NVIDIA GRID 2.0

NVIDIA have released the next generation of GRID 2.0. GRID 2.0 is based on the Maxwell architecture and the GRID 1.0 (K1/K2) was based on the Kepler architecture. I have been working with the GRID 1.0 technology since 2012 and it have matured alot in its 2 years of history. When the K1/K2 was released they was first working with GPU pass-through and then vGPU got introduced and you could virtualize the GPUs and increase density, which people wanted. Citrix was with their hypervisor the first company that supported NVIDIA GRID 1.0 and they was also the first company integrating vGPU into their Citrix Studio, so companies could easier provisioning machines with either MCS technology or PVS technology. VMware supported GRID 1.0 vGPU technology in 2015 in their hypervisor VMware vSphere 6.0 and fully integrated with their EUC stack VMware View, so companies can fully provisioning machines. The great thing about GRID 2.0 is that there is no need for a conversation when to choose either a K1 or a K2, if you required GPU compute or GPU framebuffer, M60 are being added to the tope end of the range and bringing 2x the performance, and if you have bladeserver’s, you can add the powerfull vGPU technology into the bladeserver’s with the M6.

Please notice that M6 will 0nly be supporting newer architecture of vendors not old platforms.

Maxwell architecture

Maxwell architecture is the new architecture of GPUs and a powerful GPU you might know is the Titan X

New GPUs GRID 2.0 and specifications

In GRID 2.0 NVIDIA now have a GPU for blade servers a MXM single socket, High-end GPU called M6

In GRID 2.0 NVIDIA replaces K1/K2 with the new PCIe 3.0 Dual Socket, Dual High-end GPU called M60
The M60 delivers 4096 CUDA or compute and 16GB GDDR5 memory/framebuffer

The M60 has 6x the h.264 encoders of the K2, and also Maxwell supports 4:4:4 chroma sub sampling, which is great news for encoders.

Certified GRID 2.0 servers

Click the link to see which servers are certified for M60 and M6
http://www.nvidia.com/object/grid-certified-servers.html

M6 have following servers supported:

M60 have following servers supported:

vGPU software editions and license

NVIDIA GRID 2.0 software is available in three editions that deliver accelerated virtual desktops to support the needs of your users. These editions include Virtual PC, Virtual Workstation, and Virtual Workstation Extended. GRID perpetual licenses are sold by Concurrent User (CCU).

NVIDIA GRID 2.0 (CCU) stands for ConCurrent User. So basically, per running VM as regardless of whether the user is connected to the VM or not, the VM is connected to the GPU and so consumes a license

NVIDIA GRID 2.0 software is much more than a “driver”. While the software package does include a guest driver for Windows and Linux, it also includes the NVIDIA GRID vGPU manager for VMware vSphere and Citrix XenServer, as well as the license server and M6/M60 mode switching utility.

NVIDIA Tesla M6 and M60 profiles are specific to the M6 and M60. There will be similar profiles as to what NVIDIA had on K1 and K2 (512 MB through 4 GB), all with twice the number of users on M6/ M60 compared to K1/K2. Plus, there is an additional 8 GB profile on M6/M60 which also adds support for CUDA, which wasn’t available on K1/K2.

NVIDIA GRID 2.0 is Maxwell only. If you are an existing customer K1/K2 are unchanged and will remain as a parallel option.

The NVIDIA GRID 2.0 solution

Summary

GA of NVIDIA GRID 2.0 (M60 and M6) will be 15 September 2015.

To get NVIDIA GRID 2.0 if you are a Citrix customer you need:
Server hardware that supports NVIDIA GRID 2.0 +NVIDIA GPU M60 or M6 + NVIDIA vGPU Software license + Citrix XenDesktop or XenApp License (XenServer is included in XD/XA licenses)

To get NVIDIA GRID 2.0 if you are a VMware customer you need:
Server hardware that supports NVIDIA GRID 2.0 +NVIDIA GPU M60 or M6 + NVIDIA vGPU Software license + VMware Horizon license (Horizon includes vSphere for Desktop)

If you are a Citrix customer that wants to run on VMware vSphere you need:

Server hardware that supports NVIDIA GRID 2.0 + NVIDIA GPU M60 or M6 + NVIDIA vGPU Software license + Citrix XenDesktop or XenApp License + VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus license or vSphere for Desktop license

Source

NVIDIA GRID Test Drive

NVIDIA GRID Website

NVIDIA GRID News

NVIDIA GRID YouTube Channel

Questions? Ask on our Forums

NVIDIA GRID on LinkedIn

Follow NVIDIAGRID on Twitter

Citrix License FAQ regarding vGPU

Vmware License FAQ regarding vGPU

Mac Client Printer Mapping Fix for Citrix XenDesktop/XenApp 7.6

Hi all

If you have users that have a Apple Mac OSX device such as (iMac, Macbook, Macbook Pro) then this article might be interesting for you. I am helping many clients around the world and I often see more companies adapting Apple OSX devices. Specially SMB and Enterprises are adapting Apple Macbook products these days cause they are powerfull computers and have some of the best design and reliability. Many companies have no other option to adapt Apple OSX devices, so they attract the right talented employee, which are requesting this device if they want to work at the company, and you think this is funny then welcome to reality, Apple is back and more powerful than before. The good news is that Citrix can help with this and bring any app to work on these devices and secure the workspace with the Citrix Receiver where the user connect to a central and secure solution. The challenge comes when the user have local printers to their mac device and now tell IT they want to print from their Citrix session.

In latest release of Citrix XenDesktop, XenApp 7.6 if your users on Mac OSX devices, wants to use local printers and then connect to their remote Citrix VDI (Windows 8/8.1) or XenApp (Server 2012/2012R2) and then print, this is not going to work. Before this article got released users would only be able to get local printing working to a Windows 7 VDI or a XenApp server running Server 2008R2.

If you have users running pure Windows Computers, then you are not going to run into this issue with getting local printers to work with a Citrix environment running Windows 7/8/8.1, Server 2008R2/2012/2012R2.

In Citrix XenDesktop 7.6, default policies are set to map all client printers, so you dont have configure this policy.

Summary if you have a Mac device and Citrix Receiver and local printers installed on your Mac, now you want to accomplish connecting to your VDI (Windows 8/8.1) XenApp (Windows Server 2012/2012R2) then you are going to fail, do below and you succeed.

Solution:

(how to get local printers to work on a Apple OSX computer with Citrix Receiver to a XenDesktop/XenApp 7.6 environment running Windows 8/8.1 or Server 2012/2012R2)

On the desktop you want to configure, open Control Panel > View Devices and Printers.
Select any Printer, for example Microsoft XPS Document Writer.
Click Print server properties, as displayed in the following screen shot:

Select Drivers tab.
Click Add > Next.
Choose Processor Architecture, click Next.
Select Windows Update.
Select Manufacturer ‘HP’ and Printers ‘HP Color LaserJet 2800 Series PS’ (if there are two versions of this driver displayed, choose the Microsoft version)
Click Next > Finish.
Now connect or reconnect to your Citrix XenApp session running (Server 2012/2012R2) or Citrix XenDesktop VDI session running (Windows 8/8.1) then your local printers will be mapped in Citrix session and you can print.

Have fun.

/Poppelgaard

Citrix technology professional – CTP, and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional MVP, Thomas Poppelgaard provides professional services. Write to me on my email thomas@poppelgaard.com or call on my cell +45 53540356

Source

CTX139020

NVIDIA GRID vGPU 346.68-348.27

NVIDIA have released a new GRID Virtual GPU Manager 346.68 for Citrix XenServer 6.5 and VMware vSphere 6.
NVIDIA have in this release also released Windows drivers for vGPU 348.27

Important:

The GRID Virtual GPU Manager 346.68 is not updated in this release, its only the Windows drivers for vGPU 348.27
If you have GRID Virtual GPU Manager 346.68 installed in either XenServer or VMware you only need to update your VMs.

The GRID vGPU Manager and Windows guest VM drivers must be installed together.

Older VM drivers will not function correctly with this release of GRID vGPU Manager. Similarly, older GRID vGPU Managers will not function correctly with this release of Windows guest drivers.

What is fixed in Windows driver for vGPU 348.27 VM using Citrix XenServer 6.5

What is fixed in Windows drivers for vGPU 348.27 VM using VMware vSphere 6

Source

Download NVIDIA GRID vGPU 346.68-348.27 for Citrix XenServer 6.5 here

Download NVIDIA GRID vGPU 346.68-348.27 for VMware vSphere 6 here

Citrix XenDesktop & XenApp 7.6 Feature Pack 2

Citrix released Feature Pack 2 for Citrix XenDesktop & Citrix XenApp.

What’s new in Feature Pack 2 for Citrix XenDesktop 7.6 and XenApp 7.6

The Feature Pack 2 release includes the following new and enhanced features.

StoreFront 3.0

StoreFront includes the following new features and enhancements.

Unified Receiver provides modern, centrally-managed and customizable user app selection experience across all user devices.
Google Chrome Support without NPAPI.
Delegating Authentication to XenApp and XenDesktop when there is no AD trust between sites.
Treat All Desktops as Applications to apply Workspace Control and group icons together.
Integrated Monitoring Service enables NetScaler to monitor StoreFront.
Extended Store Customization SDK for business logic.

Updated StoreFront management console

Support for the unified Receiver experience — StoreFront 3.0 delivers centralized customization and branding of your end users’ applications and desktop selection experience to Receiver users. Your company can customize the interface to reflect your logo, colors, and so forth. Some of the new Receiver and StoreFront features:

Simplified application organization — Familiar and consistent application selection experience for use.

Featured app groups. Administrator configured applications that are logically grouped and advertised to users in the applications selection experience.

Folder view of applications. Return of Web Interface functionality in StoreFront.

Favorites. Easily add or remove applications to Favorites for quick access.

Server-managed user experience — Application selection experience is server configured.

Change once, deploy everywhere. User application selection experience changes are made by the administrator on StoreFront server.

Consistent application selection experience for user. Any device running Receiver receives its application selection experience from the server as HTML5, providing for consistency as users move across smartphones, tablets, and desktop form factors.

Decouple the application selection experience from Receiver capabilities. Client upgrade without end user training or user experience impact; Support legacy user experience without legacy client cost.

Fit for purpose user experience customization options — You select the appropriate level of customization.

Updated out-of-the-box user experience. Modernized end user application selection look-and-feel.

Server-configured branding customizations. You brand with corporate logos, color, and featured application groups.

Deeper customization and branding options. CSS and script APIs available to enable deeper levels of customization.

Use the StoreFront management console to do the following Receiver related tasks:

Set Receiver for Web as the default for the store.

Create a Receiver for Web website.

Change website type.

Customize the website appearance.

See the Support for Receiver for Web article.

Featured app groups management — App groups are groups of applications that are related or fit in a specific category making them more easily discoverable. With Studio and the StoreFront management console you can define app groups using keywords, application names, or categories.

See the Create and manage featured apps article.

XML service-based authentication.

You can configure StoreFront to use the XenApp and XenDesktop XML Service to authenticate the user name and password credentials where a user explicitly provides a user name and password. Use PowerShell cmdlets to enable and disable this feature. For more information, see XML service-based authentication.

Support for HDX Real-Time Optimization Pack 1.8

HDX RealTime Optimization Pack includes the following new features and enhancements.

Support for the Microsoft Skype for Business client in Lync UI mode, the Microsoft Lync 2013 client, and the Microsoft Lync 2010 client.
Support for the Lync Server 2013 Autodiscover Service.
Call Park and Call Pick Up in Lync 2010 client.
Call forwarding and simultaneous ringing controls for Lync 2010 client
Support for Mac.
Kerberos authentication.
Plus (+) symbol in the dial pad.
Support for the Microsoft Windows 10 technical preview.

For information, see HDX RealTime Optimization Pack 1.8.

Session Recording

Session Recording includes the following new features and enhancements.

You can specify the connection credentials to the database when installing the Session Recording Database component.
You can test the connectivity of database during the installation of the Session Recording Database and Session Recording Server components and test the connectivity of the Session Recording Server during the installation of Session Recording Agent component.
Microsoft Shared Management Objects is no longer requirement for Session Recording Database installation.
Citrix Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) is integrated in Session Recording. For more information, see About the Citrix Customer Experience Improvement Program.

For more information, see Session Recording – for XenApp 7.6 FP1 and FP2 only.

Linux Virtual Desktop

You can now create Linux virtual desktops based on SUSE and Red Hat distributions. Prepare your Linux virtual machines, install the new Linux VDA software on them, configure your Delivery Controller, and then use Studio to make the desktops available to users. For more information, see the following documents.

Installation guide for SUSE

Installation guide for Red Hat

Framehawk Virtual Channel

Framehawk is a new ICA virtual channel that extends Citrix HDX technologies, a set of capabilities that work together to deliver a high-definition user experience of virtual desktops and applications.

The Framehawk virtual channel optimizes the delivery of virtual desktops and applications to users on broadband wireless connections. It is ideal for mobile devices under lossy network connections. With Framehawk integrated into the industry-leading HDX technology, Citrix provides a smooth and intuitive user experience in conditions where remote workspace users previously experienced poor interactivity, such as on wireless connections with high packet loss or congestion.

For more information, see the following document.

Administrator guide

Director 7.6.300

This version of Director supports the Framehawk virtual channel. You can display HDX graphics information, which lets you monitor and troubleshoot any session that uses the channel.

Source

Download Citrix XenDesktop 7.6 Feature Pack 2 here (requires MyCitrix ID)

Download Citrix XenApp 7.6 Feature Pack 2 here (requires MyCitrix ID)

Download Citrix Storefront 3 here (requires MyCitrix ID)

Download Director 7.6.300 here

Download Session Recorder here (requires MyCitrix ID)

Download HDX Realtime Optimization Pack 1.8 here (requires MyCitrix ID)

Download Citrix Linux Virtual Desktops here (requires MyCitrix ID)

Download HDX with Framework here

FYI – Remember to update your hot fixes to latest level for Studio, GPO, VDA, download the hot fixes here

Best of NVIDIA GTC 2015

NVIDIA GTC 2015

Hi All

After a succesfull NVIDIA GTC (gpu technology conference) in San Jose, March 2015. It was amazing all the brain gathered in one place, at NVIDIA GTC 2015, I had so many great conversations with friends, partners and there was one sentence I thought through “try to imagine what could you do for the world if we tried to build 1 thing with all this brain power in joined forces” . NVIDIA is doing amazing things and this year it was all about “Deep Learning” and “NVIDIA GRID”. Google was part of the keynote and it was very interesting seeing how far AI is evolving, Elon Musk the guy behind Tesla, Space-X was also on stage.

NVIDIA GRID was big this year and all the vendors, Lenovo, HP, Dell, Cisco, Supermicro, Citrix, Vmware and such was there. There was tonz of success stories and best practices. So amazing to learn all the best on GPU enabled application/desktop using either Citrix or VMware, this is the conference to learn from people that are early adapters, the best of the best. If you feel missed out come next year and you understand what I mean. This conference is very different compared to other conferences. This is here it all happens, all industries meet and make a fusion across GPU’s. If you missed this year GTC, I highly recommend you go to the next year GTC which takes place in April 4-8th, 2016 in Silicon Valley

I have captured some of the best moments

Great meeting Lakeside Software and seeing they had the “print” of the case study I did with Magnar Johnsen we did for Firstpoint client AIBEL.

I meet for the first time the CEO and founder of NVIDIA Jen-Hsun Huang, he is a very inspiring person.

Another great friend was Fred Devoir from Textron “the man in the middle” and another great friend and fellow CTP, Dane Young.

Fred Devoir had two sessions at GTC, I highly recommend you watch them both.

If you attended and could see all the sessions or you couldn’t join GTC, now all 500 sessions are available for the public. #AMAZING, thank you NVIDIA for this.

I have in this blogpost made it easy to find all the great sessions about NVIDIA GRID

Learn the best of the best about NVIDIA GRID implementations:

If you want to Watch the session I did at NVIDIA GTC click here

Click the sessions with the “blue” link and the recorded session will start.

Citrix sessions

Gunnar Berger, CTO from Citrix
S5872 – Worlds Collide: What Happens When VDI Meets GPU?

Derek Thorslund, Director of Product Management, HDX, Citrix Systems
Mayunk Jain, Senior Technical Marketing Manager, Citrix Systems
S5390 – Citrix HDX 3D Virtualization: Six Years of Remoting 3D Apps

Roland Wartenberg Director Global SAP Alliance, Citrix
David Cruickshank Sr. Director, Strategy and Operations, SAP Co-Innovation Lab, SAP Labs
S5377 – Running SAP 3D Visual Enterprise Using Citrix and NVIDIA – What about Performance?

Erik Bohnhorst, SR. GRID Solution Architect from NVIDIA
Ronald Grass, SR. Systems Engineer from Citrix

S5393 – Evolution of an NVIDIA GRID™ Deployment

Citrix customer success stories:

Success story – Ford Motor Company

Chip Charnley, Technical Expert from Ford Motor Company
S5206 – So You Want to Deploy High Resolution Graphics Desktop Virtualization

Success story – Roger Williams University

George Thornton, VP of Engineering from Logical Front
Jim Galib IT Director from Roger Williams University
Ryan Tiebout, System Operations Manager from Rogers Williams University

S5225 – University’s Desktop Virtualization Delivers Graphics-Intense Apps on Any Device

Success story – Duke University

G Allan Johnson Charles E Putman Professor of Radiology,Physics, and Engineering from Duke University

S5558 – Publishing Medical Image Studies with NVIDIA GRID™

Success story – Georgia Institute of Technology College of Engineering

Florian Becker Sr. Director, Strategic Alliances, Lakeside Software

Didier Contis Director Technology Services, Georgia Institute of Technology College of Engineering

S5128 – Case Study: Georgia Tech Uses Citrix XenApp with NVIDIA® GRID™ to Deliver Engineering Applications

Success story – Textron

Fred Devoir Sr. Architect, Textron Inc.
Randall Siggers Solutions Architect, Textron Inc.

S5485 – Exploring Design Considerations: CAD/CAM Experiences from the Experts Using Citrix and VMware

Success story – The Kanavel Group

Garrett Taylor CIO, The Kanavel Group

S5620 – Implementing NVIDIA GRID with XenDesktop: A Technical Deep Dive

VMware sessions

Mark Margevicius Director, EUC Strategy, VMWare

S5533 – Dedicating GPUs for VDI and SBC Workloads: How the ROI and Business Value More Than Justifies the Expense

Banit Agrawal Senior Performance Engineer, VMware
Luke Wignall GRID Performance Engineering Manager, NVIDIA
Lan Vu Performance Engineer, VMware

S5385 – Benchmarking 3D workloads at scale on NVIDIA GRID with Horizon View 6 using View Planner

Jeff Weiss NVIDIA GRID SA Manager, NVIDIA
Luke Wignall GRID Performance Engineering Manager, NVIDIA

S5405 – VMware Horizon 6 and NVIDIA vGPU: Installation and Configuration Best Practices

VMware customer success stories

Success story – Jacobs Engineering

Jeff Weiss NVIDIA GRID SA Manager, NVIDIA
Randall Siggers Solutions Architect, Textron Inc.
Ali Rizvi PLM Support Analyst, Bell Helicopter

S5345 – VMware Horizon 6 View with NVIDIA GRID: A Practical Discussion of a Real-World Deployment

Success story – USC Information Sciences Institute

John Paul Walters Project Leader, USC Information Sciences Institute

S5323 – Achieving Near-Native GPU Performance in the Cloud
Download PDF of presentation

Success story – HDR Inc

Clint Pearson IT Infrastructure Systems Lead, HDR, Inc.
Jeremy Korell IT Infrastructure Systems Lead, HDR, Inc.

S5414 – GPU-Enabled VDI and Rendering at Architecture and Engineering Firm HDR

Vendors (HP, Cisco, Lakeside Software)

System Integrators of NVIDIA GRID

System Integrators success stories of NVIDIA GRID

Success story – Poppelgaard.com

Thomas Poppelgaard, Technology Evangelist from Poppelgaard.com

S5445 – Building the Best User Experience with Citrix XenApp & NVIDIA® GRID™

Success story – PQR

Jits Langedijk, Senior Consultant from PQR

S5265 – Customer Success Story: Desktop Virtualization with NVIDIA GRID for a Large Construction Company

Success story – IMSCAD

Adam Jull CEO, IMSCAD

S5219 – Delivering Production Deployments Using Virtualization and NVIDIA GRID™

Success story – Wipro

Michael Harwood Citrix Architect, Wipro Limited

S5283 – Remote Visualization in Healthcare

Panel discussions

Aivars Apsite, Technology Strategist, Metro Health
Cedric Courteix, Partner Alliance Architect, VMware
Clint Pearson, IT Systems Lead, HDR Inc.
John Meza, Performance Engineering Team Lead, Esri

S5542 – Scaling Out Virtual GPU with NVIDIA GRID and VMware Horizon

NVIDIA sessions about Citrix & VMware

Jason Southern Senior Solution Architect, NVIDIA

S5213 – Effective Planning for Density and Performance in a Virtual Desktop Deployment with NVIDIA GRID™

Manvender Rawat GRID Applied Engineer, NVIDIA
Jason K Lee GRID Applied Engineer, NVIDIA

S5560 – Scalability Testing for Virtualized GPU Environments