Notes from EUC5405.

Reasons for 3D Graphics

• Distributed Workforces with Large Datasets – harder to share
• Contractors/3rd Party workers that need revocable access – worried about data Leakage and Corporate Security

Engineering firm gained 70% productivity improvements for CATIA users by implementing VDI – slide only shows 20%

Windows 7 drives 3D graphics, Aero needs 3D.  Newer versions of Windows and new web browsers do even more.

History of 3D Graphics in Horizon

• Soft3D was first
• vSGA – shared a graphics card amongst VM, limited to productivity and lightweight use
• vDGA – hardwire card to virtual machine
• GRID vGPU – Mediated Pass-thru, covers the middle space between vSGA and vDGA

vGPU defined – Shared access to physical GPU on a GRID card, gets access to native NVIDIA drivers

vGPU has official support statements from application vendors

Product Announcement – 3D graphics on RDSH

vGPU does not support vMotion, but it does support HA and DRS placement

Upgrade Path to Horizon vGPU

If you already have GRID cards and are using vDGA or vSGA, there is an upgrade path to vGPU.

Steps:

• Upgrade to vSphere 6.0
• Upgrade Horizon to 6.1 or newer
• Install NVIDIA VIBs on host
• Upgrade VMs to version 11
• Set vGPU profiles
• Install drivers in VMs

vGPU has Composer Support

GRID Profiles set in vCenter

Two settings to configure – one in vCenter (vGPU Profiles) and one in Horizon

GRID 2.0 – bringing Maxwell to GRID

More users, Linux Support

Moving to Platform – software on top of hardware instead of dedicated product line for GRID

GRID 2.0 is hardware plus software.  Changing from being a driver into a platform and software with additional features

Licensing is changing. Licensed user groups.

vMotion not coming today – much more complicated problem to solve

GRID editions

Virtual PC – business users who expect great perf, AutoCAD, PhotoShop

Virtual Workstation – Siemens, Solidworks, CATIA, REVIT

Virtual Workstation Extended – Very high end.  Autodesk Maya

 

High-Perf VDI is not the same your regular VDI

• Density goes down, CPU/Memory/IOPS/Rich Graphics capabilities go up
• Workloads are different than traditional VDI

Hardware Recommendations

• vSphere 6.0 Required
• VM must be HW version 11
• 2-8 vCPUs, at least 4 for Power Users
• Minimum 4GB RAM
• 64-bit OS

Required Components in VMs:

• VM Tools
• View Agent
• NVIDIA Driver

Use the VMware OS Optimization Tool fling.  Users can see up to 40% in resource savings.

Sizing Rich Graphics – Storage

Storage still critical factor in performance

CAD users can demand more than 1TB of storage per desktop

Size and performance matter now

Storage Options:

• Virtual SAN – SSD based local storage
• Or All-Flash based SANs

Bringing Rich 3D into Production

• Establish End-User Acceptance Criteria to verify that User Experience is acceptable
• Have end users test applications and daily tasks
• Time how long it takes to complete tasks