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AMD Radeon Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3.1

AMD have released an important new driver for their AMD Radeon Pro GPUs in October 2018.

This release is fixing many major issues that AMD had with Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops (aka XenDesktop), I am very happy to see that the engineers inside AMD worked hard and now everything is working out of the box and no “tweak” have to be done to get it working. The drivers works both with a physically machine with Radeon Pro + Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops (aka XenDesktop) or with a Virtual machine where the AMD Radeon Pro GPU are attached as GPU passthrough or sliced via SR-IOV with S7150/S7150x2 with Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops (aka XenDesktop). I have tested the drivers in my lab with AMD Radeon Pro WX4100 + S7150 and S7150x2 and I can confirm that AMD have fixed below, which is important. I haven’t tested with VMware Horizon yet.

The Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise is designed to deliver market-leading uptime and stability. Rigorous multi-wave testing and exhaustive ISV certifications help make this “the industry’s most stable driver”1.  Radeon™ Pro Software is certified in over 100 workstation applications including Autodesk® AutoCAD®, Dassault Systèmes® CATIA®, Siemens NX™, Adobe® Premiere® Pro, Avid® Media Composer®, Autodesk® Maya®, PTC Creo® and many more

Built to help content creators make the best, every Enterprise Edition is designed to deliver more quality, performance, security, and simplicity

Lets Dig in why this is important.

Fixed Issues in 18.Q3.1

  • Locked Clock Speed with AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 7100 may be seen.
  • Dassault Systèmes® Solidworks® 2018 may crash at Customer Site while applying service metal fabrications.
  • “19.Light.vpb” file may show issues while rendering with Autodesk® VRED.
  • Application launching issues with Siemens NX™ 12.0.2 may be observed.
  • Some Viewport Corruption may be seen with Blender®.
  • Some issues may be observed with SPECapc™ Solidworks® 2015.
  • Solid Color Outputting may be seen on display using Specific DP 1.2 to HDMI 2.0 Dongle.
  • Dassault Systèmes® Solidworks® 2018/2017 may stop responding after rotating or changing display style on Windows® 7.
  • DXGI window mode stereo in Stereo 3D may only show left eye image when enabling active/passive stereo in Radeon™ Pro Settings on Windows® 10 RS4.
  • Application may stop responding while using ‘sliced geometry’ feature in Notch.
  • Corruption may be seen on model with change in Anti-aliasing modes with Dassault ICEM Surf™.
  • Display issues may be observed while running Nuke benchmark on AMD FirePro™ W8100 and AMD FirePro™ W9100.
  • Unexpected behaviour may be observed when running Intergraph SmartPlant FreeView on AMD FirePro™ 7150 with Citrix® XenDesktop®.
  • Toggling between full screen and windowed mode on Citrix® XenDesktop® may lead to temporary viewport corruption.
  • On Windows® 7, a Catalyst Control Center error may be observed when resizing Citrix® XenDesktop® window.

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NVIDIA GRID 6.2

Hi All

Its time to update your NVIDIA TESLA M6, M10, M60, P4, P6, P40, P100, V100 with GRID 6.2

NVIDIA have released new drivers for NVIDIA GRID 6.2 for July 2018.

This release is great as NVIDIA released a 4GB framebuffer for vPC licenses, so customers before couldn only run a framebuffer up to 2GB (in GRID 6.1) before GRID 6.0 max FB was 1GB. This is now this is increased to 4GB with the new -2B4 vGPU type that is available for all licenses. Another great thing for cutomers is support for latest Windows 10 1803 and support for VMware Horizon 7.5  and Citrix XenDesktop/XenApp 7.18 + Citrix XenServer 7.5

#Update October 2018 – Windows 10 1803 is not supported with GRID 6.2

Important:

  • If you are a customer using XenServer 7.2 or XenServer 7.3 its no longer supported with NVIDIA GRID 6.2 and should plan upgrading to XenServer 7.4 or 7.5.
  • Customers using Citrix XenServer 7.0 or 7.1 is supported with NVIDIA GRID 6.0
  • NVIDIA GRID 6.2 is only supported with Citrix XenDesktop 7.15, 7.17, 7.18 in HDX 3D Pro mode

This release includes the following software:

  • NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU Manager version 390.72 for the Citrix XenServer, VMware vSphere, Huawei UVP
  • NVIDIA Windows driver version 391.81
  • NVIDIA Linux driver version 390.75

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Autodesk AutoCAD 2016 / 2017 critical hotfix for Citrix customers using NVIDIA or INTEL GPUs

Earlier this year I have seen several customers having issues with AutoCAD in Citrix not defaulting to the primary display adapter, so the GPU wouldn be fully functioning and Autodesk AutoCAD 2016/2017 would turn off hardware acceleration. This issue have been seen on NVIDIA Gpus such as GRID, NVIDIA also have a official KB on this http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4092/ and issue is also seen with INTEL gpu such as Iris Pro Graphics more specific on solutions with HPE Moonshot 710p and 710x.

Issue is identified on both Citrix XenApp 7.x (Windows Server OSs) and Citrix XenDesktop 7.x (Workstation OSs)

“The primary display adapter is not shown as the default in a Citrix environment.”

autocad_issue

I am happy to share that Autodesk have finally fixed this “bug” with Citrix and now the GPUs will work correctly with Autodesk AutoCAD 2016 and Autodesk AutoCAD 2017 when you apply below hot fix for the product you have.

Accumulated hotfix 4 for AutoCAD 2016 based applies to:

This hotfix for citrix applies to the following releases with the AutoCAD 2016 Service Pack 1 already installed:

  • Autodesk AutoCAD 2016
  • Autodesk AutoCAD Architecture 2016
  • Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2016
  • Autodesk AutoCAD Electrical 2016
  • Autodesk AutoCAD Map 3D 2016
  • Autodesk AutoCAD Mechanical 2016
  • Autodesk AutoCAD MEP 2016
  • Autodesk AutoCAD P&ID 2016
  • Autodesk AutoCAD Plant 3D 2016
  • Autodesk AutoCAD Utility Design 2016

Issues Resolved by This Hotfix for citrix

  • There is a security vulnerability with ATIL image files within a drawing.
  • The primary display adapter is not shown as the default in a Citrix environment.
  • Opening an Excel hyperlink resizes the AutoCAD application window to match the Excel sheet size.
  • Locked objects can be edited by Matchprop command.
  • Publish borders are cut off with certain sheet sizes.
  • Background masks are not ignoring the Xrefoverride setting.
  • Can crash when panning transparently in multiple viewports.
  • Performance problem opening files containing specific objects in AutoCAD 2016 may appear as if files cannot be opened.
  • Use of the LISP (command) function within the (mapcar) function results in VVC Internal Error.
  • Grip stretch doesn’t work correctly when DYNMODE equals value other than 2 or 3.
  • acedCallBackOnCancel is not detected for Lispcallable Functions.
  • Certain VBA Macros throw an execution error.
  • DWG file fails to insert into another DWG file.
  • Can crash when Copy/Paste a block by Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V.
  • Can crash when opening AutoCAD in Windows 10.
  • AcSettingSync.exe launched when running OPTIONS command.
  • Annotations in Architectural units format are changing to Decimal format.

Accumulated hotfix 4 for AutoCAD LT 2016 applies to:

this hotfix for citrix applies to the following release:

  • Autodesk AutoCAD LT 2016 with the AutoCAD LT Service Pack 1 already installed

Issues Resolved by This Hotfix for citrix

  • There is a security vulnerability with ATIL image files within a drawing.
  • The primary display adapter is not shown as the default in a Citrix environment.
  • Opening an Excel hyperlink resizes the AutoCAD LT application window to match the Excel sheet size.
  • Locked objects can be edited by Matchprop command.
  • Publish borders are cut off with certain sheet sizes.
  • Background masks are not ignoring the Xrefoverride setting.
  • May crash when panning transparently in multiple viewports.
  • Performance problem opening files containing specific objects in AutoCAD LT 2016 may appear as if files cannot be opened.
  • Grip stretch doesn’t work correctly when DYNMODE equals value other than 2 or 3.
  • DWG file fails to insert into another DWG file.
  • Can crash when Copy/Paste a block by Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V.
  • Can crash when opening AutoCAD LT in Windows 10.
  • AcSettingSync.exe launched when running OPTIONS command.
  • Annotations in Architectural units format are changing to Decimal format.

Who Should Install This Service Pack for AutoCAD 2017?

Apply this Service Pack to the following Autodesk products running on all supported operating systems and languages. Be sure to install the correct Service Pack.

This Service Pack can be applied to AutoCAD 2017 installed as a standalone application, AutoCAD-based Vertical products, and the Autodesk Design Suites listed below.

AutoCAD and Verticals Products:

  • AutoCAD 2017
  • AutoCAD LT 2017
  • AutoCAD Architecture 2017
  • AutoCAD Civil 3D 2017
  • AutoCAD Electrical 2017
  • AutoCAD Map 3D 2017
  • AutoCAD Mechanical 2017
  • AutoCAD MEP 2017
  • AutoCAD P&ID 2017
  • AutoCAD Plant 3D 2017
  • AutoCAD Utility Design 2017

Autodesk Design Suites:

  • Autodesk AutoCAD Design Suite 2017
  • Autodesk AutoCAD Inventor LT Suite 2017
  • Autodesk AutoCAD Revit LT Suite 2017
  • Autodesk AutoCAD with Advance Steel 2017
  • Autodesk Building Design Suite 2017
  • Autodesk Factory Design Suite 2017
  • Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite 2017
  • Autodesk Plant Design Suite 2017
  • Autodesk Product Design Suite 2017
  • Autodesk Revit Collaboration Suite 2017

Issues Resolved by This Service Pack

Display

  • Xrefs on a frozen viewport layer would still be plotted
  • AutoCAD in Citrix might not default to the primary display adapter.

 

Open and Save

  • Opening a drawing file using an Excel hyperlink was repositioning the AutoCAD application window.

PDF Import

  • Importing a PDF Underlay that was attached with relative path could fail.

Xref

  • The Xref status incorrectly displays the “Needs reloading” message when the dataset is opened from a UNC path to a shared folder.

General

  • When opening drawings created with AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD might crash if the drawing was saved again.
  • Plotting with certain visual styles might produce incorrect results.
  • Migrating custom settings might fail.

 

Source

Download the Autodesk AutoCAD 2017 Service Pack 1 here

Download Accumulated hotfix 4 for AutoCAD 2016 based products here

Download Accumulated hot fix 4 for AutoCAD 2016 here

AutoCAD mouse pointer issues with Citrix XenApp 7.6

Citrix have released a limited hotfix for Citrix XenDesktop 7.6 and XenApp 7.6 that fixes an issue with Autodesk AutoCAD & AutoCAD Civil 3D where the  mouse pointer permanently displays as an hour glass. By applying this hotfix this fixes the issue for AutoCAD.

Source

Download the ICATS760WX64039 – For VDA Core Services 7.6 for Windows Server OS (64-bit) for Citrix XenApp 7.6 here

 

 

Google Chrome 45.x Blocks GPU Acceleration for WebGL, Direct2D, DirectWrite with Citrix XenApp on Windows 2008R2/2012/2012R2

Solution: Google Chrome 45.x Blocks GPU Acceleration for WebGL, Direct2D, DirectWrite with Citrix XenApp on Windows 2008R2/2012/2012R2

Google Chrome v. 45  have changed their behaviour of their web browser, so they are blacklisting GPUs, which means hardware acceleration is disabled by default in a Remote session this behaviour is seen in Microsoft RDS with RemoteFX, Citrix XenApp 6.5 -> 7.6 with vGPU/GPU pass-through. Behaviour is also seen on Linux environments with Google Chrome.

Issue highlightet in a Citrix XenApp 7.6 (2008R2/2012/2012R2) with GPU

Open Google Chrome and type in chrome://gpu and then you will see if your RDS/XenApp with a GPU is working or not.
With Google Chrome v 45 the default behaviour is now that Google choose to disabling the GPU.

browser - chrome xa 2012r2 cpu issue - graphics feature issue

Google Chrome experience with a GPU (Citrix XenDesktop vs Citrix XenApp)

browser - chrome xd vs xa gpu - 2008R2 vs Win7

above picture confirms the GPU is not enabled in Google Chrome with RDS/XenApp

interesting is that Multiple Raster Threads in Win7 with a GPU is disable… why lets find out.

This is properly because you haven’t configured the CPU correctly in the hypervisor for the virtual machine.
* hint I did on purpose so you can understand it can be complex to troubleshoot if you don’t configure your environment correctly.

browser - chrome win7 cpu issue fix
best practices with HDX 3D Pro is 4 vCPU and in XenServer 6.5 you configure it 2:2

Then Multiple Raster Threads works in Win7 after you changed the configuration of the CPU on the Win7 vm.

browser - chrome win7 cpu fix

browser - chrome win7 cpu issue fixed

below picture confirms the GPU is not enabled in Google Chrome with RDS/XenApp in Server 2012R2

browser - chrome xd vs xa gpu - 2012r2 vs win81

Now we have validated that the GPU is blacklisted in RDS/XA with a GPU, lets see if we can fix this.

Performance with a WebGL web app in Google Chrome

CPU is very high when the Google Chrome is running the WebGL application. This is because its using the CPU to do software rasterize of the GPU and this makes your user able to run a webgl application without a GPU, but wait. We actually have a GPU in our RDS/XA server now, why is this not offloading the CPU, thats because Google desided to turn off GPU and blacklist them.

browser - chrome xa 2012r2 cpu issue

Solution

  1. Edit Google Chrome link and after the chrome.exe add
    –ignore-gpu-blacklistgooglechrome
  2. Open Google Chrome and run chrome://gpu in the browser
  3. Check if Hardware acceleration is now working for all functions in Google Chrome

browser - chrome xa 2012r2 cpu issue - graphics feature

GPU hardware acceleration is now working in RDS/XA with a GPU in Google Chrome and CPU is now offloaded to the GPU as you can see in the below picture.

browser - chrome xa 2012r2 cpu issue fixed