Integrate Cisco UCS C240 M4 Rack Server with NVIDIA … UCS B200 M4 Blade Server: Delivering...
Transcript of Integrate Cisco UCS C240 M4 Rack Server with NVIDIA … UCS B200 M4 Blade Server: Delivering...
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 1 of 52
White Paper
Integrate Cisco UCS C240 M4 Rack Server with NVIDIA GRID Graphics Processing Unit Card and Citrix XenDesktop 7.6 on VMware vSphere 6
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 2 of 52
Contents
What You Will Learn ........................................................................................... 3
Cisco Unified Computing System ..................................................................... 3 Cisco UCS Manager ........................................................................................ 5 Cisco UCS Mini ................................................................................................ 5 Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect ........................................................................ 6 Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect ............................................................... 7 Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers .................................................................. 7 Cisco UCS C240 M4 Rack Server ................................................................... 8 Cisco UCS VIC 1227 Modular LOM ................................................................. 9
NVIDIA GRID Cards........................................................................................... 11 NVIDIA GRID Technology .............................................................................. 11 NVIDIA GRID GPU ........................................................................................ 11 NVIDIA GRID Accelerated Remoting ............................................................. 12 NVIDIA GRID Virtualization ............................................................................ 12 NVIDIA GRID vGPU ...................................................................................... 12
VMware vSphere 6.0 ......................................................................................... 12
Graphics Acceleration in Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp ............................ 14 Outstanding User Experience over Any Bandwidth: ...................................... 14 GPU Acceleration for Microsoft Windows Desktops ...................................... 14 GPU Acceleration for Microsoft Windows Server ........................................... 17 GPU Sharing for Citrix XenApp RDS Workloads ........................................... 17 HDX 3D Pro Requirements ............................................................................ 17
Solution Configuration ..................................................................................... 19 Configure Cisco UCS ..................................................................................... 19 Configure the GPU Card ................................................................................ 22
Configure vDGA Pass-Through GPU Deployment ......................................... 25 Prepare a Virtual Machine for vDGA Configuration ........................................ 27 Download and Install Virtual Machine GPU Drivers ....................................... 30 Verify That Applications Are Ready to Support the vGPU ............................. 33
Configure vGPU Deployment ........................................................................... 35 Configure the VMware ESXi Host Server for vGPU Configuration ................. 35 Prepare a Virtual Machine for vGPU Configuration ........................................ 37 Verify That Applications Are Ready to Support the vGPU ............................. 44 Why Use NVIDIA GRID vGPU for Graphic Deployments .............................. 46
Additional Configurations ................................................................................ 48 Install the HDX 3D Pro Virtual Desktop Agent Using the CLI ......................... 48 Install and Upgrade NVIDIA Drivers ............................................................... 48 Use HDX Monitor ........................................................................................... 48 Optimize the HDX 3D Pro User Experience ................................................... 48 Use GPU Acceleration for Microsoft Windows Server DirectX, Direct3D, and WPF Rendering ...................................................................................... 49 Use GPU Acceleration for Windows Server: Experimental GPU Acceleration for NVIDIA CUDA or OpenCL Applications ............................... 49 Use OpenGL Software Accelerator ................................................................ 50
Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 50
For More Information ........................................................................................ 51
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 3 of 52
What You Will Learn
With the increased processing power of today’s Cisco UCS® B-Series Blade Servers and C-Series Rack Servers,
applications with demanding graphics components are now being considered for virtualization. To enhance the
capability to deliver these high-performance and graphics-intensive applications, Cisco offers support for the
NVIDIA GRID K1 and K2 cards in the Cisco Unified Computing System™
(Cisco UCS) portfolio of PCI Express
(PCIe) cards for the Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers.
With the addition of the new graphics processing capabilities, the engineering, design, imaging, and marketing
departments of organizations can now experience the benefits that desktop virtualization brings to these
applications.
This new graphics capability enables organizations to centralize their graphics workloads and data in the data
center. This capability greatly benefits organizations that need to be able to shift work geographically. Until now,
graphics files have been too large to move, and the files have had to be local to the person using them to be
usable.
The PCIe graphics cards in the Cisco UCS C-Series offer these benefits:
● Support for full-length, full-power NVIDIA GRID cards in a 2-rack-unit (2RU) form factor
● Cisco UCS Manager integration for management of the servers and GRID cards
● End-to-end integration with Cisco UCS management solutions, including Cisco UCS Central Software and
Cisco UCS Director
● More efficient use of rack space with Cisco UCS C240 M4 Rack Servers with two NVIDIA GRID cards than
with the 2-slot, 2.5-inch equivalent rack unit: the HP WS460c workstation blade with the GRID card in a
second slot
An important element of this document’s design is VMware’s support for the NVIDIA GRID virtual graphics
processing unit (vGPU) in VMware vSphere 6. Prior versions of vSphere supported only virtual direct graphics
acceleration (vDGA) and virtual shared graphics acceleration (vSGA), so support for vGPU in vSphere 6 greatly
expands the range of deployment scenarios using the most versatile and efficient configuration of the GRID cards.
The purpose of this document is to help our partners and customers integrate NVIDIA GRID graphics processing
cards and Cisco UCS C240 M4 servers on VMware vSphere and Citrix XenDesktop in vDGA and vGPU modes.
Please contact our partners, NVIDIA, Citrix, and VMware, for lists of applications that are supported by the card,
hypervisor, and desktop broker in each mode.
Our objective is to provide the reader with specific methods for integrating Cisco UCS C240 M4 servers with GRID
K1 and K2 cards with VMware vSphere and Citrix products so that the servers, hypervisor, and desktop broker are
ready for installation of graphics applications.
Cisco Unified Computing System
Cisco UCS is a next-generation data center platform that unites computing, networking, and storage access. The
platform, optimized for virtual environments, is designed using open industry-standard technologies and aims to
reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) and increase business agility. The system integrates a low-latency; lossless
10 Gigabit Ethernet unified network fabric with enterprise-class, x86-architecture servers. It is an integrated,
scalable, multichassis platform in which all resources participate in a unified management domain.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 4 of 52
Figure 1. Cisco UCS Components
The main components of Cisco UCS (Figure 1) are:
● Computing: The system is based on an entirely new class of computing system that incorporates blade
servers based on Intel® Xeon
® processor E5-2600 and 4600 v3 and E7-2800 v3 family CPUs.
● Network: The system is integrated onto a low-latency, lossless, 10-Gbps unified network fabric. This
network foundation consolidates LANs, SANs, and high-performance computing (HPC) networks, which are
separate networks today. The unified fabric lowers costs by reducing the number of network adapters,
switches, and cables, and by decreasing the power and cooling requirements.
● Virtualization: The system unleashes the full potential of virtualization by enhancing the scalability,
performance, and operational control of virtual environments. Cisco security, policy enforcement, and
diagnostic features are now extended into virtualized environments to better support changing business and
IT requirements.
● Storage access: The system provides consolidated access to local storage, SAN storage, and network-
attached storage (NAS) over the unified fabric. With storage access unified, Cisco UCS can access storage
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 5 of 52
over Ethernet, Fibre Channel, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), and Small Computer System Interface
over IP (iSCSI). This capability provides customers with choice for storage access and investment
protection. In addition, server administrators can preassign storage-access policies for system connectivity
to storage resources, simplifying storage connectivity and management and helping increase productivity.
● Management: Cisco UCS uniquely integrates all system components, enabling the entire solution to be
managed as a single entity by Cisco UCS Manager. The manager has an intuitive GUI, a command-line
interface (CLI), and a robust API for managing all system configuration processes and operations.
Cisco UCS is designed to deliver:
● Reduced TCO and increased business agility
● Increased IT staff productivity through just-in-time provisioning and mobility support
● A cohesive, integrated system that unifies the technology in the data center; the system is managed,
serviced, and tested as a whole
● Scalability through a design for hundreds of discrete servers and thousands of virtual machines and the
capability to scale I/O bandwidth to match demand
● Industry standards supported by a partner ecosystem of industry leaders
Cisco UCS Manager
Cisco UCS Manager provides unified, embedded management of all software and hardware components of Cisco
UCS through an intuitive GUI, a CLI, and an XML API. The manager provides a unified management domain with
centralized management capabilities and can control multiple chassis and thousands of virtual machines.
Cisco UCS Mini
Cisco UCS Mini was incorporated into this solution to manage the Cisco UCS C240 M4 server and the NVIDIA
GRID cards. In addition, Cisco UCS Mini hosted the virtual infrastructure components such as domain controllers
and desktop broker using Cisco UCS B200 M4 Blade Servers. Cisco UCS Mini is an optional part of this reference
architecture. Another choice for managing the Cisco UCS and NVIDIA equipment is the Cisco UCS 6200 Series
Fabric Interconnects.
Cisco UCS Mini is designed for customers who need fewer servers but still want the robust management
capabilities provided by Cisco UCS Manager. This solution delivers servers, storage, and 10 Gigabit networking in
an easy-to-deploy, compact form factor (Figure 2).
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 6 of 52
Figure 2. Cisco UCS Mini
Cisco UCS Mini consists of the following components:
● Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis: A chassis can accommodate up to eight half-width Cisco UCS
B200 M4 Blade Servers.
● Cisco UCS B200 M4 Blade Server: Delivering performance, versatility, and density without compromise, the
Cisco UCS B200 M4 addresses the broadest set of workloads.
● Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect: The Cisco UCS 6324 provides the same unified server and
networking capabilities as the top-of-rack Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects embedded in the
Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis.
● Cisco UCS Manager: Cisco UCS Manager provides unified, embedded management of all software and
hardware components in a Cisco UCS Mini solution.
Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect
Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric Interconnects provide the management and communication backbone for the Cisco
UCS B-Series Blade Servers, 5100 Series Blade Server Chassis, and C-Series Rack Servers. In addition, the
firmware for the NVIDIA GRID cards can be managed using both the 6300 and 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects,
an exclusive feature of the Cisco UCS portfolio.
The chassis, blades, and rack-mount servers that are attached to the interconnects are part of a single highly
available management domain. By supporting unified fabric, the fabric interconnects provide the flexibility to
support LAN and storage connectivity for all blades within the domain at configuration time.
Typically deployed in redundant pairs, the 6300 Series Fabric Interconnects deliver uniform access to both
networks and storage to help create a fully virtualized environment.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 7 of 52
Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect
Cisco UCS 6324 (Figure 3) offers several major features and benefits that reduce TCO, including:
● Bandwidth of up to 500 Gbps
● Ports capable of line-rate, low-latency, lossless 1 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet, FCoE, and 8-, 4-, and 2-Gbps
Fibre Channel
● Centralized management with Cisco UCS Manager software
● Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis capabilities for cooling and serviceability
● Quad Enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable (QSFP+) port for rack-mount server connectivity
Figure 3. Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect
Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers
Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers keep pace with Intel Xeon processor innovation by offering the latest
processors with an increase in processor frequency and improved security and availability features. With the
increased performance provided by the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 and E5-2600 v2 product families, C-Series
servers offer an improved price-to-performance ratio. They also extend Cisco UCS innovations to an industry-
standard rack-mount form factor, including a standards-based unified network fabric, Cisco® VN-Link virtualization
support, and Cisco Extended Memory Technology.
Designed to operate both in standalone environments and as part of Cisco UCS, these servers enable
organizations to deploy systems incrementally—using as many or as few servers as needed—on a schedule that
best meets the organization’s timing and budget. C-Series servers offer investment protection through the
capability to deploy them either as standalone servers or as part of Cisco UCS.
One compelling reason that many organizations prefer rack-mount servers is the wide range of I/O options
available in the form of PCIe adapters. C-Series servers support a broad range of I/O options, including interfaces
supported by Cisco as well as adapters from third parties.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 8 of 52
Cisco UCS C240 M4 Rack Server
The Cisco UCS C240 M4 (Figures 4 and 5 and Table 1) is designed for both performance and expandability over a
wide range of storage-intensive infrastructure workloads, from big data to collaboration. The enterprise-class C240
M4 server further extends the capabilities of the Cisco UCS portfolio in a 2RU form factor with the addition of the
Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 and E5-2600 v2 product families, which deliver an outstanding combination of
performance, flexibility, and efficiency gains.
The C240 M4 offers up to two Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 or E5-2600 v2 CPUs, 24 DIMM slots, 24 disk drives,
and four 1 Gigabit Ethernet LAN-on-motherboard (LOM) ports to provide exceptional levels of internal memory and
storage expandability and exceptional performance.
The C240 M4 interfaces with the Cisco UCS virtual interface card (VIC). The VIC is a virtualization-optimized FCoE
PCIe 2.0 x8 10-Gbps adapter designed for use with C-Series Rack Servers. The VIC is a dual-port 10 Gigabit
Ethernet PCIe adapter that can support up to 256 PCIe standards-compliant virtual interfaces, which can be
dynamically configured so that both their interface type (network interface card [NIC] or host bus adapter [HBA])
and identity (MAC address and worldwide name [WWN]) are established using just-in-time provisioning. An
additional five PCIe slots are available for certified third-party PCIe cards. The server is equipped to handle 24 on-
board serial-attached SCSI (SAS) or solid-state disk (SSD) drives along with shared storage solutions offered by
our partners.
The C240 M4 server's disk configuration delivers balanced performance and expandability to best meet individual
workload requirements. With up to 12 large form-factor (LFF) or 24 small form-factor (SFF) internal drives, the
C240 M4 optionally offers 10,000- and 15,000-rpm SAS drives to deliver a high number of I/O operations per
second (IOPS) for transactional workloads such as database management systems. In addition, high-capacity
SATA drives provide an economical, large-capacity solution. Superfast SSD drives are a third option for workloads
that demand extremely fast access to smaller amounts of data. A choice of RAID controller options also helps
increase disk performance and reliability.
The C240 M4 further increases performance and customer choice over many types of storage-intensive
applications such as:
● Collaboration
● Small and medium-sized business (SMB) databases
● Big data infrastructure
● Virtualization and consolidation
● Storage servers
● High-performance appliances
The C240 M4 can be deployed as a standalone server or as part of Cisco UCS, which unifies computing,
networking, management, virtualization, and storage access into a single integrated architecture that enables end-
to-end server visibility, management, and control in both bare-metal and virtualized environments. Within a Cisco
UCS deployment, the C240 M4 takes advantage of Cisco’s standards-based unified computing innovations, which
significantly reduce customers’ TCO and increase business agility.
For more information about the Cisco UCS C240 M4 Rack Server, see:
● http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c240-m4-rack-server/index.html
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 9 of 52
● http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c240-m4-rack-
server/datasheet-c78-732455.html
Figure 4. Cisco UCS C240 M4 Rack Server Front View
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Figure 5. Cisco UCS C240 M4 Rack Server Rear View
Table 1. Cisco UCS C240 M4 PCIe Slots
PCIe Slot Length Lane
1 ¾ x8
2 Full X16
3 Full X8
4 ¾ X8
5 Full X16
6 Full X8
Cisco UCS VIC 1227 Modular LOM
A Cisco innovation, the Cisco UCS VIC 1227 (Figures 6 and 7) is a dual-port, SFP+, 10 Gigabit Ethernet and
FCoE–capable, PCIe modular LOM (mLOM) adapter. It is designed exclusively for the M4 generation of Cisco
UCS C-Series Rack Servers and for the Cisco UCS C3160 Rack Server, which provides dense storage capacity.
New to Cisco rack servers, the mLOM slot can be used to install a VIC without consuming a PCIe slot, providing
greater I/O expandability. The VIC 1227 incorporates next-generation converged network adapter (CNA)
technology from Cisco, providing investment protection for future feature releases. The card enables a policy-
based, stateless, agile server infrastructure that can present up to 256 PCIe standards-compliant interfaces to the
host, which can be dynamically configured as either NICs or HBAs. In addition, the VIC 1227 supports Cisco Data
Center Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX) technology, which extends the Cisco UCS fabric interconnect
ports to virtual machines, simplifying server virtualization deployment.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 10 of 52
For more information about the VIC, see:
● http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/interfaces-modules/ucs-virtual-interface-card-1227/index.html
● http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/interfaces-modules/unified-computing-system-
adapters/datasheet-c78-732515.html
Figure 6. Cisco UCS VIC 1227 CNA
Figure 7. Cisco UCS VIC 1227 CNA Architecture
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 11 of 52
NVIDIA GRID Cards
For desktop virtualization applications, the GRID K1 and K2 cards are an optimal choice for high graphics
performance (Table 2).
Table 2. Technical Specification for NVIDIA GRID Cards
NVIDIA GRID K1 NVIDIA GRID K2
GPU 4 NVIDIA Kepler GK107 2 high-end NVIDIA Kepler GK104
Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) Cores 768 (192 per GPU) 3072 (1536 per GPU)
Memory Size 16-GB DDR3 (4 GB per GPU) 8-GB GDDR5
Maximum Power 130 watts (W) 225W
Auxiliary Power Requirement 6-pin connector 8-pin connector
PCIe x16 x16
OpenGL Release 4.0 Release 4.0
Microsoft DirectX Release 11 Release 11
vGPU Support Yes Yes
Number of Users 4 to 1001 2 to 641
NVIDIA GRID Technology
The NVIDIA GRID virtualization solution is built on more than 20 years of software and hardware innovations in the
accelerated graphics field to deliver a rich graphics experience to users running virtual desktops and applications.
For more information about NVIDIA GRID technology, see http://www.nvidia.com/object/grid-technology.html.
NVIDIA GRID GPU
NVIDIA Kepler-based GRID K1 and K2 boards are specifically designed to enable rich graphics in virtualized
environments. They offer these main features:
● High user density: GRID boards have an optimized multiple-GPU design that helps increase user density.
The GRID K1 board has four GPUs and 16 GB of graphics memory. In combination with NVIDIA GRID
vGPU technology, the GRID K1 supports up to 32 users on a single board.
● Power efficiency: GRID boards are designed to provide data center–class power efficiency, including the
revolutionary new streaming multiprocessor, SMX. The result is an innovative, proven solution that delivers
revolutionary performance per watt for the enterprise data center.
● Reliability 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: GRID boards are designed, built, and tested by NVIDIA for
operation all day, every day. Working closely with Cisco helps ensure that GRID cards perform optimally
and reliably for the life of the system.
For more information about GRID boards, see http://www.nvidia.com/object/grid-technology.html.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 12 of 52
NVIDIA GRID Accelerated Remoting
NVIDIA's patented low-latency remote display technology greatly improves the user experience by reducing the lag
that users feel when interacting with a virtual machine. With this technology, the virtual desktop screen is encoded
and pushed directly to the remoting protocol.
Built into every Kepler GPU is a high-performance H.264 encoding engine capable of encoding simultaneous
streams with superior quality. This feature greatly enhances cloud server efficiency by offloading encoding
functions from the CPU and allowing the encoding function to scale with the number of GPUs in a server.
The GRID Accelerated Remoting technology is available in industry-leading remote display protocols.
NVIDIA GRID Virtualization
GRID cards enable GPU-capable virtualization solutions from Microsoft and VMware, delivering the flexibility to
choose from a wide range of proven solutions. GRID GPUs can be dedicated to a single high-end user or shared
among multiple users.
NVIDIA GRID vGPU
GRID boards use NVIDIA Kepler-based GPUs that, for the first time, allow hardware virtualization of the GPU.
Thus, multiple users can share a single GPU, improving user density while providing true PC performance and
application compatibility.
For more information about the GRID vGPU, see http://www.nvidia.com/object/virtual-gpus.html.
VMware vSphere 6.0
VMware provides virtualization software. VMware’s enterprise software hypervisors for servers—VMware vSphere
ESX, vSphere ESXi, and VSphere—are bare-metal hypervisors that run directly on server hardware without
requiring an additional underlying operating system. VMware vCenter Server for vSphere provides central
management and complete control and visibility into clusters, hosts, virtual machines, storage, networking, and
other critical elements of your virtual infrastructure.
vSphere 6.0 introduces many enhancements to vSphere Hypervisor, VMware virtual machines, vCenter Server,
virtual storage, and virtual networking, further extending the core capabilities of the vSphere platform.
The vSphere 6.0 platform includes these new features:
● Computing
◦ Increased scalability: vSphere 6.0 supports larger maximum configuration sizes. Virtual machines support
up to 128 virtual CPUs (vCPUs) and 4 TB of virtual RAM (vRAM). Hosts support up to 480 CPUs and 12 TB
of RAM, 1024 virtual machines per host, and 64 nodes per cluster.
◦ Expanded support: Get expanded support for the latest x86 chip sets, devices, drivers, and guest
operating systems. For a complete list of guest operating systems supported, see the VMware Compatibility
Guide.
◦ Outstanding graphics: The GRID vGPU delivers the full benefits of NVIDIA hardware-accelerated
graphics to virtualized solutions.
◦ Instant cloning: Technology built in to vSphere 6.0 lays that foundation for rapid cloning and deployment
of virtual machines—up to 10 times faster than what is possible today.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 13 of 52
● Storage
◦ Transformation of virtual machine storage: vSphere Virtual Volumes enables your external storage arrays
to become virtual machine aware. Storage policy–based management (SPBM) enables common
management across storage tiers and dynamic storage class-of-service (CoS) automation. Together these
features enable exact combinations of data services (such as clones and snapshots) to be instantiated
more efficiently on a per–virtual machine basis.
● Network
◦ Network I/O control: New support for per–virtual machine VMware Distributed Switch (DVS) bandwidth
reservation helps ensure isolation and enforce limits on bandwidth.
◦ Multicast snooping: Support for Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) snooping for IPv4 packets
and Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) snooping for IPv6 packets in VDS improves performance and
scalability with multicast traffic.
◦ Multiple TCP/IP stacks for VMware vMotion: Implement a dedicated networking stack for vMotion traffic,
simplifying IP address management with a dedicated default gateway for vMotion traffic.
● Availability
◦ vMotion enhancements: Perform nondisruptive live migration of workloads across virtual switches and
vCenter Servers and over distances with a round-trip time (RTT) of up to 100 milliseconds (ms). This
support for dramatically longer RTT—a 10x increase in the supported time—for long-distance vMotion now
enables data centers physically located in New York and London to migrate live workloads between one
another.
◦ Replication-assisted vMotion: Customers with active-active replication set up between two sites can
perform more efficient vMotion migration, resulting in huge savings in time and resources, with up to 95
percent more efficient migration depending on the amount of data moved.
◦ Fault tolerance (up to 4 vCPUs): Get expanded support for software-based fault tolerance for workloads
with up to four vCPUs.
● Management
◦ Content library: This centralized repository provides simple and effective management for content,
including virtual machine templates, ISO images, and scripts. With vSphere Content Library, you can now
store and manage content from a central location and share content through a publish-and-subscribe
model.
◦ Cloning and migration across vCenter: Copy and move virtual machines between hosts on different
vCenter Servers in a single action.
◦ Enhanced user interface: vSphere Web Client is more responsive, more intuitive, and simpler than ever
before.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 14 of 52
Graphics Acceleration in Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp
Citrix HDX 3D Pro enables you to deliver the desktops and applications that perform best with a GPU for hardware
acceleration, including 3D professional graphics applications based on OpenGL and DirectX. (The standard virtual
delivery agent [VDA] supports GPU acceleration of DirectX only.)
Examples of 3D professional applications include:
● Computer-aided design (CAD), manufacturing (CAM), and engineering (CAE) applications
● Geographical information system (GIS) software
● Picture archiving and communication system (PACS) for medical imaging
● Applications using the latest OpenGL, DirectX, NVIDIA CUDA, and OpenCL versions
● Computationally intensive nongraphical applications that use CUDA GPUs for parallel computing
Outstanding User Experience over Any Bandwidth:
● On WAN connections: Deliver an interactive user experience over WAN connections with bandwidth as
low as 1.5 Mbps.
● On LAN connections: Deliver a user experience equivalent to that of a local desktop on LAN connections
with bandwidth of 100 Mbps.
You can replace complex and expensive workstations with simpler user devices by moving graphics processing
into the data center for centralized management.
HDX 3D Pro provides GPU acceleration for Microsoft Windows desktops and Microsoft Windows Server. When
used with VMware vSphere 6 and NVIDIA GRID GPUs, HDX 3D Pro provides vGPU acceleration for Windows
desktops. For the supported hypervisor versions, see Citrix Virtual GPU Solution.
GPU Acceleration for Microsoft Windows Desktops
With HDX 3D Pro, you can deliver graphically intensive applications as part of hosted desktops or applications on
Windows PCs. HDX 3D Pro supports physical host computers (including desktop, blade, and rack workstations)
and virtual machines with GPU pass-through and virtual machines with vGPU technology.
Using the supported hypervisor’s capability to perform GPU pass-through, you can create virtual machines with
exclusive access to dedicated graphics processing hardware. You can install multiple GPUs on the hypervisor and
assign virtual machines to each of these GPUs on a one-to-one basis.
Using vGPU technology, multiple virtual machines can directly access the graphics processing power of a single
physical GPU. The true hardware GPU sharing provides full Windows client and server desktops suitable for users
with complex and demanding design requirements. Supported for NVIDIA GRID K1 and K2 cards, the GPU sharing
uses the same NVIDIA graphics drivers that are deployed on nonvirtualized operating systems.
HDX 3D Pro offers the following features:
● Adaptive H.264-based deep compression for optimal WAN and wireless performance: HDX 3D Pro
uses CPU-based deep compression as the default compression technique for encoding. This approach
provides optimal compression that dynamically adapts to network conditions. The H.264-based deep
compression codec no longer competes with graphics rendering for CUDA cores on the NVIDIA GPU. The
deep-compression codec runs on the CPU and provides bandwidth efficiency.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 15 of 52
● Lossless compression option for specialized use cases: HDX 3D Pro also offers a CPU-based lossless
codec to support applications that require pixel-perfect graphics, such as medical imaging. Lossless
compression is recommended only for specialized use cases because it consumes significantly more
network and processing resources.
◦ When you use lossless compression:
− The lossless indicator, a system tray icon, notifies the user if the screen displayed is a lossy frame or a
lossless frame. This notification is helpful when the Visual Quality policy setting specifies Build to
Lossless. The lossless indicator turns green when the frames sent are lossless.
− The lossless switch enables the user to change to Always Lossless mode at any time in the session.
To select or deselect Always Lossless in a session, right-click the icon or use the shortcut Alt+Shift+1.
◦ For lossless compression, HDX 3D Pro uses the lossless codec for compression regardless of the codec
selected through policy.
◦ For lossy compression, HDX 3D Pro uses the original codec, either the default or the one selected
through policy.
◦ Lossless switch settings are not retained for subsequent sessions. To use the lossless codec for every
connection, select Always Lossless for the Visual Quality policy setting.
● Capability, in XenDesktop 7.6 Feature Pack 3, to override the default shortcut, Alt+Shift+1, to select
or deselect Lossless within a session: Configure a new registry setting at
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Citrix\HDX3D\LLIndicator.
◦ Name: HKLM_HotKey
◦ Type: String
◦ The format to configure a shortcut combination is C=0|1, A=0|1, S=0|1, W=0|1, K=val. Keys must be
comma "," separated. The order of the keys does not matter.
◦ A, C, S, W, and K are keys, where C = Control, A = Alt, S = Shift, W = Window, and K = a valid key.
Allowed values for K are 0–9, a–z, and any virtual-key code. For more information about virtual-key codes,
see Virtual-Key Codes on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN).
◦ Here are some examples of virtual-key codes:
− For F10, set K=0x79
− For Ctrl+F10, set C=1, K=0x79
− For Alt+A, set A=1, K=a or A=1, K=A or K=A, A=1
− For Ctrl+Alt+F5, set C=1, A=1, K=5 or A=1, K=5, C=1
− For Ctrl+Shift+F5, set A=1, S=1, K=0x74
Caution: Editing the registry incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your
operating system. Citrix cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be
solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk. Be sure to back up the registry before you edit it.
● Multiple and high-resolution monitor support: For Windows 7 and 8 desktops, HDX 3D Pro supports
user devices with up to four monitors. Users can arrange their monitors in any configuration and can mix
monitors with different resolutions and orientations. The number of monitors is limited by the capabilities of
the host computer GPU, the user device, and the available bandwidth. HDX 3D Pro supports all monitor
resolutions and is limited only by the capabilities of the GPU on the host computer.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 16 of 52
● Dynamic resolution: You can resize the virtual desktop or application window to any resolution.
● Support for NVIDIA Kepler architecture: HDX 3D Pro supports NVIDIA GRID K1 and K2 cards for GPU
pass-through and GPU sharing. The GRID vGPU enables multiple virtual machines to have simultaneous,
direct access to a single physical GPU, using the same NVIDIA graphics drivers that are deployed on
nonvirtualized operating systems.
● Support for VMware vSphere and ESX using vDGA: You can use HDX 3D Pro with vDGA for both
remote desktop service (RDS) and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) workloads. When you use HDX 3D
Pro with vSGA, support is limited to one monitor. Use of vSGA with large 3D models can result in
performance problems because of its use of API-intercept technology. For more information, see VMware
vSphere 5.1: Citrix Known Issues.
As shown in Figure 8:
● The host computer must reside in the same Microsoft Active Directory domain as the delivery controller.
● When a user logs on to Citrix Receiver and accesses the virtual application or desktop, the controller
authenticates the user and contacts the VDA for HDX 3D Pro to broker a connection to the computer
hosting the graphical application.
● The VDA for HDX 3D Pro uses the appropriate hardware on the host to compress views of the complete
desktop or of just the graphical application.
● The desktop or application views and the user interactions with them are transmitted between the host
computer and the user device through a direct HDX connection between Citrix Receiver and the VDA for
HDX 3D Pro.
Figure 8. Citrix HDX 3D Pro Process Flow
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 17 of 52
GPU Acceleration for Microsoft Windows Server
HDX 3D Pro allows graphics-intensive applications running in Windows Server sessions to render on the server's
GPU. By moving OpenGL, DirectX, Direct3D, and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) rendering to the
server's GPU, the server's CPU is not slowed by graphics rendering. Additionally, the server can process more
graphics because the workload is split between the CPU and the GPU.
GPU Sharing for Citrix XenApp RDS Workloads
RDS GPU sharing enables GPU hardware rendering of OpenGL and DirectX applications in remote desktop
sessions.
● Sharing can be used on bare-metal devices or virtual machines to increase application scalability and
performance.
● Sharing enables multiple concurrent sessions to share GPU resources (most users do not require the
rendering performance of a dedicated GPU).
● Sharing requires no special settings.
For DirectX applications, only one GPU is used by default. That GPU is shared by multiple users. The allocation of
sessions across multiple GPUs with DirectX is experimental and requires registry changes. Contact Citrix Support
for more information.
You can install multiple GPUs on a hypervisor and assign virtual machines to each of these GPUs on a one-to-one
basis: either install a graphics card with more than one GPU, or install multiple graphics cards with one or more
GPUs each. Mixing heterogeneous graphics cards on a server is not recommended.
Virtual machines require direct pass-through access to a GPU, which is available with VMware vSphere 6. When
HDX 3D Pro is used with GPU pass-through, each GPU in the server supports one multiuser virtual machine.
Scalability using RDS GPU sharing depends on several factors:
● The applications being run
● The amount of video RAM that the applications consume
● The graphics card's processing power
Some applications handle video RAM shortages better than others. If the hardware becomes extremely
overloaded, the system may become unstable, or the graphics card driver may fail. Limit the number of concurrent
users to avoid such problems.
To confirm that GPU acceleration is occurring, use a third-party tool such as GPU-Z. GPU-Z is available at
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/.
HDX 3D Pro Requirements
Servers and user devices must meet the minimum hardware requirements for the installed operating system.
The VDA for HDX 3D Pro is supported for installation on the following versions of Windows:
● Windows 8 64-bit and 32-bit editions
● Windows 7 64-bit editions with Service Pack 1
● Windows 7 32-bit editions with Service Pack 1
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 18 of 52
● Windows XP Professional 64-bit edition with Service Pack 2
● Windows XP Professional 32-bit edition with Service Pack 3
The VDA for HDX 3D Pro can be used with XenDesktop 7 or 5.6.
HDX 3D Pro can be used to deliver any application that is compatible with the supported host operating systems,
but is particularly suitable for use with DirectX- and OpenGL-based applications and with multimedia applications
such as video.
The computer hosting the application can be either a physical machine or a virtual machine with GPU pass-
through. The GPU pass-through feature is available with Citrix XenServer 6.0.2 and 6.0.1 and VMware vSphere 6.
Citrix recommends that the host computer include at least 4 GB of RAM and four vCPUs with a clock speed of 2.3
GHz or higher.
The GPU should meet these specifications:
● For CPU-based compression, including lossless compression, HDX 3D Pro supports any display adapter on
the host computer that is compatible with the application that you are delivering.
● For optimized GPU frame buffer access using the NVIDIA GRID API, HDX 3D Pro requires NVIDIA Quadro
cards with the latest NVIDIA drivers. The GRID API delivers a high frame rate, resulting in a highly
interactive user experience.
To access desktops or applications delivered with HDX 3D Pro, users must install Citrix Receiver. For more
information about Receiver system requirements, see Receiver and Plug-ins.
In addition, the user device should meet these specifications:
● HDX 3D Pro supports all monitor resolutions that are supported by the GPU on the host computer.
However, for optimum performance with the minimum recommended user device and GPU specifications,
Citrix recommends maximum monitor resolutions for users' devices of 1920 x 1200 pixels for LAN
connections and 1280 x 1024 pixels for WAN connections.
● Citrix recommends that user devices include at least 1 GB of RAM and a CPU with a clock speed of 1.6
GHz or higher. Use of the default deep-compression codec, which is required on low-bandwidth
connections, requires a more powerful CPU. For optimum performance, Citrix recommends that users'
devices be equipped with at least 2 GB of RAM and a dual-core CPU with a clock speed of 3 GHz or higher.
● For multiple-monitor access, Citrix recommends user devices equipped with quad-core CPUs.
Note: User devices do not need a dedicated GPU to access desktops or applications delivered with HDX 3D
Pro.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 19 of 52
Solution Configuration
Figure 9 provides an overview of the solution configuration.
Figure 9. Reference Architecture
The hardware components of the solution are:
● Cisco UCS C240 M4 Rack Server (two Intel Xeon processor E5-2660 v3 CPUs at 2.60 GHz) with 256 GB of
memory (16 GB x 16 DIMMs at 2133 MHz) and a hypervisor host
● Cisco UCS VIC1227 mLOM
● Two Cisco Nexus® 9372 Switches (access switches)
● Two Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnects through Cisco UCS Mini
● Twelve 600-GB SAS disks at 10,000 rpm
● NVIDIA GRID K1 and K2 cards
The software components of the solution are:
● Cisco UCS firmware 3.0(2d)
● VMware ESXi 6.0 for VDI hosts
● Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop 7.6 with Feature Pack 3
● Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 64-bit
Configure Cisco UCS
This section describes the Cisco UCS configuration.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 20 of 52
Install NVIDIA GRID or Tesla GPU Card on Cisco UCS C240 M4
Install the GPU card on the Cisco UCS C240 M4 server. Table 3 lists the minimum firmware required for the GPU
cards.
Table 3. Minimum Server Firmware Versions Required for GPU Cards
Cisco Integrated Management Controller
BIOS Minimum Version
NVIDIA GRID K1 2.0(3a)
NVIDIA GRID K2 2.0(3a)
NVIDIA Tesla K10 2.0(3e)
NVIDIA Tesla K20 2.0(3e)
NVIDIA Tesla K20X 2.0(3e)
NVIDIA Tesla K40 2.0(3a)
For more information, see
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/hw/C240M4/install/C240M4/replace.html - pgfId-
1372776.
Note the following NVIDIA GPU card configuration rules:
● You can mix GRID K1 and K2 GPU cards in the same server.
● Do not mix GRID GPU cards with Tesla GPU cards in the same server.
● Do not mix different models of Tesla GPU cards in the same server.
● All GPU cards require two CPUs and at least two 1400W power supplies in the server.
For more information, see:
● http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/hw/C240M4/install/C240M4/replace.html -
pgfId-1372848
● http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/hw/C240M4/install/C240M4.pdf
The rules for configuring the server with GPUs differ, depending on the server version and other factors. Table 4
lists rules for populating the C240 M4 with NVIDIA GPUs. Figure 10 shows a one-GPU installation, and Figure 11
shows a two-GPU installation.
Table 4. NVIDIA GPU Population Rules for Cisco UCS C240 M4 Rack Server
Single GPU Dual GPU
Riser 1A, slot 2
or
Riser 2, slot 5
Riser 1A, slot 2
and
Riser 2, slot 5
Note: When you install a GPU card in slot 2, Network Communications Services Interface (NCSI) support in
riser 1 automatically moves to slot 1. When you install a GPU card in slot 5, NCSI support in riser 2 automatically
moves to slot 4. Therefore, you can install a GPU card and a Cisco UCS VIC in the same riser.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 21 of 52
Figure 10. One-GPU Scenario
Figure 11. Two-GPU Scenario
For information about the physical configuration of GRID cards in riser slots 2 and 5 and for GPU card PCIe slot
and support information, see
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/hw/C240M4/install/C240M4/replace.html - 75263.
Specify the Base Cisco UCS Configuration
To configure physical connectivity and implement best practices for Cisco UCS C-Series server integration with
Cisco UCS Manager, see
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/release/notes/ucs_2_2_rn.html.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 22 of 52
Configure the GPU Card
1. After the NVIDIA GPU cards are physically installed and the C240 M4 Rack Server is discovered in Cisco UCS
Manager, select the server and choose Inventory > GPUs.
As shown in Figure 12, PCIe slots 2 and 5 are used with two GRID K2 cards running firmware Version
80.04.D4.00.09 | 2055.0552.01.08.
Figure 12. NVIDIA GRID Cards Inventory Displayed in Cisco UCS Manager
You also can use Cisco UCS Manager to perform firmware upgrades to the NVIDIA GPU cards.
2. Create host firmware policy by selecting the Servers tab in Cisco UCS Manager. Choose Policies > Host
Firmware Packages. Right-click and select Create Host Firmware Package (Figure 13).
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 23 of 52
Figure 13. Cisco UCS Manager Firmware Package
3. Select the Simple configuration of the host firmware package, and for Rack Package, choose 3.0(2d)C (Figure
14).
Figure 14. Cisco UCS Manager Firmware Package Configuration
4. Click OK to display the list of firmware packages (Figure 15).
Figure 15. Cisco UCS Manager Firmware Package Selection for NVIDIA Components
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 24 of 52
5. Apply the host firmware package in the service profile template service profiles firmware policy. After the
firmware upgrades are completed, the running firmware version for the GPUs is selected (Figure 16).
Figure 16. Running Firmware Version for the GPUs
Note: Virtual machine hardware Version 9 or later is required for vGPU and vDGA configuration. Virtual
machines with hardware Version 9 or later should have their settings managed through the vSphere Web Client.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 25 of 52
Configure vDGA Pass-Through GPU Deployment
This section outlines the installation process for configuring a ESXi host and virtual machine for vDGA support.
Figure 17 shows the GRID GPU components used for Pass-through support.
Figure 17. NVIDIA GRID GPU Pass-through Components
1. You need to install the GRID cards in the C240 M4 Rack Server. Using the vSphere Web Client, select the
ESXi host server, choose the Manage tab, select Settings, and choose Hardware > PCI Devices > Edit (Figure
18).
Figure 18. Enabling GRID Card Pass-Through Mode on ESXi Server
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 26 of 52
2. A dialog box will appear showing all PCI devices along with the GRID cards. Select the GRID card types
installed on the server from among the available adapters (Figure 19).
Figure 19. NVIDIA Pass-Through Devices Displayed on the ESXi Host
3. After making changes for pass-through configuration, reboot the ESXi host.
4. Verify that the GPU devices to be used for pass-through configuration are marked as available (Figure 20). If a
device isn’t marked as available, refer to the VMware documentation to perform troubleshooting.
Figure 20. Displaying All Selected NVIDIA GRID GPU Card Adapters
Note: vDGA does not support live vSphere vMotion capabilities. Bypassing the virtualization layer, vDGA uses
vSphere DirectPath I/O to allow direct access to the GPU card. By enabling direct pass-through from the virtual
machine to the PCI device installed on the host, you effectively lock the virtual machine to that specific host. If you
need to move a vDGA-enabled virtual machine to a different host, you should power off the virtual machine, use
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 27 of 52
vMotion to migrate it to another host that has a GPU card installed, and re-enable pass-through to the specific PCI
device on that host. Only then should you power on the virtual machine.
Prepare a Virtual Machine for vDGA Configuration
Use the following procedure to create the virtual machine that will be used as the VDI base image later.
1. Using vSphere Web Client, create a new virtual machine. To do this, right-click a host or cluster and choose
New Virtual Machine. Work through the New Virtual Machine wizard. Unless another configuration is specified,
select the configuration settings appropriate for your environment (Figure 21).
Figure 21. Creating a New Virtual Machine in VMware vSphere Web Client
2. Choose “ESXi 6.0 and later” from the “Compatible with” drop-down menu. This selection enables you to use
the latest features, including the mapping of shared PCI devices, which is required for the vGPU (Figure 22).
Figure 22. Selecting Virtual Machine Hardware Version 11
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 28 of 52
Note: If you are using existing virtual machines for 3D enablement, be sure that the virtual machine is
configured as Version 9 or later for compatibility. Virtual machine Version 11 is recommended.
3. Reserve all guest memory. In the virtual machine Edit Settings options, select the Resources tab. Select
“Reserve all guest memory (All locked)” as shown in Figure 23.
Figure 23. Reserving All Guest Memory
4. If the virtual machine has more than 2 GB of configured memory, adjust pciHole.start. Add the following
parameter to the .vmx file of the virtual machine (you can add this parameter at the end of the file):
pciHole.start = “2048”
Note: This step is required only if the virtual machine has more than 2 GB of configured memory.
5. Add a PCI device:
a. In the virtual machine Edit Settings, choose New device > PCI Device. Click Add to add the new PCI
device (Figure 24, steps 1 and 2).
b. Select the PCI device and choose NVIDIA GPU from the drop-down list (Figure 24, step 3).
c. Click OK to complete the process (Figure 24, step 4).
Note: Only one virtual machine can be powered on if the same PCI device is added to multiple virtual machines.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 29 of 52
Figure 24. Adding a PCI Device to the Virtual Machine to Attach GPU Controller Pass-Through Mode
6. Install and configure Windows on the virtual machine:
a. Configure the virtual machine with four vCPUs and 8 GB of RAM (as an example configuration).
b. Install VMware Tools.
c. Join the virtual machine to the Active Directory domain.
d. Choose “Allow remote connections to this computer” in the Windows System Properties menu.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 30 of 52
Download and Install Virtual Machine GPU Drivers
1. Download the virtual machine drivers from the NVIDIA website:
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us (Figure 25).
Note: Select 32-bit or 64-bit graphics drivers based on the guest OS type.
Figure 25. Download NVIDIA Drivers
2. Install the drivers.
a. Accept the license terms and agreement (Figure 26); then click Next.
Figure 26. NVIDIA Graphics Drivers Installation System Check
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 31 of 52
b. Select Custom (Advanced) installation; then click Next (Figure 27).
Figure 27. NVIDIA Graphics Driver Installation Options
c. Select the check box for each option and select “Perform a clean installation.” Then click Next (Figure 28).
Figure 28. Select All Components Available and Perform a Clean Installation
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 32 of 52
The installation begins. A progress bar shows its progress (Figure 29).
Figure 29. Installation Progress
d. Click Restart Now. Reboot the virtual machine.
Note: After you restart the virtual machine, the mouse cursor may not track properly using the Virtual Network
Computing (VNC) or vSphere console. If so, use Remote Desktop.
3. Install Citrix XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro Virtual Desktop Agent (Figure 30). Reboot when prompted to do so.
Figure 30. Citrix XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro Virtual Desktop Agent Installation
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 33 of 52
Verify That Applications Are Ready to Support the vGPU
Verify that the virtual machine is using the NVIDIA GPU and driver.
1. Verify that the correct display adapters were installed using Windows Device Manager (Figure 31).
Figure 31. Verifying the Adapters Installed
2. Connect through Citrix’s HDX protocol to the virtual desktop machine and verify that the GPU is active by
viewing the displayed information in the DirectX Diagnostic Tool:
a. Click the Start menu from the virtual machine to which the GRID card pass-through device is attached.
b. Type dxdiag, and when DxDiag appears in the list, click Enter; or click DxDiag in the list.
c. After DxDiag launches, click the Display tab to verify that the virtual machine is using the NVIDIA GPU
and driver (Figure 32).
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 34 of 52
Figure 32. Launching DxDiag from the Virtual Machine to Check the Driver Status
3. Verify that all the GRID card controllers are present on the host by using following command:
lspci | grep NVIDIA
The command should return output similar to Figure 33 if you are using two GRID K2 cards.
Figure 33. Displaying All the GRID Card Controllers Present on the Host
Note: When you deploy vDGA, it uses the graphics driver from the GPU vendor rather than the virtual machine’s
vGPU 3D driver. To provide frame-buffer access, vDGA uses an interface between the remote protocol and the
graphics driver.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 35 of 52
Configure vGPU Deployment
This section outlines the installation process for configuring an ESXi host and virtual machine for vGPU support.
Figure 34 shows the components used for vGPU support.
Figure 34. NVIDIA GRID vGPU Components
Configure the VMware ESXi Host Server for vGPU Configuration
This section outlines the installation process for configuring an ESXi host for vGPU support.
1. Download the NVIDIA GRID GPU driver pack for vSphere ESXi 6.0 from
http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/85391/en-us (Figure 35).
Note: Do not select the GRID Series drivers.
Figure 35. Download the ESXi 6.0 GPU Driver Pack
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 36 of 52
2. Enable the ESXi Shell and the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol on the vSphere host from the Troubleshooting
menu of the vSphere Configuration Console (Figure 36).
Figure 36. ESXi Configuration Console
3. Upload the NVIDIA driver (vSphere Installation Bundle [VIB] file) to the /tmp directory on the ESXi host using a
tool such as WinSCP (shared storage is preferred if you are installing drivers on multiple servers) or using the
VMware Update Manager.
4. Log in as root to the vSphere console through SSH using a tool such as Putty.
Note: The ESXi host must be in maintenance mode for you to install the VIB module.
5. Enter the following command to install the NVIDIA vGPU drivers:
esxcli software vib install --no-sig-check -v /<path>/<filename>.VIB
The command should return output similar to Figure 37.
Figure 37. ESX SSH Console Connection for vGPU Driver Installation
Note: Although the display states “Reboot Required: false”, a reboot is necessary for the VIB file to load and for
xorg to start.
6. Exit the ESXi host from maintenance mode and reboot the host by using the vSphere Web Client or by
entering the following commands:
esxcli system maintenanceMode set -e false
reboot
a. After the host rebooted successfully, verify if the kernel module has loaded successfully, using following
command:
esxcli software vib list | grep -i nvidia
The command should return an output similar to the following:
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 37 of 52
Figure 38. ESX SSH Console Connection for Driver Verification
Note: See the VMware knowledge base article for information about removing any existing NVIDIA drivers
before installing new drivers for any vGPU or vDGA test:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2033434.
7. Confirm the GRID GPU detection on the ESXi host. The status of the GPU card’s CPU, the card’s memory,
and disk space left on the card can be determined by entering the following command:
nvidia-smi
The command should return output similar to Figure 39 if you are using two GRID K2 cards.
Figure 39. ESX SSH Console Connection for GPU Card Detection
Note: The NVIDIA system management interface (SMI) also allows GPU monitoring using the following
command (this command adds a loop, automatically refreshing the display): nvidia-smi -l
Prepare a Virtual Machine for vGPU Configuration
Use the following procedure to create the virtual machine that will later be used as the VDI base image.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 38 of 52
1. Using vSphere Web Client, create a new virtual machine. To do this, right-click a host or cluster and choose
New Virtual Machine. Work through the New Virtual Machine wizard. Unless another configuration is specified,
select the configuration settings appropriate for your environment (Figure 40).
Figure 40. Creating a New Virtual Machine in VMware vSphere Web Client
2. Choose “ESXi 6.0 and later” from the “Compatible with” drop-down menu, to be able to leverage the latest
features, including the mapping of shared PCI devices, which is required for the vGPU (Figure 41).
Figure 41. Selecting Virtual Machine Hardware Version 11
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 39 of 52
3. In customizing the hardware of the new virtual machine, add a new shared PCI device, select the appropriate
GPU profile, and reserve all virtual machine memory (Figure 42).
Note: If you are creating a new virtual machine and using the vSphere Web Client's virtual machine console
functions, then the mouse will not be usable in the virtual machine until after both the operating system and the
VMware Tools have been installed. If you cannot use the traditional vSphere Client to connect to the virtual
machine, do not enable NVIDIA GRID vGPU at this time.
Figure 42. Adding a Shared PCI Device to the Virtual Machine to Attach the GPU Profile
4. Install and configure Windows on the virtual machine:
a. Configure the virtual machine with the appropriate amount of vCPU and RAM according to the GPU
profile selected.
b. Install the VMware Tools.
c. Join the virtual machine to the Active Directory domain.
d. Choose “Allow remote connections to this computer” in the Windows System Properties menu.
GRID K1 and K2 Profile Specifications
The GRID vGPU allows up to eight users to share each physical GPU, assigning the graphics resources of the
available GPUs to virtual machines using a balanced approach. Each GRID K1 card has four GPUs, allowing 32
users to share a single card. Each GRID K2 card has two GPUs, allowing 16 users to share a single card. Table 5
summarizes the user profile specifications.
For more information, see http://www.nvidia.com/object/grid-enterprise-resources.html.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 40 of 52
Table 5. User Profile Specifications for GRID K1 and K2 Cards
NVIDIA GRID Card
Virtual GPU Profile
Application Certification
Graphics Memory in MB
Max Display per User
Maximum Resolution per Display
Maximum Users per Board
Use Case
GRID K2 K280Q Yes 4096 4 2560 x 1600 2 Designer
K260Q Yes 2048 4 2560 x 1600 4 Designer and power user
K240Q Yes 1024 2 2560 x 1600 8 Designer and power user
K220Q Yes 512 2 2560 x 1600 16 Power user
GRID K1 K180Q Yes 4096 4 2560 x 1600 4 Power user
K160Q Yes 2048 4 2560 x 1600 8 Power user
K140Q Yes 1024 2 2560 x 1600 16 Knowledge worker
K120Q Yes 512 2 2560 x 1600 32 Knowledge worker
NVIDIA vGPU Software (Driver) and Citrix HDX 3D Pro Agent Installation
Use the following procedure to install the GRID vGPU drivers on the desktop virtual machine and to install the HDX
3D Pro VDA to prepare this virtual machine to be managed by the XenDesktop controller. To fully enable vGPU
operation, the NVIDIA driver must be installed.
Before the NVIDIA driver is installed on the guest virtual machine, the Device Manager shows the Standard VGA
Graphics Adapter (Figure 43).
Figure 43. Device Manager Before the NVIDIA Driver Is Installed
1. Copy the Windows drivers from the NVIDIA GRID vGPU driver pack downloaded earlier to the master virtual
machine. Alternatively, download the drivers from http://www.nvidia.com/drivers and extract the contents
(Figure 44).
Note: Do not select the GRID Series drivers.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 41 of 52
Figure 44. NVIDIA Driver Download
2. Copy the 32- or 64-bit NVIDIA Windows driver from the vGPU driver pack to the desktop virtual machine and
run setup.exe (Figure 45).
Figure 45. NVIDIA Driver Pack
Note: The vGPU host driver and guest driver versions need to match. Do not attempt to use a newer guest
driver with an older vGPU host driver or an older guest driver with a newer vGPU host driver . In addition, the
vGPU driver from NVIDIA is a different driver than the GPU pass-through driver.
3. Install the graphics drivers using the Express option (Figure 46). After the installation has been completed
successfully, restart the virtual machine.
Note: Ensure that remote desktop connections have been enabled. After this step, console access may not be
usable to the virtual machine when connecting from a vSphere Client.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 42 of 52
Figure 46. Selecting the Express Installation Option
4. To validate the successful installation of the graphics drivers as well as the vGPU device, open Windows
Device Manager and expand the Display Adapter section (Figure 47).
Figure 47. Validating the Driver Installation
Note: If you continue to see an exclamation mark, the following are the most likely the reasons:
● The GPU driver service is not running.
● The GPU driver is incompatible.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 43 of 52
5. To start the HDX 3D Pro VDA installation, mount the XenApp and XenDesktop 7.6 (or later) ISO image on the
virtual machine or copy the Feature Pack VDA installation media to the virtual desktop virtual machine.
6. Install Citrix XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro Virtual Desktop Agent (Figure 48). Reboot when prompted to do so.
Figure 48. XenDesktop Virtual Delivery Agent Installation Setup
7. Reboot the virtual machine after the VDA for HDX 3D Pro has been installed successfully (Figure 49).
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 44 of 52
Figure 49. Successful Installation of the Virtual Delivery Agent
8. After the HDX 3D Pro Virtual Desktop Agent has been installed and the virtual machine rebooted successfully,
install the graphics applications, benchmark tools, and sample models that you to deliver to all users. Refer to
this blog for a list of graphics tools that you can use for evaluation and testing purposes.
http://blogs.citrix.com/2014/08/13/citrix-hdx-the-big-list-of-graphical-benchmarks-tools-and-demos/
Verify That Applications Are Ready to Support the vGPU
Verify that the NVIDIA driver is running.
1. Right-click the desktop. The NVIDIA Control Panel will be listed in the menu; select it to open the control
panel.
2. Select System Information in the NVIDIA control panel to see the vGPU that the virtual machine is using, the
vGPU’s capabilities, and the NVIDIA driver version that is loaded (Figure 50).
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 45 of 52
Figure 50. NVIDIA Control Panel
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 46 of 52
Why Use NVIDIA GRID vGPU for Graphic Deployments
GRID vGPU allows multiple virtual desktops to share a single physical GPU, and it allows multiple GPUs to reside
on a single physical PCI card. All provide the 100 percent application compatibility of vDGA pass-through graphics,
but with lower cost because multiple desktops share a single graphics card. With XenDesktop, you can centralize,
pool, and more easily manage traditionally complex and expensive distributed workstations and desktops. Now all
your user groups can take advantage of the benefits of virtualization.
The GRID vGPU brings the full benefits of NVIDIA hardware-accelerated graphics to virtualized solutions. This
technology provides exceptional graphics performance for virtual desktops equivalent to local PCs that share a
GPU among multiple users.
GRID vGPU is the industry's most advanced technology for sharing true GPU hardware acceleration among
multiple virtual desktops—without compromising the graphics experience. Application features and compatibility
are exactly the same as they would be at the user's desk.
With GRID vGPU technology, the graphics commands of each virtual machine are passed directly to the GPU,
without translation by the hypervisor. By allowing multiple virtual machines to access the power of a single GPU in
the virtualization server, enterprises can increase the number of users with access to true GPU-based graphics
acceleration on virtual machines.
The physical GPU in the server can be configured with a specific vGPU profile. Organizations have a great deal of
flexibility in how best to configure their servers to meet the needs of various types of end users.
vGPU support allows businesses to use the power of the NVIDIA GRID technology to create a whole new class of
virtual machines designed to provide end users with a rich, interactive graphics experience.
vGPU Profiles
In any given enterprise, the needs of individual users vary widely. One of the main benefits of GRID vGPU is the
flexibility to use various vGPU profiles designed to serve the needs of different classes of end users.
Although the needs of end users can be diverse, for simplicity users can be grouped into the following categories:
knowledge workers, designers, and power users.
● For knowledge workers, the main areas of importance include office productivity applications, a robust web
experience, and fluid video playback. Knowledge workers have the least-intensive graphics demands, but
they expect the same smooth, fluid experience that exists natively on today’s graphics-accelerated devices
such as desktop PCs, notebooks, tablets, and smartphones.
● Power users are users who need to run more demanding office applications, such as office productivity
software, image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop, mainstream CAD software such as Autodesk
AutoCAD, and product lifecycle management (PLM) applications. These applications are more demanding
and require additional graphics resources with full support for APIs such as OpenGL and Direct3D.
● Designers are users in an organization who run demanding professional applications such as high-end CAD
software and professional digital content creation (DCC) tools. Examples include Autodesk Inventor, PTC
Creo, Autodesk Revit, and Adobe Premiere. Historically, designers have used desktop workstations and
have been a difficult group to incorporate into virtual deployments because of their need for high-end
graphics and the certification requirements of professional CAD and DCC software.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 47 of 52
vGPU profiles allow the GPU hardware to be time-sliced to deliver exceptional shared virtualized graphics
performance (Figure 51).
Figure 51. GRID vGPU GPU System Architecture
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 48 of 52
Additional Configurations
Install the HDX 3D Pro Virtual Desktop Agent Using the CLI
When you use the installer's GUI to install a VDA for a Windows desktop, simply select Yes on the HDX 3D Pro
page. When you use the CLI, include the /enable_hdx_3d_pro option with the XenDesktop VdaSetup.exe
command.
To upgrade HDX 3D Pro, uninstall both the separate HDX 3D for Professional Graphics component and the VDA
before installing the VDA for HDX 3D Pro. Similarly, to switch from the standard VDA for a Windows desktop to the
HDX 3D Pro VDA, uninstall the standard VDA and then install the VDA for HDX 3D Pro.
Install and Upgrade NVIDIA Drivers
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 GRID on a virtual machine, disable Microsoft Basic Display Adapter from the Device Manager. Run the
following command:
Montereyenable.exe -enable -noreset
Then restart the VDA.
If you install NVIDIA drivers after you install a VDA with HDX 3D Pro, GRID is disabled. Enable GRID by using the
MontereyEnable tool provided by NVIDIA.
To disable GRID, run the following command:
Montereyenable.exe -disable –noreset
Then restart the VDA.
Use HDX Monitor
Use the HDX Monitor tool (which replaces the Health Check tool) to validate the operation and configuration of
HDX visualization technology and to diagnose and troubleshoot HDX problems. To download the tool and learn
more about it, see https://taas.citrix.com/hdx/download/.
Optimize the HDX 3D Pro User Experience
To use HDX 3D Pro with multiple monitors, be sure that the host computer is configured with at least as many
monitors as are attached to user devices. The monitors attached to the host computer can be either physical or
virtual.
Do not attach a monitor (either physical or virtual) to a host computer while a user is connected to the virtual
desktop or application providing the graphical application. Doing so can cause instability for the duration of a user's
session.
Let your users know that changes to the desktop resolution (by them or an application) are not supported while a
graphical application session is running. After closing the application session, a user can change the resolution of
the Desktop Viewer window in the Citrix Receiver Desktop Viewer Preferences.
When multiple users share a connection with limited bandwidth (for example, at a branch office), Citrix
recommends that you use the “Overall session bandwidth limit” policy setting to limit the bandwidth available to
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 49 of 52
each user. This setting helps ensure that the available bandwidth does not fluctuate widely as users log on and off.
Because HDX 3D Pro automatically adjusts to make use of all the available bandwidth, large variations in the
available bandwidth over the course of user sessions can negatively affect performance.
For example, if 20 users share a 60-Mbps connection, the bandwidth available to each user can vary between 3
Mbps and 60 Mbps, depending on the number of concurrent users. To optimize the user experience in this
scenario, determine the bandwidth required per user at peak periods and limit users to this amount at all times.
For users of a 3D mouse, Citrix recommends that you increase the priority of the generic USB redirection virtual
channel to 0. For information about changing the virtual channel priority, see CTX128190.
Use GPU Acceleration for Microsoft Windows Server DirectX, Direct3D, and WPF Rendering
DirectX, Direct3D, and WPF rendering is available only on servers with a GPU that supports display driver interface
(DDI) Version 9ex, 10, or 11.
● On Windows Server 2008 R2, DirectX and Direct3D require no special settings to use a single GPU.
● On Windows Server 2012, RDS sessions on the remote desktop session host server use the Microsoft
Basic Render driver as the default adapter. To use the GPU in RDS sessions on Windows Server 2012,
enable the “Use the hardware default graphics adapter for all Remote Desktop Services sessions” setting in
the group policy by choosing Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates
> Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Remote Session
Environment.
● On Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012, all DirectX and Direct3D applications running in all
sessions use the same single GPU by default. To enable experimental support for distributing user sessions
across all eligible GPUs for DirectX and Direct3D applications, create the following settings in the registry of
the server running Windows Server sessions:
◦ [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\CtxHook\AppInit_Dlls\Graphics Helper]
"DirectX"=dword:00000001
◦ [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\CtxHook\AppInit_Dlls\Graphics Helper]
"DirectX"=dword:00000001
● To enable WPF applications to render using the server's GPU, create the following settings in the registry of
the server running Windows Server sessions:
◦ [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\CtxHook\AppInit_Dlls\Multiple Monitor Hook]
"EnableWPFHook"=dword:00000001
◦ [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\CtxHook\AppInit_Dlls\Multiple Monitor
Hook] "EnableWPFHook"=dword:00000001
Use GPU Acceleration for Windows Server: Experimental GPU Acceleration for NVIDIA CUDA or
OpenCL Applications
Experimental support is provided for GPU acceleration of CUDA and OpenCL applications running in a user
session. This support is disabled by default, but you can enable it for testing and evaluation purposes.
To use the experimental CUDA acceleration features, enable the following registry settings:
● [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\CtxHook\AppInit_Dlls\Graphics Helper]
"CUDA"=dword:00000001
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 50 of 52
● [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\CtxHook\AppInit_Dlls\Graphics Helper]
"CUDA"=dword:00000001
To use the experimental OpenCL acceleration features, enable the following registry settings:
● [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\CtxHook\AppInit_Dlls\Graphics Helper]
"OpenCL"=dword:00000001
● [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\CtxHook\AppInit_Dlls\Graphics Helper]
"OpenCL"=dword:00000001
Use OpenGL Software Accelerator
The OpenGL Software Accelerator is a software rasterizer for OpenGL applications such as ArcGIS, Google Earth,
Nehe, Maya, Blender, Voxler, CAD, and CAM. In some cases, the OpenGL Software Accelerator can eliminate the
need to use graphics cards to deliver a good user experience with OpenGL applications.
Important: The OpenGL Software Accelerator is provided as is and must be tested with all applications. It may not
work with some applications and is intended as a solution to try if the Windows OpenGL rasterizer does not provide
adequate performance. If the OpenGL Software Accelerator works with your applications, it can be used to avoid
the cost of GPU hardware.
The OpenGL Software Accelerator is provided in the Support folder on the installation media, and it is supported on
all valid VDA platforms.
Try the OpenGL Software Accelerator in the following cases:
● If the performance of OpenGL applications running in virtual machines is a concern, try using the OpenGL
accelerator. For some applications, the accelerator outperforms the Microsoft OpenGL software rasterizer
that is included with Windows because the OpenGL accelerator uses SSE4.1 and AVX. The OpenGL
accelerator also supports applications using OpenGL versions up to Version 2.1.
● For applications running on a workstation, first try the default version of OpenGL support provided by the
workstation's graphics adapter. If the graphics card is the latest version, in most cases it will deliver the best
performance. If the graphics card is an earlier version or does not deliver satisfactory performance, then try
the OpenGL Software Accelerator.
● 3D OpenGL applications that are not adequately delivered using CPU-based software rasterization may
benefit from OpenGL GPU hardware acceleration. This feature can be used on bare-metal devices or virtual
machines.
Conclusion
The combination of Cisco UCS Manager, Cisco UCS C240 M4 Rack Servers, NVIDIA GRID K1 and K2 or Tesla
cards using VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0, and Citrix XenDesktop 7.6 provides a high-performance platform for
virtualizing graphics-intensive applications.
By following the guidance in this document, our customers and partners can be assured that they are ready to host
the growing list of graphics applications that are supported by our partners.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 51 of 52
For More Information
● Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers
◦ http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10265/
◦ http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c240-m4-rack-server/index.html
◦ http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/interfaces-modules/ucs-virtual-interface-card-1227/index.html
◦ http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c-series-rack-servers/index.html
● NVIDIA
◦ http://www.nvidia.com/object/grid-citrix-deployment-guide.html
◦ http://www.nvidia.com/object/grid-enterprise-resources.html - deploymentguides
◦ http://www.nvidia.com/content/cloud-computing/pdf/nvidia-grid-datasheet-k1-k2.pdf
◦ http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-b-series-blade-
servers/tesla_kseries_overview_lr.pdf
◦ http://www.nvidia.com/content/grid/pdf/GRID_K1_BD-06633-001_v02.pdf
◦ http://www.nvidia.com/content/grid/pdf/GRID_K2_BD-06580-001_v02.pdf
◦ http://www.nvidia.com/content/tesla/pdf/tesla-kseries-overview-lr.pdf
● Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop 7.6
◦ https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/virtualize-3d-professional-
graphics-design-guide.pdf
◦ http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7/cds-deliver-landing/hdx-enhance-ux-xd/hdx-sys-
reqs.html
◦ http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-6/xad-hdx-landing/xad-hdx3dpro-gpu-accel-
desktop.html
◦ http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-6/xad-hdx-landing/xad-hdx3dpro-gpu-accel-
server.html
◦ http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-6/xad-hdx-landing/xad-hdx-opengl-sw-accel.html
◦ https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/reviewers-guide-for-hdx-
3d-pro.pdf
◦ https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/go/reviewers-guide-remote-3d-graphics-apps-
part-2-vsphere-gpu-passthrough.pdf
◦ http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-6/xad-hdx-landing/xad-hdx3dpro-intro.html
◦ http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-whats-new.html
◦ http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-architecture-article.html
◦ file://localhost/XenDesktop 7.x Handbook http/::support.citrix.com:article:CTX139331
◦ file://localhost/XenDesktop 7.x Blueprint http/::support.citrix.com:article:CTX138981
◦ http://blogs.citrix.com/2014/08/13/citrix-hdx-the-big-list-of-graphical-benchmarks-tools-and-demos/
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Page 52 of 52
● Microsoft Windows and Citrix optimization guides for virtual desktops
◦ http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX125874
◦ http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX140375
◦ http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX117374
● VMware vSphere ESXi and vCenter Server 6
◦ http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2
107948
◦ http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2
109712
◦ http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2
033434
Printed in USA C11-736417-00 12/15