HP ProLiant WS460c HP Hardware Accelerated Graphics for Desktop Virtualization - Page 4

Pass-through GPU, Advantages

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Technical white paper | HP Hardware Accelerated Graphics for Desktop Virtualization Pass-through GPU Also referred to generically as "Direct Attached GPU", or vendor specific "vDGA" (VMware) and "GPU pass-through" (Citrix). This method allows discrete PCI GPU devices to be directly mapped to a virtual machine for dedicated 1:1 use by the VM (see figure 2). The virtual machine has full and direct access to GPU, including the native graphics driver, allowing for full workstation class graphics and GPU compute performance in a virtual machine. Typically intended for high end 3D and GPU Compute users, the GPU device is directly owned and managed by the VM operating systems just as in a desktop workstation. The GPU driver is loaded within the virtual machine. Figure 2. Pass-through GPU model Enterprise hypervisors using this technology include: • Citrix XenServer 6.0 and newer • VMware vSphere 5.1 and newer Advantages: • Up to eight workstation class VM's per host using HP WS460c Gen8 Graphics Server Blade with HP Multi-GPU Carrier Card • Support for all 3D technologies including DirectX 9/10/11, OpenGL 4.3, and NVIDIA CUDA via the native NVIDIA driver in the VM • Best performing solution as graphics driver resides in the VM and the virtual machines have full and direct access to a dedicated GPU (not shared), including the native graphics driver, for full workstation performance • Can mix accelerated VMs and non-accelerated on same host to maximize resource utilization Disadvantages: • Higher cost of ownership per connection as it has a dedicated GPU per virtual machine • Lower VM density per host when compared to a software virtualized GPU or non 3D desktop virtualization environment • Live migration of VM with pass-through devices is not supported 4

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Technical white paper | HP Hardware Accelerated Graphics for Desktop Virtualization
4
Pass-through GPU
Also referred to generically as “Direct Attached GPU”, or vendor specific “vDGA” (VMware) and “GPU pass-through” (Citrix).
This method allows discrete PCI GPU devices to be directly mapped to a virtual machine for dedicated 1:1 use by the VM
(see figure 2). The virtual machine has full and direct access to GPU, including the native graphics driver, allowing for full
workstation class graphics and GPU compute performance in a virtual machine. Typically intended for high end 3D and
GPU Compute users, the GPU device is directly owned and managed by the VM operating systems just as in a desktop
workstation. The GPU driver is loaded within the virtual machine.
Figure 2.
Pass-through GPU model
Enterprise hypervisors using this technology include:
•
Citrix XenServer 6.0 and newer
•
VMware vSphere 5.1 and newer
Advantages:
•
Up to eight workstation class VM’s per host using HP WS460c Gen8 Graphics Server Blade with HP Multi-GPU Carrier
Card
•
Support for all 3D technologies including DirectX 9/10/11, OpenGL 4.3, and NVIDIA CUDA via the native NVIDIA driver in
the VM
•
Best performing solution as graphics driver resides in the VM and the virtual machines have full and direct access to a
dedicated GPU (not shared), including the native graphics driver, for full workstation performance
•
Can mix accelerated VMs and non-accelerated on same host to maximize resource utilization
Disadvantages:
•
Higher cost of ownership per connection as it has a dedicated GPU per virtual machine
•
Lower VM density per host when compared to a software virtualized GPU or non 3D desktop virtualization environment
•
Live migration of VM with pass-through devices is not supported