro-cards? Steps? Where do we get the Nvidia GPU VIB-files?
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2. Re: Nvidia Quadro <3 vSphere 5.1?

fredr3k Sep 14, 2012 2:39 AM (in response to jecourtney)

Well, so far.... I'm out of luck. At least I've found information about HOW to enable vSGA...

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2033434

Unfortunatly it grinds to a halt at the first bullet
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3. Re: Nvidia Quadro <3 vSphere 5.1?

JONL355 Sep 14, 2012 1:30 PM (in response to fredr3k)

Got it to recognize FX5800 on HP DL370G6. FYI: the NVidia cards are detected and drivers installed during ESXi 5.1 install - no download of NVIDIA VIB required.

On the server with the nvidia card installed:
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1. In vSphere, highlight host, click Configuration tab, click Advanced Settings.
2. Click either "Configure Passthrough..." or "Edit...", whichever is there.
3. Scroll down list of components looking for "nvidia". Mine was at the very bottom of the list. Check it ON.
4. Restart the ESXi Host.
5. For each VM that will use the nvidia card, go into the VM Settings and add the PCI Device from list. This is the nvidia card.

Hope this helps.

Jon
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4. Re: Nvidia Quadro <3 vSphere 5.1?

MattGagliardi Oct 10, 2012 7:45 AM (in response to fredr3k)

Does anyone have access to the nVidia VIB needed for this? I have a server all set with a Quadro 4000 ready to try this but the card is not being claimed after a reboot and xorg isn't starting. I noticed the KB article for this has been pulled...frustrating to say the least.

FWIW (last poster) I don't believe we're looking to do DirectPath, which is what you've descibed. That allows only a single VM to "claim" the GPU. What you described is the way to get the video card set up for DirectPath.
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5. Re: Nvidia Quadro <3 vSphere 5.1?

SPSUdave Oct 17, 2012 1:02 PM (in response to fredr3k)

Has anyone had any luck finding the VIB file?
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6. Re: Nvidia Quadro <3 vSphere 5.1?

Bhargava_Shrivathsa Oct 22, 2012 2:49 AM (in response to SPSUdave)
Hi,

I am using Dell T3500 workstation for testing conf as follows
12 GB RAM
1 TB HDD
2 GB Quadro 4000

when I bypass Quadro 4000 GPU and reboot the esx 5.1. It comes up to cnic_register loaded successfull and hungs.

Kindly give suggest what is the problem how to over come this.

Thanks in advance
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7. Re: Nvidia Quadro <3 vSphere 5.1?

vedeht Oct 22, 2012 3:44 PM (in response to Bhargava_Shrivathsa)

Are you sure this is supported?? I'm assuing you are trying to do some high graphical applications on your virtual desktop? The only supported method I am aware of is to use NVidia VGX graphics card. http://www.nvidia.com/object/vgx-hypervisor.html
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8. Re: Nvidia Quadro <3 vSphere 5.1?

MattGagliardi Oct 23, 2012 4:18 AM (in response to vedeht)

It's supposed to be supported for a very limited subset of GPUs and VMware software. The new VMware/nVidia piece is called vSGA (yes, I know about VGX). It was announced with 5.1 at VMworld, but there's been very little information forthcoming. A VMware KB article was briefly published and then withdrawn, etc.
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9. Re: Nvidia Quadro <3 vSphere 5.1?

trb48 Oct 23, 2012 2:19 PM (in response to MattGagliardi)

vSGA is the term that VMWare uses for their own technology. I found this today:

"This is all made possible though the joint collaboration and support of our partner NVIDIA. We have been working closely with NVIDIA to enable this capability across their Quadro and VGX lines of graphics adapters. This also would not be possible without the support of NVIDIA’s native driver for VMware ESX working in tandem to combine the power of the market-leading virtualization platform with the power of the leader in computer graphics."

http://blogs.nvidia.com/2012/08/nvidia-and-vmware-enhance-the-virtual-desktop-experience/

From the blog post ti says that Quadro and VGX cards should work eventually (or even now).
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10. Re: Nvidia Quadro <3 vSphere 5.1?

Bhargava_Shrivathsa Oct 24, 2012 5:23 AM (in response to trb48)

All Thanks for all your response,

Actually I had tried with vSGA and its working fine, but I want to achive GPU by pass so that I can have dedicated GPU for individual VM and there will be robust performance.

I have doubt we wanted to go for dell R720 with Tesla 2090 with esx 5.1 and view 5.1 will it work?

This configuration is required because we will be running graphic hungry application like Auto CAD and Revit. Kindly give all your inputs.
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11. Re: Nvidia Quadro <3 vSphere 5.1?

jecourtney Oct 24, 2012 5:41 AM (in response to fredr3k)

It seems somebody needs to evaluate all this speculation!

I'm working on getting a Dell 720 with NVIDIA TESLA M2075 for a lab environment with simulated variable WAN to test dual monitor workstations for running AutoCAD Design Suite 2013-- specifically Inventor. On top of this we need to support USB 3D Connexion Spaceballs at the workstations. Will post my findings.
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12. Re: Nvidia Quadro <3 vSphere 5.1?

TomMar Oct 24, 2012 7:32 AM (in response to jecourtney)

Do you have access to unreleased View software? I thought it wasn't currently possible to run View with vSphere 5.1 and use the gpu acceleration.
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13. Re: Nvidia Quadro <3 vSphere 5.1?

MattGagliardi Oct 24, 2012 8:13 AM (in response to Bhargava_Shrivathsa)

You were able to source the nVidia VIB? Would you be willing to shoot me a copy? I'm dying to try this.

FWIW, there's another thread here in the communities that I've contributed to...search on DirectPath and ATI, you'll find it. I've been very successful in using DirectPath and Quadro cards...ultimately the key was using both the PCIhole.start and PCIhole.end variables in the guest configuration, in conjunction with the standard DirectPath requirements like memory reservations.
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14. Re: Nvidia Quadro <3 vSphere 5.1?

jecourtney Oct 24, 2012 10:33 AM (in response to MattGagliardi)

I’m not 100% sure the VIB is needed. When I was working with the Quadro card, it was detected, I just had no luck passing it thru in my setup. I was unable to find them on NVIDA’s site, just checked recently too. Still working on getting the VM software together… Maybe I’m jumping the gun for VMWare, but I do have a Citrix configuration together to test—but we aren’t talking about that.
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