Microsoft Azure is moving really fast and 29 datacenters around the world is now online. I was in Japan some weeks ago (week 14) and did a presentation at E2EVC on NV series and how easy it is to build Virtual machines with NV-series. At that time I demonstrated live heavy graphics application such as Autodesk Revit, Navisworks running from Azure SE Asia (Singapore) with RDP10 to my Microsoft Surfacebook in Japan on hotel wifi and it worked actually really good. Some weeks later I was home in Denmark, I was preparing my speech for Azure Bootcamp in Aarhus, Denmark. I noticed that a new datacenter in Japan West (Osaka) and Japan East (Tokyo, Saitama) have gone “Operational” and more specific Japan East (Tokyo, Saitama) now was live with Azure NV6, NV12, NV24. This is really awesome and I had to try it out.

To summary up, Microsoft have made their datacenter in Japan East (Tokyo, Saitama) online some weeks ago offering NV-series (NV6,NV12,NV24) this is great for customers in Japan getting low latency from their cities to Azure GPU enabled visualization instances. 

What is Microsoft NV-series

The NV instance are optimized and designed for remote visualization, streaming, gaming, encoding and VDI scenarios utilizing frameworks such as OpenGL and DirectX, customers can use Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2012 and further virtualize with session sharing technologies such as Microsoft RDS / Citrix XenApp and do GPU sharing from Azure NV instances. 

NV6 instance is one half physically GPU NVIDIA Tesla M60 (GRID)
NV12 instance is 1 physically GPU NVIDIA Tesla M60 (GRID)
NV24 instance is 2 physically GPU NVIDIA Tesla M60 (GRID)

Below visual diagram highlights what technical ressources you get of each instance.

Limitations of NV-series:

Please notice that the NV-series SSD disk are available on temp disk (d: drive)  and NV-series VMs do not support VM disks that are backed by Azure premium storage. The primary disk (c: drive) is HDD data disk which is limited of 500 IOPS.

NVIDIA GRID vGPU is not supported with NV-series.

How to create a Microsoft NV-instance

When creating an NV-series VM using the Azure portal, on the Basics blade, select a VM disk type of HDD. To choose an available N-series size, on the Size blade, click View all.

When instance is started up you have to install the NVIDIA drivers for Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2012r2 here 

Where is Microsoft NV-series available

Microsoft NV6, NV12, NV24 is now available in following datacenters

• East US(Virginia)
• North Central US(Illinois)
• South Central US(Texas)
• West Europe (Amsterdam)
• South East (Singapore)
• NEW Japan East (Tokyo, Saitama)

Below is a visual diagram I have made of the NV series availability in the 6 new datacenters around the world.

Price pr hour example of Microsoft NV6

Below is a price example I have done with NV6 in all 6 datacenters with a hourly usage or with 1 month usage.

The price difference is not big but its important to understand if you design NV series in multiple datacenters. The cost is different.

Want help with NV-series

If you are interested in trying out Azure NV-series I highly recommend you try it out, if you are interested in getting help you are always welcome to reach out to me for my professional services. 

Source

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/overview/datacenters/how-to-choose/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/regions/services/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/calculator/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-n-series-general-availability-on-december-1/

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/n-series-driver-setup

Hi All

Its time to update your NVIDIA GRID K1, K2, M10, M6, M60 environment.

NVIDIA have released new drivers for NVIDIA GRID 4.2 for March 2017.

New in this Release:

• NVIDIA GRID 4.2 has multiple fixes that improve memory management and NVFBC optimizations that ensure that surface allocations in the Frame Buffer are managed more efficiently to increase stability. The latest release includes frame buffer residency optimizations. Now, during high-memory pressure situations where there is a lack of or high competition for frame buffer, users remain resident-in.
• Miscellaneous bug fixes
• Support for Citrix XenServer 7.1
• Support for the following Linux guest OS versions:
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3
  • CentOS 7.3
  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Important notes – Note: XenServer 7.1 is the last XenServer release supported on GRID K1 and K2. Citrix XenServer 6.2 is no longer supported.

Whats new in vGPU 367.92-369.95

NVIDIA have released a new version of vGPU 367.92-369.95 for NVIDIA GRID  (K1, K2, Tesla M6, M10 and M60 platform)

Included in this release is

• NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU Manager versions 367.92 for Citrix XenServer 6.5 SP1
• NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU Manager versions 367.92 for Citrix XenServer 7
• NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU Manager versions 367.92 for Citrix XenServer 7.1
• NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU Manager version 367.92 for VMware vSphere 6.0 Hypervisor (ESXi)
• NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU Manager version 367.92 for VMware vSphere 6.5 Hypervisor (ESXi)
• NVIDIA Windows drivers for vGPU version 369.95
• NVIDIA Linux drivers for vGPU version 367.92.

Important:

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

Windows Guest OS support in vGPU 369.95

GRID vGPU 369.95 supports following Windows release as a guest OS

• Microsoft Windowss 7 (32/64bit)
• Microsoft Windows 8 (32/64bit)
• Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64bit)
• Microsoft Windows 10 (32/64bit)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008R2
• Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
• Microsoft Windows Server 2016

Linux Guest OS support in vGPU 367.92

GRID vGPU 367.92 supports following Linux distributions as a guest OS only on supported Tesla GPUs
Import: GRID K1/K2 do not support vGPU on Linux guest os.

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0-7.3
• CentOS 7.0-7.3
• Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
• Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

Guide – Update existing vGPU GRID Manager (Hypervisor)

GRID vGPU Manager 367.92 for Citrix XenServer 6.5

If you have a NVIDIA GRID K1, K2, M6, M60 vGPU GRID manager installed in Citrix XenServer. Upgrade with one of below methodology:

Methodology 1 – the manual way “No GUI”

Upgrading an existing installation of the NVIDIA driver on Citrix XenServer 6.5, use the rpm -U command to upgrade:

If you have NVIDIA GRID K1 / K2

[root@localhost ~]# rpm -Uv NVIDIA-vGPU-kepler-xenserver-6.5-367.92.x86_64.rpm 
Preparing packages for installation...

If you have NVIDIA GRID TESLA M10 / M6 / M60

[root@localhost ~]# rpm -Uv NVIDIA-vGPU-xenserver-6.5-367.92.x86_64.rpm 
Preparing packages for installation...

The recommendation from NVIDIA is to shutdown all VMs using a GPU. The machine does continue to work during the update, but since you need to reboot the XenServer itself, it’s better to gracefully shutdown the VMs. So after your VMs have been shutdown and you upgraded the NVIDIA driver, you can reboot your host.

[root@localhost ~]# xe host-disable
[root@localhost ~]# xe host-reboot

Methodology 2 – the “GUI” way

Select Install Update… from the Tools menu
 Click Next after going through the instructions on the Before You Start section
 Click Add on the Select Update section and open NVIDIA’s XenServer Supplemental Pack ISO

If you have NVIDIA GRID K1 / K2 select following file:

“NVIDIA-vGPU-kepler-xenserver-6.5-367.92.x86_64.iso ”

If you have NVIDIA GRID M10/ M6/M60 select following file:

“NVIDIA-vGPU-xenserver-6.5-352.83.x86_64.iso ”

Click Next on the Select Update section
 In the Select Servers section select all the XenServer hosts on which the Supplemental Pack should be installed on and click Next
 Click Next on the Upload section once the Supplemental Pack has been uploaded to all the XenServer hosts
Getting Started
 Click Next on the Prechecks section
 Click Install Update on the Update Mode section
 Click Finish on the Install Update section

After the XenServer platform has rebooted, verify that the GRID package installed and loaded correctly by checking for the NVIDIA kernel driver in the list of kernel loaded modules.

Validate from putty or XenCenter CLI

run lsmod | grep nvidia

Verify that the NVIDIA kernel driver can successfully communicate with the GRID physical GPUs in your system by running the nvidia-smi command, which should produce a listing of the GPUs in your platform:

Check driver version is 367.92, if it is then your host is ready for GPU awesomeness and make your VM rock.

GRID vGPU Manager 367.92 for Citrix XenServer 7

If you have a NVIDIA GRID K1, K2, M6, M60 vGPU GRID manager installed in Citrix XenServer. Upgrade with one of below methodology:

Methodology 1 – the manual way “No GUI”

Upgrading an existing installation of the NVIDIA driver on Citrix XenServer 7, use the rpm -U command to upgrade:

If you have NVIDIA GRID K1 / K2

[root@localhost ~]# rpm -Uv NVIDIA-vGPU-kepler-xenserver-7.0-367.92.x86_64.rpm 
Preparing packages for installation...

If you have NVIDIA GRID TESLA M10 / M6 / M60

[root@localhost ~]# rpm -Uv NVIDIA-vGPU-xenserver-7.0-367.92.x86_64.rpm 
Preparing packages for installation...

The recommendation from NVIDIA is to shutdown all VMs using a GPU. The machine does continue to work during the update, but since you need to reboot the XenServer itself, it’s better to gracefully shutdown the VMs. So after your VMs have been shutdown and you upgraded the NVIDIA driver, you can reboot your host.

[root@localhost ~]# xe host-disable
[root@localhost ~]# xe host-reboot

Methodology 2 – the “GUI” way

Select Install Update… from the Tools menu
 Click Next after going through the instructions on the Before You Start section
 Click Add on the Select Update section and open NVIDIA’s XenServer Supplemental Pack ISO

If you have NVIDIA GRID K1 / K2 select following file:

“NVIDIA-vGPU-kepler-xenserver-7.0-367.92.x86_64.iso ”

If you have NVIDIA GRID M10/ M6/M60 select following file:

“NVIDIA-vGPU-xenserver-7.0-352.83.x86_64.iso ”

Click Next on the Select Update section
 In the Select Servers section select all the XenServer hosts on which the Supplemental Pack should be installed on and click Next
 Click Next on the Upload section once the Supplemental Pack has been uploaded to all the XenServer hosts
Getting Started
 Click Next on the Prechecks section
 Click Install Update on the Update Mode section
 Click Finish on the Install Update section

After the XenServer platform has rebooted, verify that the GRID package installed and loaded correctly by checking for the NVIDIA kernel driver in the list of kernel loaded modules.

Validate from putty or XenCenter CLI

run lsmod | grep nvidia

Verify that the NVIDIA kernel driver can successfully communicate with the GRID physical GPUs in your system by running the nvidia-smi command, which should produce a listing of the GPUs in your platform:

Check driver version is 367.92, if it is then your host is ready for GPU awesomeness and make your VM rock.

GRID vGPU Manager 367.92 for Citrix XenServer 7.1

If you have a NVIDIA GRID K1, K2, M6, M60 vGPU GRID manager installed in Citrix XenServer. Upgrade with one of below methodology:

Methodology 1 – the manual way “No GUI”

Upgrading an existing installation of the NVIDIA driver on Citrix XenServer 7.1, use the rpm -U command to upgrade:

If you have NVIDIA GRID K1 / K2

[root@localhost ~]# rpm -Uv NVIDIA-vGPU-kepler-xenserver-7.1-367.92.x86_64.rpm 
Preparing packages for installation...

If you have NVIDIA GRID TESLA M10 / M6 / M60

[root@localhost ~]# rpm -Uv NVIDIA-vGPU-xenserver-7.1-367.92.x86_64.rpm 
Preparing packages for installation...

The recommendation from NVIDIA is to shutdown all VMs using a GPU. The machine does continue to work during the update, but since you need to reboot the XenServer itself, it’s better to gracefully shutdown the VMs. So after your VMs have been shutdown and you upgraded the NVIDIA driver, you can reboot your host.

[root@localhost ~]# xe host-disable
[root@localhost ~]# xe host-reboot

Methodology 2 – the “GUI” way

Select Install Update… from the Tools menu
 Click Next after going through the instructions on the Before You Start section
 Click Add on the Select Update section and open NVIDIA’s XenServer Supplemental Pack ISO

If you have NVIDIA GRID K1 / K2 select following file:

“NVIDIA-vGPU-kepler-xenserver-7.1-367.92.x86_64.iso ”

If you have NVIDIA GRID M10/ M6/M60 select following file:

“NVIDIA-vGPU-xenserver-7.1-352.83.x86_64.iso ”

Click Next on the Select Update section
 In the Select Servers section select all the XenServer hosts on which the Supplemental Pack should be installed on and click Next
 Click Next on the Upload section once the Supplemental Pack has been uploaded to all the XenServer hosts
Getting Started
 Click Next on the Prechecks section
 Click Install Update on the Update Mode section
 Click Finish on the Install Update section

After the XenServer platform has rebooted, verify that the GRID package installed and loaded correctly by checking for the NVIDIA kernel driver in the list of kernel loaded modules.

Validate from putty or XenCenter CLI

run lsmod | grep nvidia

Verify that the NVIDIA kernel driver can successfully communicate with the GRID physical GPUs in your system by running the nvidia-smi command, which should produce a listing of the GPUs in your platform:

Check driver version is 367.92, if it is then your host is ready for GPU awesomeness and make your VM rock.

GRID vGPU Manager 367.92 for VMware vSphere 6.0

To update the NVIDIA GPU VIB, you must uninstall the currently installed VIB and install the new VIB.

To uninstall the currently installed VIB:

1. Stop all virtual machines using 3D acceleration.
2. Place the ESXi host into Maintenance mode.
3. Open a command prompt on the ESXi host.
4. Stop the xorg service by running the command:/etc/init.d/xorg stop
5. Remove the NVIDIA VMkernel driver by running the command:vmkload_mod -u nvidia
6. Identify the NVIDIA VIB name by running this command:esxcli software vib list | grep NVIDIA
7. Remove the VIB by running the command:esxcli software vib remove -n nameofNVIDIAVIBYou can now install a new NVIDIA GPU VIB
8. Use the esxcli command to install the vGPU Manager package:

If you have NVIDIA GRID K1 / K2 select following file:

[root@lesxi ~] esxcli software vib install -v /NVIDIA-vGPU-kepler-VMware_ESXi_6.0_Host_Driver_367.92-1OEM.600.0.0.2494585.vib

If you have NVIDIA GRID TESLA M10 / M6 / M60 select following file:

[root@lesxi ~] esxcli software vib install -v /NVIDIA-vGPU-VMware_ESXi_6.0_Host_Driver_367.92-1OEM.600.0.0.2494585.vib

After the ESXi host has rebooted, verify that the GRID package installed and loaded correctly by checking for the NVIDIA kernel driver in the list of kernel loaded modules.

[root@lesxi ~]# vmkload_mod -l | grep nvidia 
Preparing packages for installation...

Validate

run nvidia-smi

Verify that the NVIDIA kernel driver can successfully communicate with the GRID physical GPUs in your system by running the nvidia-smi command, which should produce a listing of the GPUs in your platform:

Check driver version is 367.92, if it is then your host is ready for GPU awesomeness and make your VM rock.

GRID vGPU Manager 367.92 for VMware vSphere 6.5

To update the NVIDIA GPU VIB, you must uninstall the currently installed VIB and install the new VIB.

To uninstall the currently installed VIB:

1. Stop all virtual machines using 3D acceleration.
2. Place the ESXi host into Maintenance mode.
3. Open a command prompt on the ESXi host.
4. Stop the xorg service by running the command:/etc/init.d/xorg stop
5. Remove the NVIDIA VMkernel driver by running the command:vmkload_mod -u nvidia
6. Identify the NVIDIA VIB name by running this command:esxcli software vib list | grep NVIDIA
7. Remove the VIB by running the command:esxcli software vib remove -n nameofNVIDIAVIBYou can now install a new NVIDIA GPU VIB
8. Use the esxcli command to install the vGPU Manager package:

If you have NVIDIA GRID K1 / K2 select following file:

[root@lesxi ~] esxcli software vib install -v /NVIDIA-vGPU-kepler-VMware_ESXi_6.5_Host_Driver_367.92-1OEM.650.0.0.2494585.vib

If you have NVIDIA GRID TESLA M10 / M6 / M60 select following file:

[root@lesxi ~] esxcli software vib install -v /NVIDIA-vGPU-VMware_ESXi_6.5_Host_Driver_367.92-1OEM.650.0.0.2494585.vib

After the ESXi host has rebooted, verify that the GRID package installed and loaded correctly by checking for the NVIDIA kernel driver in the list of kernel loaded modules.

[root@lesxi ~]# vmkload_mod -l | grep nvidia 
Preparing packages for installation...

Validate

run nvidia-smi

Verify that the NVIDIA kernel driver can successfully communicate with the GRID physical GPUs in your system by running the nvidia-smi command, which should produce a listing of the GPUs in your platform:

Check driver version is 367.92, if it is then your host is ready for GPU awesomeness and make your VM rock.

Update existing vGPU Driver (Virtual Machine)

When the hypervisor vGPU GRID manager is updated next is updating the Virtual Machines vGPU driver.

• 369.95_grid_win8_win7_32bit_international.exe
• 369.95_grid_win8_win7_server2012R2_server2008R2_64bit_international.exe
• 369.95_grid_win10_32bit_international.exe
• 369.95_grid_win10_server2016_64bit_international.exe
• NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-367.92-grid.run (only available with M10/M6/M60)

The vGPU driver for Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 is available with NVIDIA GRID vGPU download. This is available for both K1/K2/M10/M6/M60

The vGPU driver for Linux is only available for vGPU with following Tesla GPU M10/M6/M60

Update your Golden Images and reprovisioning the new virtual machines with updated vGPU drivers, if you have stateless machines update vGPU drivers on each.

#HINT – Express upgrade of drivers is the recommended option according to the setup. If you use the “Custom” option, you will have the option to do a “clean” installation. The downside of the “clean installation” is that it will remove all profiles and custom settings. The pro of using the clean installation option is that it will reinstall the complete driver, meaning that there will be no old driver files left on the system. I most of the time recommends using a “Clean” installation to keep it vanilla 🙂

#HINT (Citrix XenDesktop 7.6-7.11 customers)

The NVIDIA GRID API provides direct access to the frame buffer of the GPU, providing the fastest possible frame rate for a smooth and interactive user experience. If you install NVIDIA drivers before you install a VDA with HDX 3D Pro, NVIDIA GRID is enabled by default.

To enable NVIDIA GRID on a VM, disable Microsoft Basic Display Adapter from the Device Manager. Run the following command and then restart the VDA: Montereyenable.exe -enable -noreset

If you install NVIDIA drivers after you install a VDA with HDX 3D Pro, NVIDIA GRID is disabled. Enable NVIDIA GRID by using the Montereyenable tool provided by NVIDIA.

To disable NVIDIA GRID, run the following command and then restart the VDA: Montereyenable.exe -disable -noreset

#HINT (Citrix XenDesktop 7.12/7.13 customers)

The NVIDIA GRID API provides direct access to the frame buffer of the GPU, providing the fastest possible frame rate for a smooth and interactive user experience. If you install NVIDIA drivers before you install a VDA with HDX 3D Pro, NVIDIA GRID is enabled by default.

To enable NVIDIA GRID on a VM, disable Microsoft Basic Display Adapter from the Device Manager. Run the following command and then restart the VDA: NVFBCEnable.exe -enable -noreset

If you install NVIDIA drivers after you install a VDA with HDX 3D Pro, NVIDIA GRID is disabled. Enable NVIDIA GRID by using the NVFBCEnable tool provided by NVIDIA.

To disable NVIDIA GRID, run the following command and then restart the VDA: NVFBCEnable.exe -disable -noreset

Source

GRID K1/K2 – sources

Download vGPU 352.83-354.80 for XenServer 6.5 for GRID K1 / K2 here

Download vGPU 352.83-354.80 for XenServer 7.0 for GRID K1 / K2 here

Download vGPU 367.92-369.95 for XenServer 7.1 for GRID K1 / K2 here

Download vGPU 367.92-369.95 for vSphere 6 for GRID K1 / K2 here

Download vGPU 367.92-369.95 for vSphere 6.5 for GRID K1 / K2 here

Tesla M10/M6/M60 – sources

vGPU Grid Manager + Drivers are only available to customers and NVIDIA NPN partners for M10/M6/M60.

Download if you are a NPN partner

Download if you are a GRID M10, M6, M60 customer

vGPU 367.92-369.95 for XenServer 6.5 for Tesla M10 / M6 / M60

vGPU 367.92-369.95 for XenServer 7 for Tesla M10 / M6 / M60

vGPU 367.92-369.95 for XenServer 7.1 for Tesla M10 / M6 / M60

vGPU 367.92-396.95 for vSphere 6 for Tesla M10 / M6 / M60

vGPU 367.92-396.95 for vSphere 6.5 for Tesla M10 / M6 / M60

Other Sources

NVIDIA blog – https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2017/03/10/nvidia-grid-march-2017/ 

HPE m710x & Citrix – Next gen engineer workstation

What is the m710x?

Which HPE appliance can you add the m710x in

Now HPE has a new server catridges available and a new appliance that targets a new business opportunity for SMB/medium customers. Previously you needed to buy a Moonshot 1500 solution that was a 4.3 U chassis, where you could add up to 45 server cartridges. This have changed and new offerings are now available from HPE. These include Edgeline. HPE Edgeline EL1000 Converged IoT System support one HPE Proliant server cartridge and HPE Edgeline EL4000 Converged IoT System, which support up to four HPE Proliant server cartridges. This is great for business that would like CPU/GPU/Fast storage and IO in small capacity but require fast performance. These appliances are also built for IoT systems. This means that HPE Edgeline is a more accessible solution for companies no matter their size or demand.

Testing Methology

I have been testing the m710x with Citrix XenDesktop 7.9 HDX 3D Pro and Windows 10 anniversary edition. I tested several applications from Autodesk, PTC, Siemens and Rheino.

The goal was to show the user experience how it is compared to NVIDIA GRID, which is industry standard of GPU enabled desktop/apps. This is not a benchmark measuring time to load, its simply testing the user responsiveness of one connection which is m710x (2GB video memory) vs NVIDIA GRID K2 K260Q profile (2GB video memory).

Test Setup

To the left the HPE m710x and to the right HPE DL 380Gen9 with NVIDIA GRID K2

Latest OS + GPU driver + VDA at that current time was installed on HPE m710x

Latest Hypervisor + OS + vGPU driver + VDA at that current time was installed on HPE DL 380Gen9

The GPU driver what is seen inside GPU-Z.

Use case and user profiling CAD applications

Latest CAD applications from Autodesk was used such as AutoCAD, Revit, 3DSMax, VRED, Showcase, Fusion360 and Siemens FeMap, Rheino and PTC Creo.

Methodology

This is the methodology I use. I am not using any automated scripts or software to simulate mouse moment, I am using a manual process so the human eye can judge the user experience.

Below video shows the user experience on the left the m710x and on the right the NVIDIA GRID k260Q profile.

User experience with Autodesk AutoCAD 2017 on m710x vs NVIDIA GRID K2 – K260Q

User experience with Autodesk Fusion 360 on m710x vs NVIDIA GRID K2 – K260Q

User experience with Autodesk Fusion 360 on m710x vs NVIDIA GRID K2 – K260Q

User experience with Autodesk Revit 2017 on m710x vs NVIDIA GRID K2 – K260Q

User experience with Autodesk Revit 2017 on m710x vs NVIDIA GRID K2 – K260Q

User experience with Autodesk Inventor 2017 on m710x vs NVIDIA GRID K2 – K260Q

User experience with Autodesk Inventor 2017 on m710x vs NVIDIA GRID K2 – K260Q

User experience with Autodesk Showcase 2016 on m710x vs NVIDIA GRID K2 – K260Q

User experience with Autodesk Showcase 2016 on m710x vs NVIDIA GRID K2 – K260Q

User experience with Siemens FeMap on m710x vs NVIDIA GRID K2 – K260Q

User experience with Rheino on m710x vs NVIDIA GRID K2 – K260Q

User experience with PTC Creo on m710x vs NVIDIA GRID K2 – K260Q

Summary of keyfindings with m710x for mainstream CAD requirements.

• m710x works great and reduces the complexity of having virtualising with a hypervisor and having to virtualise a GPU, plus  it reduces the cost and you get bare metal performance. The advantage with intel is that the GPU instructions are send directly in the chip as CPU/GPU is 1 chip and GPU is not going through a PCIexpress board.
• To install OS, Apps for persistent its recommended using Microsoft SCCM or RES Automation Manager, and if you would like to have a simplified image strategy Citrix Provisioning is the preferred option for HPE Moonshot, which also can do caching in memory and fallback to storage this could potentially speed up the IOPS even more than M.2.
• Its recommend doing an assessment to see if you are below 2GB frame buffer to take advantage of the m710x, many companies that uses CAD is below this as of now, but if you required more GPU memory then NVIDIA/AMD is a better choice as they have Quadro/GRID that can give 3GB+ and above video memory+ lots of compute. The m710x can open 4Gb models but then it will put 1GB in CPU/GPU and 1GB in memory and 2GB in pagefile, where NVIDIA would put all in their GPU memory. This is why its recommended using assessment software such as UberAgent to understand how much GPU you are currently using.
• User experience is king with HPE m710x, the cartridge with Windows 10 anniversary update and Citrix XenDesktop 7.9 HDX 3D Pro is ready for CAD vendors such as Siemens, PTC and Autodesk.
• Applications performance is great, fast and no graphics elements are lost. Graphics are smooth, responsive and acceptable.
• The performance of the CAD applications in these test are equal with Intel P580 vs GRID K2 K260Q.
• Elements such as loading large files, zoom-in, rotating, working in layers and rendering works great with HPE m710x.
• The new HPE m710x catridge is ready for mainstream CAD requirements.

I highly recommend you test your own models as above is samples I have found and customer data is always different, some samples are smaller others are larger.

How to get Involved – HPE Global Innovation Labs

Partner and customer engagement, interaction, assessment and colloboration on solution development and applications.

HPE can help with

• Build, testing and pre-validation of Edgeline systems and end-to-end solutions
• Integrated real-life “Edge Experience Zones“ to interact with and highlight industry applications
• On-site access or secure remote access
• Datacenter connectivity and testing

Try here https://www.hpe.com/us/en/servers/global-innovation-lab.html

Poppelgaard.com – Professional Services

Above article is written myself as an independent blogger/consultant and the results of the testing of the CAD applications was accomplished by Thomas Poppelgaard and sponsored by HPE. The methodology are as is and samples can be required if the readers would like the material to reproduce the same results.

if you are interested in testing your applications on the ProLiant Server Catridges – please dont hesitate to contact me a thomas@poppelgaard.com
I can also help with above value added tasks plus much more 🙂

Source

recommended articles to read about the new Moonshot/Edgeline productline

HPE Proliant server cartridge m510 and m710x building blocks for Citrix

HPE Moonshot Reinvented

Citrix have released a new version of Citrix XenDesktop 7.11 and XenApp 7.11 and is now available for download.

Citrix raises the bar of for user experience and new product release of following technologies

• Virtual Delivery Agents 7.11 for ServerOS and ClientOS
• AppDNA 7.11
• Storefront 3.7
• Provisioning Services 7.11
• Profile Management 5.5
• License Server 11.14
• Citrix Receiver 15.0 for Windows
• HDX RealTime Optimization Pack 2.1.1 for Microsoft Skype® for Busines
• Citrix SCOM Management Bundle for XenApp and XenDesktop (2016_08_24)
• Linux Virtual Delivery Agent 1.4
• Tech preview for HTML5 redirection

This release is an important release no matter if you are working daily with Office application such as Excel, Word or Browsers and even highend applications such as CAD. The features in 7.11 have important improved user experience from the VDA to the Receiver that improves dramtically the user experience. NVIDIA NVENC technology is now part of VDA and supports even multiple monitors. The admin can now monitor RTT within Director this feature have been something I have asked for very long time and now finally its in the product, customer will love this new feature so its fast to see where the issue is in a infrastructure with which users that have latency issues. Version 7.11 is the release that fully supports Microsoft Windows Server 2016 that is soon GA, this means you can install Delivery components on Windows Server 2016, VDA on Server 2016, use Azure N-series with support for Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V Discrete Device Assignment (DDA) or you can use it onpremises with Hyper-V. Support for UWP is HUGE and I am very excited about this technology and this also used in Microsoft Hololens so cant wait to a Receiver for hololens so you can publish UWP apps to Hololens 😉 Imagine that. I can keep going on with all these new features lets dig in below and learn whats new, its incredible that Citrix raises the bar and comes with huge improvements and they this each 3 months 🙂 yes each 3months, you read it correct. If you dont have a plan for this in your company I highly recommend you build a strategy on how you upgrade you Citrix environment frequently to get these awesome new features.

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.”

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.

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

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