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Transforming BIM to Remote Workspaces with HPE Edgeline, NVIDIA and VMware

HPE Edgeline BIM/Engineering Workstation – Overview

The new offerings have new enhanced GPU capability with the HPE Proliant m750 and providing a dedicated GPU from NVIDIA more specific the NVIDIA P1000 or NVIDIA T4. The solution requires no hypervisors and lowers complexity while enabling the mobility of users and enhancing user experience. This solution is designed to meet the requirements of power users such as designers, architects and visualizers that require high performance with reduced physical footprint, and targeted towards 1-499 users.

Challenges with CAD workstations today

  • Engineers are chained to desk
  • Not flexible with getting compute as they need
  • No scalable solution
  • Data requires to be copy down from network locations and can take long time
  • Data requires to be modified quickly and takes long time with synchronising−Engineers can’t work on any device 

Transforming high end workspace to current working style

Benefits of replacing physically BIM workstations with HPE remote workstations.

  • Move physically workstation to a central location and unchain engineers for their desk
  • Work from Home−Centralizing compute
  • Benefit of a scalable GPU solution
  • Benefit from central datacenter performance accessing the CAD/BIM files
  • IT Security and IP Protection 
  • Providing mobility to work from any device such as tablet
  • Providing engineers/designers a great dedicated and guaranteed user experience

Expanding the bare metal VDI family

HPE now have 3 hardware solutions and its 3 different form factors.

  • HPE Moonshot 1500
  • HPE Edgeline EL4000
  • HPE Edgeline EL8000 / EL8000t

HPE now supports VMware Horizon on all Moonshot/Edgeline solutions with bare metal but also running virtualised with VMware ESX & VMware Horizon.

I am proud to share that I was interviewed as part of HPE announcement of the new Bare Metal VDI for Engineering & BIM workstations; see the above video where you can see the new HPE Moonshot/Edgeline offerings and also a customer sharing their experience.

VMware Horizon supporting Bare Metal

VMware has been supporting bare metal setup for a while actually let’s dig into the facts.

  • VMware Horizon RDSH has been supporting Bare metal since Horizon 6, which is 6.5 years.
  • VMware PCoIP has been supporting +10years with host card for bare metal
  • VMware Blast for VDI has been supporting Bare metal for the last 2 years and have been supporting Windows 1803 or 1809.

The big news is that as of today, officially, HPE is supporting VMware Horizon on bare metal in HPE Moonshot and Edgeline. It used to be only Citrix that was positioned the last 7 years and this changes today, which I am really excited about as the platform becomes more open as it should and can benefit customers in the world.

HPE Edgeline and VMware Horizon 8 Architecture

Let’s dig in to the architecture.

HPE Edgeline and VMware Horizon show in the below picture you can use VMware Horizon cloud, but it’s also fully supported with onprem VMware Horizon infrastructure if you have a requirement for that. You can use a thin client from HP T740 which is the best hardware thin client on the market that also can decode multiple 4K monitors without any user experience gets impacted. The great thing about below archictecture is you can have 4 physical workstation’s in 1U centralised in your datacenter or edge location without compromising user experience with virtualising. The power of bare metal is you get exactly what the hardware can deliver. Now that said, if you wanna virtualise below hardware, you can do that with no issues and it is fully supported as well.

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NVIDIA vGPU Software v 10.0

Hi All

Its time to plan updating your NVIDIA TESLA M6, M10, M60, P4, P6, P40, P100, V100, T4, RTX6000, RTX8000 with NVIDIA vGPU software 10.0. NVIDIA have released new drivers for vGPU 10.0.

I have in this article also included which Public Cloud instance is available with NVIDIA GPUs and which license is BYO or provided by the public cloud provider such as Alibaba, Azure, AWS, GCP, Alibaba.

For a list of validated server platforms, refer to NVIDIA vGPU Certified Servers.

Important:

  • Citrix XenServer 7.0, 7.1 is not supported with NVIDIA Tesla T4
  • NVIDIA vGPU 10.0 is supported with VMware Horizon 7.11, 7.10, 7.9, 7.8, 7.7, 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, 7.3, 7.2, 7.1, 7.0, 6.2
  • NVIDIA vGPU 10.0 is only supported with Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops 7.15, 7 1808, 7 1903, 7 1906, 7 1909, 7 1912 in HDX 3D Pro mode
  • If you are a customer using XenServer 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5 its no longer supported with NVIDIA vGPU 10.0 and should plan upgrading to Citrix Hypervisor 8.1

This release includes the following software:

  • NVIDIA vGPU Manager version 440.43 for the Citrix Hypervisor, VMware vSphere, RHEL KVM, Nutanix AHV
  • NVIDIA Windows driver version 441.66
  • NVIDIA Linux driver version 440.43

New Features in Release 10.0

  • Support for NVIDIA® GRID™ Virtual PC and GRID Virtual Applications on Quadro RTX 6000 and Quadro RTX 8000 GPUs
  • Increase in the maximum number of virtual display heads supported by -1Q, -2B, and -1B4 vGPUs:
    • All -1Q vGPUs now support 4 heads instead of 2 heads.
    • All -2B vGPUs now support 4 heads instead of 2 heads.
    • All -1B4 vGPUs now support 4 heads instead of 1 head.
  • Flexible virtual display resolutions

    Instead of a fixed maximum resolution per head, vGPUs now support a maximum combined resolution based on their frame buffer size. This behavior allows the same number of lower resolution displays to be used as before, but alternatively allows a smaller number of higher resolution displays to be used.

  • Virtual display resolutions greater than 4096×2160
  • 10-bit color
  • Changes to allow cross-branch driver support in future main release branches
    Note: This feature cannot be used until the next NVIDIA vGPU software main release branch is available.

    The purpose of this change is to allow a release of the Virtual GPU Manager from a later main release branch to be used with the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics drivers for the guest VMs from the previous branch.

  • Miscellaneous bug fixes

Hardware and Software Support Introduced in Release 10.0

  • Support for passively cooled Quadro RTX 6000 and Quadro RTX 8000 GPUs
  • Support for Tesla V100S PCIe 32GB GPUs
  • Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.1 as a guest OS
  • Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 and CentOS 8.0 as a guest OS
  • Support for Windows 10 November 2019 Update (1909) as a guest OS
  • Support for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops version 7 1912
  • Support for Citrix Hypervisor 8.1
  • Support for VMware Horizon 7.11

Features Deprecated in Release 10.0

The following table lists features that are deprecated in this release of NVIDIA vGPU software. Although the features remain available in this release, they might be withdrawn in a future release. In preparation for the possible removal of these features, use the preferred alternative listed in the table.

Deprecated Feature Preferred Alternative
-1B4 vGPU types -1B vGPU types
-2B4 vGPU types -2B vGPU types

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NVIDIA vGPU Software v 9.0

Hi All

Its time to plan updating your NVIDIA TESLA M6, M10, M60, P4, P6, P40, P100, V100, T4, RTX6000, RTX8000 with NVIDIA vGPU software 9.0

NVIDIA have released new drivers for NVIDIA vGPU 9.0 for June 2019 This new-feature branch is supported until June 2020.

I have in this article also included which Public Cloud instance is available with NVIDIA GPUs and which license is BYO or provided by the public cloud provider such as Alibaba, Azure, AWS, GCP. One of the news is that Alibaba is supporting vGPU in their offerings which is pretty awesome.

For a list of validated server platforms, refer to NVIDIA vGPU Certified Servers.

Important:

  • Citrix XenServer 7.0, 7.1 is not supported with NVIDIA Tesla T4
  • NVIDIA vGPU 9.0 is supported with VMware Horizon 7.9 7.8, 7.7, 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, 7.3, 7.2, 7.1, 7.0, 6.2
  • NVIDIA vGPU 9.0 is only supported with Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops 7.15, 7.18, 7 1903, 7 1906 in HDX 3D Pro mode
  • If you are a customer using XenServer 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5 its no longer supported with NVIDIA vGPU 9.0 and should plan upgrading to XenServer 7.6 or Citrix Hypervisor 8.0

This release includes the following software:

  • NVIDIA vGPU Manager version 430.27 for the Citrix Hypervisor, VMware vSphere, RHEL KVM, Nutanix AHV
  • NVIDIA Windows driver version 431.02
  • NVIDIA Linux driver version 430.30

New in this Release:

  • New Features in Release 9.0

    • NVIDIA vComputeServer vGPUs for artificial intelligence, deep learning, and high-performance computing workloads
    • Error correcting code (ECC) memory support
    • Page retirement support
    • Peer-to-peer CUDA transfers over NVLinksupport
    • Configurable times slices for equal share schedulers and fixed share schedulers
    • New configuration parameter to specify host ID of a licensed client

    Hardware and Software Support Introduced in Release 9.0

    • Support for Windows 10 May 2019 Update (1903) as a guest OS
    • Support for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS as a guest OS on Citrix Hypervisor 7.1 cumulative update 2
    • Support for the Tesla T4 GPU on Nutanix AHV
    • Support for VMware Horizon 7.9

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NVIDIA vGPU Software v 8.0

Hi All

Its time to plan updating your NVIDIA TESLA M6, M10, M60, P4, P6, P40, P100, V100, T4, RTX6000, RTX8000 with NVIDIA vGPU software 8.0

NVIDIA have released new drivers for NVIDIA vGPU 8.0 for April 2019

NVIDIA vGPU 8.0 is a MAJOR release with many new software features + support for the new RTX6000 and RTX8000 GPUs, which are NVIDIA flagship for Real Time Raytracing. The great thing is now they have vGPU capabilities, which is a BIG NEWS.

I have in this article also included which Public Cloud instance is available with NVIDIA GPUs and which license is BYO or provided by the public cloud provider such as Azure, AWS, GCP.

For a list of validated server platforms, refer to NVIDIA GRID Certified Servers.

Important:

  • Citrix XenServer 7.5 is not supported with vGPU 8.0
  • Citrix XenServer 7.0, 7.1 is not supported with NVIDIA Tesla T4
  • NVIDIA vGPU 8.0 is supported with VMware Horizon 7.8, 7.7, 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, 7.3, 7.2, 7.1, 7.0, 6.2
  • NVIDIA vGPU 8.0 is only supported with Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops (aka XenDesktop) 7.15, 7.17, 7.18, 7 1808, 7 1903 in HDX 3D Pro mode
  • VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5 is no longer supported with NVIDIA vGPU 8.0
  • If you are a customer using XenServer 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5 its no longer supported with NVIDIA vGPU 8.0 and should plan upgrading to XenServer 7.6 or upcoming Citrix Hypervisor 8.0
  • Customer using Citrix XenServer 7.2, 7.3 is supported with NVIDIA vGPU 6.0 & 6.1
  • Customer using Citrix XenServer 7.4 is supported with NVIDIA vGPU 6.0 & 6.1 & 6.2
  • Customers using Citrix XenServer 7.0, 7.1, 7.6 is supported with NVIDIA vGPU 8.0
  • Customers using Citrix XenServer 7.0, 7.1 isn’t supported with XenMotion with vGPU

This release includes the following software:

  • NVIDIA vGPU  Manager version 418.66 for the Citrix XenServer, VMware vSphere, RHEL KVM, Nutanix AHV
  • NVIDIA Windows driver version 425.31
  • NVIDIA Linux driver version 418.70

New in this Release:

  • Support for the following GPUs:
    • Quadro RTX 6000
    • Quadro RTX 8000
  • Support for the following OS releases as a guest OS:
    • Windows 10 October 2018 Update (1809)
    • Windows Server 2019
  • Support for Windows Server 2019 with Hyper-V role
  • New -1B4 virtual GPU types (4K resolution/1monitor on 1GB FB)
  • Support for multiple vGPUs of the following types in a single VM:
    • RTX6000-24Q
    • RTX8000-48Q
    • Above is valid for hypervisor
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux with KVM
      • Red Hat Virtualization RHV 4.2
  • vGPU migration with ESX & XenMotion support on the following GPUs: 
    • Tesla M6
    • Tesla V100 SXM2
    • Tesla V100 SXM2 32GB
    • Tesla V100 PCIe
    • Tesla V100 PCIe 32GB
    • Tesla V100 FHHL
    • Quadro RTX 6000
    • Quadro RTX 8000
  • Miscellaneous bug fixes
  • Security updates

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NVIDIA vGPU Software 7.0

Hi All

Its time to update your NVIDIA TESLA M6, M10, M60, P4, P6, P40, P100, V100 with vGPU software 7.0

The brand “GRID” is now vGPU (Virtual GPU Software) software, in my previously articles I wrote GRID and now its branded vGPU.

NVIDIA have released new drivers for NVIDIA vGPU 7.0 for October 2018.

This release is a major release and include the fully support for VMware vSphere vMotion support for VMs that are configured with vGPU. Another major news is support for Multiple vGPU in a single VM and to a big surprise its supported with Nutanix AHV from 5.5 -> 5.9 + RHEL KVM 5.6-> 5.7. NVIDIA vGPU 7.0 now support Windows 10 (1803), Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6, CentOS 7.6, vGPU support for NVIDIA frame buffer capture metrics from the hypervisor and guest VMs and support for NVIDIA GPU Cloud (NGC) containers, NVIDIA vGPU 7.0 supports NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit 10 For more information about NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit, see CUDA Toolkit 10.0 Documentation. NVENC support for RDSH in Citrix Virtual Apps (aka XenApp).

The big advantage of Citrix XenMotion and VMware vMotion support for vGPU is customers can keep their servers healthy and run patches and upgrade environment easier without end user disruption or data loss. Customers can also run mixed workloads using same infrastructure by repurposing hosts that run VDI during the day to run HPC and other compute workloads at night. Please be aware in current release XenMotion and vMotion is only supported to move VM across host with same NVIDIA GPU type.

Important:

  • NVIDIA vGPU 7.0 is supported with VMware Horizon 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, 7.3, 7.2, 7.1, 7.0, 6.2
  • NVIDIA vGPU 7.0 is only supported with Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops (aka XenDesktop) 7.15, 7.17, 7.18, 7 1808 in HDX 3D Pro mode
  • VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5 is no longer supported with NVIDIA vGPU 7.0
  • If you are a customer using XenServer 7.2, 7.3, 7.4 its no longer supported with NVIDIA vGPU 7.0 and should plan upgrading to XenServer 7.5 or 7.6.
  • Customer using Citrix XenServer 7.2, 7.3 is supported with NVIDIA vGPU 6.0 & 6.1
  • Customer using Citrix XenServer 7.4 is supported with NVIDIA vGPU 6.0 & 6.1 & 6.2
  • Customers using Citrix XenServer 7.0, 7.1, 7.5, 7.6 is supported with NVIDIA vGPU 7.0
  • Customers using Citrix XenServer 7.0, 7.1 isn’t supported with XenMotion with vGPU

This release includes the following software:

  • NVIDIA vGPU  Manager version 410.68 for the Citrix XenServer, VMware vSphere, RHEL KVM, Nutanix AHV
  • NVIDIA Windows driver version 411.81
  • NVIDIA Linux driver version 410.71

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