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Grid Vgpu User Guide

This document provides a user guide for NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU (vGPU) technology. It describes the supported GPUs and virtual GPU types, and provides instructions for getting started with vGPU on Citrix XenServer and VMware vSphere virtualization platforms. It also covers vGPU configuration, management, performance monitoring and troubleshooting.

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Grid Vgpu User Guide

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GRID VIRTUAL GPU

DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | December 2016

User Guide
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1. Introduction to NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU..................................................... 1

1.1. How this guide is organized............................................................................ 1
1.2. GRID vGPU architecture................................................................................. 1
1.3. Supported GPUs........................................................................................... 3
1.3.1. Virtual GPU types................................................................................... 3
1.3.2. Homogeneous virtual GPUs........................................................................ 6
1.4. Guest VM support.........................................................................................7
1.4.1. Windows guest VM support........................................................................ 7
1.4.2. Linux guest VM support............................................................................ 7
1.5. GRID vGPU features...................................................................................... 7
Chapter 2. Getting Started..................................................................................... 9
2.1. Citrix XenServer...........................................................................................9
2.1.1. Prerequisites..........................................................................................9
2.1.2. Installing Citrix XenServer and XenCenter..................................................... 10
2.1.3. Changing the Mode of a Tesla M60 or M6 GPU................................................ 10
2.1.4. Installing and Updating the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for XenServer.................. 10
2.1.4.1. Installing the RPM package for XenServer................................................ 10
2.1.4.2. Updating the RPM package for XenServer................................................ 11
2.1.4.3. Installing or Updating the Supplemental Pack for XenServer.......................... 11
2.1.4.4. Verifying the installation of the XenServer GRID package............................. 13
2.1.5. Configuring a XenServer VM with Virtual GPU................................................ 14
2.1.6. Booting the XenServer VM and Installing Drivers............................................. 15
2.1.7. Applying a vGPU license.......................................................................... 17
2.1.8. Removing a XenServer VM’s vGPU configuration..............................................17
2.1.8.1. Removing a VM’s vGPU configuration by using XenCenter............................. 17
2.1.8.2. Removing a VM’s vGPU configuration by using xe....................................... 18
2.2. VMware vSphere......................................................................................... 18
2.2.1. Prerequisites........................................................................................ 19
2.2.2. Installing VMware vSphere........................................................................19
2.2.3. Changing the Mode of a Tesla M60 or M6 GPU................................................ 19
2.2.4. Installing and Updating the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for vSphere..................... 19
2.2.4.1. Installing the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager Package for vSphere...................... 20
2.2.4.2. Updating the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager Package for vSphere...................... 20
2.2.4.3. Verifying the installation of the vSphere GRID package................................21
2.2.5. Configuring a vSphere VM with Virtual GPU................................................... 22
2.2.6. Booting the vSphere VM and Installing Drivers................................................23
2.2.7. Applying a vGPU license.......................................................................... 25
2.2.8. Removing a vSphere VM’s vGPU configuration................................................ 25
2.2.9. Modifying GPU assignment for vGPU-Enabled VMs............................................25
2.3. Licensing vGPU on Windows........................................................................... 25

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | ii
Chapter 3. Using vGPU on Linux............................................................................ 27
3.1. Installing vGPU drivers on Linux......................................................................27
3.1.1. Prerequisites for installing the NVIDIA Linux driver.......................................... 27
3.1.2. Running the driver installer...................................................................... 28
3.2. Licensing GRID vGPU on Linux........................................................................ 30
Chapter 4. Performance monitoring........................................................................ 32
4.1. Using nvidia-smi to monitor performance...........................................................32
4.2. Using Citrix XenCenter to monitor performance................................................... 33
Chapter 5. XenServer vGPU Management................................................................. 35
5.1. Management objects for GPUs........................................................................ 35
5.1.1. pgpu - physical GPU............................................................................... 35
5.1.1.1. Listing the pgpu objects present on a platform......................................... 35
5.1.1.2. Viewing detailed information about a pgpu object..................................... 35
5.1.1.3. Viewing physical GPUs in XenCenter...................................................... 36
5.1.2. vgpu-type - virtual GPU type.................................................................... 37
5.1.2.1. Listing the vgpu-type objects present on a platform................................... 37
5.1.2.2. Viewing detailed information about a vgpu-type object............................... 38
5.1.3. gpu-group - collection of physical GPUs....................................................... 38
5.1.3.1. Listing the gpu-group objects present on a platform...................................38
5.1.3.2. Viewing detailed information about a gpu-group object............................... 38
5.1.4. vgpu - virtual GPU................................................................................. 39
5.2. Creating a vGPU using xe..............................................................................39
5.3. Controlling vGPU allocation........................................................................... 39
5.3.1. GPU allocation policy............................................................................. 40
5.3.1.1. Controlling GPU allocation policy by using xe........................................... 40
5.3.1.2. Controlling GPU allocation policy by using XenCenter................................. 40
5.3.2. Determining the physical GPU that a virtual GPU is resident on...........................41
5.3.3. Controlling the vGPU types enabled on specific physical GPUs............................ 42
5.3.3.1. Controlling vGPU types enabled on specific physical GPUs by using XenCenter....42
5.3.3.2. Controlling vGPU types enabled on specific physical GPUs by using xe.............. 43
5.3.4. Creating vGPUs on specific physical GPUs..................................................... 44
5.4. Cloning vGPU-enabled VMs............................................................................ 45
5.4.1. Cloning a vGPU-enabled VM by using xe....................................................... 46
5.4.2. Cloning a vGPU-enabled VM by using XenCenter............................................. 46
5.5. Using GPU pass-through................................................................................ 46
5.5.1. Configuring a VM for GPU pass-through by using XenCenter................................ 47
5.5.2. Configuring a VM for GPU pass-through by using xe......................................... 47
Chapter 6. XenServer Performance Tuning............................................................... 49
6.1. XenServer tools.......................................................................................... 49
6.2. Using remote graphics..................................................................................49
6.2.1. Disabling console VGA.............................................................................50
6.3. Allocation strategies.................................................................................... 50
6.3.1. NUMA considerations.............................................................................. 50

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | iii
6.3.2. Maximizing performance.......................................................................... 51
Chapter 7. Troubleshooting...................................................................................53
7.1. Known issues............................................................................................. 53
7.2. Troubleshooting steps...................................................................................53
7.2.1. Verifying the NVIDIA kernel driver is loaded.................................................. 53
7.2.2. Verifying that nvidia-smi works..................................................................54
7.2.3. Examining NVIDIA kernel driver output........................................................ 54
7.2.4. Examining GRID Virtual GPU Manager messages.............................................. 54
7.2.4.1. Examining Citrix XenServer vGPU Manager messages...................................54
7.2.4.2. Examining VMware vSphere vGPU Manager messages.................................. 55
7.3. Capturing configuration data for filing a bug report.............................................. 55
7.3.1. Capturing configuration data by running nvidia-bug-report.sh............................. 56
7.3.2. Capturing configuration data by creating a XenServer status report...................... 56
Appendix A. XenServer Basics............................................................................... 58
A.1. Opening a dom0 shell.................................................................................. 58
A.1.1. Accessing the dom0 shell through XenCenter.................................................58
A.1.2. Accessing the dom0 shell through an SSH client............................................. 59
A.2. Copying files to dom0.................................................................................. 59
A.2.1. Copying files by using an SCP client........................................................... 59
A.2.2. Copying files by using a CIFS-mounted file system...........................................60
A.3. Determining a VM’s UUID.............................................................................. 60
A.3.1. Determining a VM’s UUID by using xe vm-list................................................. 61
A.3.2. Determining a VM’s UUID by using XenCenter................................................ 61
A.4. Using more than two vCPUs with Windows client VMs............................................62
A.5. Pinning VMs to a specific CPU socket and cores................................................... 62
A.6. Changing dom0 vCPU Default configuration........................................................ 63
A.6.1. Changing the number of dom0 vCPUs.......................................................... 64
A.6.2. Pinning dom0 vCPUs............................................................................... 64
A.7. How GPU locality is determined..................................................................... 64

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | iv
LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 GRID vGPU System Architecture ....................................................................2

Figure 2 GRID vGPU Internal Architecture ...................................................................3

Figure 3 Example vGPU configurations on GRID K2 ........................................................ 7

Figure 4 GRID vGPU Manager supplemental pack selected in XenCenter ............................. 12

Figure 5 Successful installation of GRID vGPU Manager supplemental pack .......................... 13

Figure 6 Using XenCenter to configure a VM with a vGPU .............................................. 15

Figure 7 NVIDIA driver installation in the guest VM ...................................................... 16

Figure 8 Verifying NVIDIA driver operation using NVIDIA Control Panel ............................... 17

Figure 9 Using XenCenter to remove a vGPU configuration from a VM ................................18

Figure 10 VM settings for vGPU .............................................................................. 23

Figure 11 Verifying NVIDIA driver operation using NVIDIA Control Panel .............................. 24

Figure 12 NVIDIA Linux driver installer ..................................................................... 28

Figure 13 Update xorg.conf settings ........................................................................ 29

Figure 14 Verifying operation with nvidia-settings ........................................................30

Figure 15 Using XenCenter to monitor GPU performance ............................................... 34

Figure 16 Physical GPU display in XenCenter .............................................................. 36

Figure 17 Modifying GPU placement policy in XenCenter ............................................... 41

Figure 18 Editing a GPU’s enabled vGPU types using XenCenter ....................................... 43

Figure 19 Using a custom GPU group within XenCenter ................................................. 45

Figure 20 Cloning a VM using XenCenter ................................................................... 46

Figure 21 Using XenCenter to configure a pass-through GPU ........................................... 47

Figure 22 A NUMA server platform .......................................................................... 51

Figure 23 Including NVIDIA logs in a XenServer status report ...........................................57

Figure 24 Connecting to the dom0 shell by using XenCenter ........................................... 59

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | v
Figure 25 Using XenCenter to determine a VM's UUID ................................................... 62

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | vi
LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 GRID K1 Virtual GPU types ........................................................................... 4

Table 2 GRID K2 Virtual GPU types ........................................................................... 4

Table 3 Tesla M60 Virtual GPU types ......................................................................... 4

Table 4 Tesla M6 Virtual GPU types ...........................................................................5

Table 5 Virtual GPUs that support Linux ..................................................................... 7

Table 6 Virtual GPUs supporting Linux ...................................................................... 27

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | vii
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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | viii
Chapter 1.
INTRODUCTION TO NVIDIA GRID VIRTUAL
GPU

NVIDIA GRID™ vGPU™ enables multiple virtual machines (VMs) to have simultaneous,
direct access to a single physical GPU, using the same NVIDIA graphics drivers that are
deployed on non-virtualized Operating Systems. By doing this, GRID vGPU provides
VMs with unparalleled graphics performance and application compatibility, together
with the cost-effectiveness and scalability brought about by sharing a GPU among
multiple workloads.

1.1. How this guide is organized

GRID Virtual GPU User Guide is organized as follows:
‣ This chapter introduces the architecture and features of vGPU.
‣ Getting Started provides a step-by-step guide to getting started with vGPU on Citrix
XenServer and VMware ESXi.
‣ Using vGPU on Linux describes using vGPU with Linux VMs.
‣ Performance monitoring covers vGPU performance monitoring on XenServer.
‣ XenServer vGPU Management covers vGPU management on XenServer.
‣ XenServer Performance Tuning covers vGPU performance optimization on
XenServer.
‣ Troubleshooting provides guidance on troubleshooting.

1.2. GRID vGPU architecture

GRID vGPU’s high-level architecture is illustrated in Figure 1. Under the control of
NVIDIA’s GRID Virtual GPU Manager running under the hypervisor, GRID physical
GPUs are capable of supporting multiple virtual GPU devices (vGPUs) that can be
assigned directly to guest VMs.
Guest VMs use GRID virtual GPUs in the same manner as a physical GPU that has been
passed through by the hypervisor: an NVIDIA driver loaded in the guest VM provides

www.nvidia.com
GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 1
Introduction to NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU

direct access to the GPU for performance-critical fast paths, and a paravirtualized
interface to the GRID Virtual GPU Manager is used for non-performant management
operations.

Figure 1 GRID vGPU System Architecture

GRID vGPUs are analogous to conventional GPUs, having a fixed amount of GPU
framebuffer, and one or more virtual display outputs or “heads”. The vGPU’s
framebuffer is allocated out of the physical GPU’s framebuffer at the time the vGPU is
created, and the vGPU retains exclusive use of that framebuffer until it is destroyed.
All vGPUs resident on a physical GPU share access to the GPU’s engines including the
graphics (3D), video decode, and video encode engines.

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 2
Introduction to NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU

Figure 2 GRID vGPU Internal Architecture

1.3. Supported GPUs

GRID vGPU is supported on NVIDIA GRID K1, K2, and is available as a licensed feature
on Tesla M60, M6. Refer to the release notes for a list of recommended server platforms
to use with GRID GPUs.

1.3.1. Virtual GPU types

GRID K1, K2, and Tesla M60 each implement multiple physical GPUs; K2 and M60 have
2 GPUs onboard; GRID K1 has 4 GPUs. Tesla M6 implements a single physical GPU.
Each physical GPU can support several different types of virtual GPU. Virtual GPU
types have a fixed amount of frame buffer, number of supported display heads and
maximum resolutions, and are targeted at different classes of workload
The virtual GPU types supported by GRID GPUs are defined in Table 1, Table 2, Table 3,
and Table 4.
Due to their differing resource requirements, the maximum number of vGPUs that can
be created simultaneously on a physical GPU varies according to the vGPU type. For
example, a GRID K2 physical GPU can support up to 4 K240Q vGPUs on each of its two
physical GPUs, for a total of 8 vGPUs, but only 2 K260Qs vGPUs, for a total of 4 vGPUs.

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 3
Introduction to NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU

Table 1 GRID K1 Virtual GPU types

Maximum
Resolution
GRID Frame Virtual per Maximum Maximum
Physical Virtual Intended Buffer Display Display vGPUs vGPUs
GPUs GPU Use Case (Mbytes) Heads Head per GPU per Board
4 K180Q Power User 4096 4 2560×1600 1 4
4 K160Q Power User 2048 4 2560×1600 2 8
4 K140Q Power User 1024 2 2560×1600 4 16
4 K120Q Power User 512 2 2560×1600 8 32
4 K100 Knowledge 256 2 1920×1200 8 32
Worker

Table 2 GRID K2 Virtual GPU types

Maximum
Resolution
GRID Frame Virtual per Maximum
Physical Virtual Intended Buffer Display Display vGPUs Maximum
GPUs GPU Use Case (Mbytes) Heads Head per GPU per Board
2 K280Q Designer 4096 4 2560×1600 1 2
2 K260Q Power 2048 4 2560×1600 2 4
User,
Designer
2 K240Q Power 1024 2 2560×1600 4 8
User,
Designer
2 K220Q Power 512 2 2560×1600 8 16
User,
Designer
2 K200 Knowledge 256 2 1920×1200 8 16
Worker

Table 3 Tesla M60 Virtual GPU types

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 4
Introduction to NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU

Maximum
Resolution
GRID Frame Virtual per Maximum Maximum
Physical Virtual Intended Buffer Display Display vGPUs vGPUs
GPUs GPU Use Case (Mbytes) Heads Head per GPU per Board
2 M60-1Q Power 1024 2 4096×2160 8 16
User,
Designer
2 M60-0Q Power 512 2 2560×1600 16 32
User,
Designer
2 M60-1B Power User 1024 4 2560×1600 8 16
2 M60-0B Power User 512 2 2560×1600 16 32
2 M60-8A Virtual 8192 1 1280×1024 1 2
Application
User
2 M60-4A Virtual 4096 1 1280×1024 2 4
Application
User
2 M60-2A Virtual 2048 1 1280×1024 4 8
Application
User
2 M60-1A Virtual 1024 1 1280×1024 8 16
Application
User

Table 4 Tesla M6 Virtual GPU types

Maximum
Resolution
GRID Frame Virtual per Maximum Maximum
Physical Virtual Intended Buffer Display Display vGPUs vGPUs
GPUs GPU Use Case (Mbytes) Heads Head per GPU per Board
1 M6-8Q Designer 8192 4 4096×2160 1 1
1 M6-4Q Designer 4096 4 4096×2160 2 2
1 M6-2Q Designer 2048 4 4096×2160 4 4
1 M6-1Q Power 1024 2 4096×2160 8 8
User,
Designer
1 M6-0Q Power 512 2 2560×1600 16 16
User,
Designer
1 M6-1B Power User 1024 4 2560×1600 8 8
1 M6-0B Power User 512 2 2560×1600 16 16

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 5
Introduction to NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU

Maximum
Resolution
GRID Frame Virtual per Maximum Maximum
Physical Virtual Intended Buffer Display Display vGPUs vGPUs
GPUs GPU Use Case (Mbytes) Heads Head per GPU per Board
1 M6-8A Virtual 8192 1 1280×1024 1 1
Application
User
1 M6-4A Virtual 4096 1 1280×1024 2 2
Application
User
1 M6-2A Virtual 2048 1 1280×1024 4 4
Application
User
1 M6-1A Virtual 1024 1 1280×1024 8 8
Application
User

GRID vGPU is a licensed feature on Tesla M6/M60. A software license is required to

use full vGPU features within the guest VM. For more details, see Licensing vGPU on
Windows, Licensing GRID vGPU on Linux, and GRID Licensing User Guide.
Virtualized applications are rendered in an off-screen buffer. Therefore, the maximum
resolution for the A series of GRID vGPUs is independent of the maximum resolution of
the display head.
GRID vGPUs with less than 1 Gbyte of frame buffer support only 1 virtual display head
on a Windows 10 guest OS.

1.3.2. Homogeneous virtual GPUs

This release of GRID vGPU supports homogeneous virtual GPUs: at any given time, the
virtual GPUs resident on a single physical GPU must be all of the same type. However,
this restriction doesn’t extend across physical GPUs on the same card. Each physical
GPU on a K1 or K2 may host different types of virtual GPU at the same time.
For example, a GRID K2 card has two physical GPUs, and can support five types of
virtual GPU; GRID K200, K220Q, K240Q, K260Q, and K280Q. Figure 3 shows some
example virtual GPU configurations on K2:

www.nvidia.com
GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 6
Introduction to NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU

Figure 3 Example vGPU configurations on GRID K2

1.4. Guest VM support

GRID vGPU supports Windows and Linux guest VM operating systems. The supported
vGPU types depend on the guest VM OS.
For details of the supported releases of Windows and Linux, and for further information
on supported configurations, see the driver release notes for your hypervisor.

1.4.1. Windows guest VM support

Windows guest VMs are supported on all GRID virtual GPU types.

1.4.2. Linux guest VM support

64-bit Linux guest VMs are supported on the following virtual GPU types:

Table 5 Virtual GPUs that support Linux

Tesla M60 Tesla M6

M60-8Q M6-8Q
M60-4Q M6-4Q
M60-2Q M6-2Q
M60-1Q M6-1Q
M60-0Q M6-0Q

1.5. GRID vGPU features

This release of GRID vGPU includes support for:

www.nvidia.com
GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 7
Introduction to NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU

‣ DirectX 12, Direct2D, and DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA)

‣ OpenGL 4.5.
‣ NVIDIA GRID SDK (remote graphics acceleration).
CUDA and OpenCL are supported on these virtual GPUs:
‣ GRID M60-8Q, M6-8Q

www.nvidia.com
GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 8
Chapter 2.
GETTING STARTED

This chapter provides a step-by-step guide to booting a Windows VM on Citrix

XenServer and VMware vSphere with NVIDIA Virtual GPU.

2.1. Citrix XenServer

The following topics step you through the process of setting up a single Citrix XenServer
VM to use GRID vGPU. After the process is complete, the VM is capable of running the
full range of DirectX and OpenGL graphics applications.
These setup steps assume familiarity with the XenServer skills covered in XenServer
Basics.

2.1.1. Prerequisites
Before proceeding, ensure that you have these prerequisites:
‣ NVIDIA GRID K1,K2, or Tesla M6, M60 cards.
‣ A server platform capable of hosting XenServer and the NVIDIA GRID or Tesla
cards. Refer to the release notes for a list of recommended servers.
‣ The NVIDIA GRID vGPU software package for Citrix XenServer, consisting of the
GRID Virtual GPU Manager for XenServer, and NVIDIA GRID vGPU drivers for
Windows, 32- and 64-bit.
‣ Citrix XenServer 6.2 SP1 with applicable hotfixes, or later, obtainable from Citrix.
‣ An installed Windows VM to be enabled with vGPU.
To run Citrix XenDesktop with virtual machines running NVIDIA Virtual GPU, you will
also need:
‣ Citrix XenDesktop 7.1 or later, obtainable from Citrix.

Earlier versions of Citrix XenServer and XenDesktop are not supported for use with
NVIDIA Virtual GPU.

www.nvidia.com
GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 9
Getting Started

Review the release notes and known issues for GRID Virtual GPU before proceeding
with installation.

2.1.2. Installing Citrix XenServer and XenCenter

Install Citrix XenServer and any applicable patches, following Citrix’s installation
instructions.
Install the Citrix XenCenter management GUI on a PC.

2.1.3. Changing the Mode of a Tesla M60 or M6 GPU

Tesla M60 GPUs and M6 GPUs support compute mode and graphics mode. GRID vGPU
requires that the Tesla M60 GPUs and M6 GPUs operate in graphics mode. However, by
default, these GPUs are supplied in compute mode.
If you are using a Tesla M6 or M60 GPU, you must change the mode of GPU to graphics
mode. To change the mode of a GPU, use the gpumodeswitch tool as explained in
gpumodeswitch User Guide.

2.1.4. Installing and Updating the NVIDIA Virtual GPU

Manager for XenServer
The NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager runs in XenServer’s dom0. For all supported
XenServer releases, the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager is provided as an RPM file.
Starting with the XenServer 6.5 SP1 release, the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager is also
supplied as a Supplemental Pack.

There are separate Virtual GPU Manager files for different versions of XenServer.
Consult the release notes for guidance on which package to use for each version of
XenServer.

2.1.4.1. Installing the RPM package for XenServer

The RPM file must be copied to XenServer’s dom0 prior to installation (see Copying files
to dom0).
1. Use the rpm command to install the package:
[root@xenserver ~]# rpm -iv NVIDIA-vGPU-xenserver-6.2-361.40.i386.rpm
Preparing packages for installation...
NVIDIA-vGPU-xenserver-6.2-361.40
[root@xenserver ~]#
2. Reboot the XenServer platform:
[root@xenserver ~]# shutdown –r now

Broadcast message from root (pts/1) (Fri Dec 6 14:24:11 2013):

The system is going down for reboot NOW!

[root@xenserver ~]#

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 10
Getting Started

2.1.4.2. Updating the RPM package for XenServer

If an existing GRID Virtual GPU Manager is already installed on the system and you
want to upgrade, follow these steps:
1. Shut down any VMs that are using GRID vGPU.
2. Install the new package using the –U option to the rpm command, to upgrade from
the previously installed package:
[root@xenserver ~]# rpm -Uv NVIDIA-vGPU-xenserver-6.2-361.40.i386.rpm
Preparing packages for installation...
NVIDIA-vGPU-xenserver-6.2-361.40
[root@xenserver ~]#

You can query the version of the current GRID package using the rpm –q
command:

[root@xenserver ~]# rpm –q NVIDIA-vGPU-xenserverNVIDIA-vGPU-

xenserver-6.2-361.40
[root@xenserver ~]#
If an existing NVIDIA GRID package is already installed and you
don’t select the upgrade (-U) option when installing a newer GRID
package, the rpm command will return many conflict errors.
Preparing packages for installation...
file /usr/bin/nvidia-smi from install of NVIDIA-vGPU-
xenserver-6.2-361.40.i386 conflicts with file from package NVIDIA-
vGPU-xenserver-6.2-331.59.i386
file /usr/lib/libnvidia-ml.so from install of NVIDIA-vGPU-
xenserver-6.2-361.40.i386 conflicts with file from package NVIDIA-
vGPU-xenserver-6.2-331.59.i386
...

3. Reboot the XenServer platform:

[root@xenserver ~]# shutdown –r now
Broadcast message from root (pts/1) (Fri Dec 6 14:24:11 2013):

The system is going down for reboot NOW!

[root@xenserver ~]#

GRID Virtual GPU Manager and Guest VM drivers must be matched from the same
release. After updating vGPU Manager, guest VMs will boot with vGPU disabled
until their guest vGPU driver is updated to match the vGPU Manager version.
Consult the release notes for further details.

2.1.4.3. Installing or Updating the Supplemental Pack for XenServer

XenCenter can be used to install or update Supplemental Packs on XenServer hosts. The
NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU Manager supplemental pack is provided as an ISO.

NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU Manager supplemental pack installation and update are
supported from XenServer 6.5 SP1 and XenCenter version 6.5 (build 6.5.2.2477)
onwards.

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 11
Getting Started

1. Select Install Update from the Tools menu.

2. Click Next after going through the instructions on the Before You Start section.
3. Click Add on the Select Update section and open NVIDIA’s XenServer
Supplemental Pack ISO.

Figure 4 GRID vGPU Manager supplemental pack selected in

XenCenter
4. Click Next on the Select Update section.
5. In the Select Servers section select all the XenServer hosts on which the
Supplemental Pack should be installed on and click Next.
6. Click Next on the Upload section once the Supplemental Pack has been uploaded to
all the XenServer hosts.
7. Click Next on the Prechecks section.
8. Click Install Update on the Update Mode section.
9. Click Finish on the Install Update section.

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 12
Getting Started

Figure 5 Successful installation of GRID vGPU Manager supplemental

pack

2.1.4.4. Verifying the installation of the XenServer GRID package

After the XenServer platform has rebooted, verify the installation of the GRID package
for XenServer by performing the following steps:
1. Verify that the GRID package installed and loaded correctly by checking for the
NVIDIA kernel driver in the list of kernel loaded modules.
[root@xenserver ~]# lsmod | grep nvidia
nvidia 9522927 0
i2c_core 20294 2 nvidia,i2c_i801
[root@xenserver ~]#
2. Verify that the NVIDIA kernel driver can successfully communicate with the GRID
physical GPUs in your system by running the nvidia-smi command.
The nvidia-smi command is described in more detail in Using nvidia-smi to
monitor performance.

Running the nvidia-smi command should produce a listing of the GPUs in your
platform.

[root@xenserver ~]# nvidia-smi

www.nvidia.com
GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 13
Getting Started

| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap| Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |

|===============================+======================+======================|
| 0 GRID K1 | 0000:04:00.0 Off | N/A |
| N/A 27C P0 13W / 31W | 0% 9MB / 4095MB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 1 GRID K1 | 0000:05:00.0 Off | N/A |
| N/A 25C P0 13W / 31W | 0% 9MB / 4095MB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 2 GRID K1 | 0000:06:00.0 Off | N/A |
| N/A 21C P0 13W / 31W | 0% 9MB / 4095MB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 3 GRID K1 | 0000:07:00.0 Off | N/A |
| N/A 23C P0 13W / 31W | 0% 9MB / 4095MB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 4 GRID K1 | 0000:86:00.0 Off | N/A |
| N/A 24C P0 13W / 31W | 0% 9MB / 4095MB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 5 GRID K1 | 0000:87:00.0 Off | N/A |
| N/A 24C P0 13W / 31W | 0% 9MB / 4095MB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 6 GRID K1 | 0000:88:00.0 Off | N/A |
| N/A 25C P0 13W / 31W | 0% 9MB / 4095MB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| 7 GRID K1 | 0000:89:00.0 Off | N/A |
| N/A 25C P0 12W / 31W | 0% 9MB / 4095MB | 0% Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Compute processes: GPU Memory |
| GPU PID Process name Usage |
|=============================================================================|
| No running compute processes found |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[root@xenserver ~]#

If nvidia-smi fails to run or doesn’t produce the expected output for all the NVIDIA
GPUs in your system, see Troubleshooting for troubleshooting steps.

2.1.5. Configuring a XenServer VM with Virtual GPU

XenServer supports configuration and management of virtual GPUs using XenCenter,
or the xe command line tool that is run in a XenServer dom0 shell. Basic configuration
using XenCenter is described in the following sections. Command line management
using xe is described in XenServer vGPU Management.
To configure a XenServer VM to use virtual GPU, follow these steps:
1. Ensure the VM is powered off.
2. Right-click on the VM in XenCenter, select Properties to open the VM’s properties,
and select the GPU property.
The available GPU types are listed in the GPU type dropdown:

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 14
Getting Started

Figure 6 Using XenCenter to configure a VM with a vGPU

2.1.6. Booting the XenServer VM and Installing Drivers

Once you have configured a XenServer VM with a vGPU, start the VM, either from
XenCenter or by using xe vm-start in a dom0 shell.
Viewing the VM’s console in XenCenter, the VM should boot to a standard Windows
desktop in VGA mode at 800×600 resolution. The Windows screen resolution control
panel may be used to increase the resolution to other standard resolutions, but to fully
enable vGPU operation, as for a physical NVIDIA GPU, the NVIDIA driver must be
installed.
1. Copy the 32-bit or 64-bit NVIDIA Windows driver package to the guest VM and
execute it to unpack and run the driver installer:

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 15
Getting Started

Figure 7 NVIDIA driver installation in the guest VM

2. Click through the license agreement.
3. Select Express Installation.
Once driver installation completes, the installer may prompt you to restart the
platform.
4. If prompted to restart the platform, do one of the following:

‣ Select Restart Now to reboot the VM.

‣ Exit the installer and reboot the VM when ready.
Once the VM restarts, it will boot to a Windows desktop.
5. Verify that the NVIDIA driver is running:
a) Right-click on the desktop.
The NVIDIA Control Panel will be listed in the menu.
b) Select the NVIDIA Control Panel to open it.
c) Select System Information in the NVIDIA Control Panel to report the Virtual
GPU that the VM is using, its capabilities, and the NVIDIA driver version that is
loaded.

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Getting Started

Figure 8 Verifying NVIDIA driver operation using NVIDIA Control

Panel
This task completes the process of setting up a single XenServer VM to use GRID vGPU.
The VM is now capable of running the full range of DirectX and OpenGL graphics
applications.

2.1.7. Applying a vGPU license

GRID vGPU is a licensed feature on Tesla M6, M60. When booted on these GPUs,
a vGPU runs at full capability even without a license. However, until a license is
acquired, users are warned each time a vGPU tries and fails to obtain a license. You may
optionally configure a license server to provide licenses to a vGPU. See Licensing vGPU
on Windows for details on how to configure licensing on Windows.

2.1.8. Removing a XenServer VM’s vGPU configuration

You can remove a virtual GPU assignment from a VM, such that it no longer uses a
virtual GPU, by using either XenCenter or the xe command.

The VM must be in the powered-off state in order for its vGPU configuration to be
modified or removed.

2.1.8.1. Removing a VM’s vGPU configuration by using XenCenter

1. Set the GPU type to None in the VM’s GPU Properties, as shown in Figure 9.

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 17
Getting Started

Figure 9 Using XenCenter to remove a vGPU configuration from a VM

2. Click OK.

2.1.8.2. Removing a VM’s vGPU configuration by using xe

1. Use vgpu-list to discover the vGPU object UUID associated with a given VM:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-list vm-uuid=e71afda4-53f4-3a1b-6c92-
a364a7f619c2
uuid ( RO) : c1c7c43d-4c99-af76-5051-119f1c2b4188
vm-uuid ( RO): e71afda4-53f4-3a1b-6c92-a364a7f619c2
gpu-group-uuid ( RO): d53526a9-3656-5c88-890b-5b24144c3d96
2. Use vgpu-destroy to delete the virtual GPU object associated with the VM:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-destroy uuid=c1c7c43d-4c99-
af76-5051-119f1c2b4188
[root@xenserver ~]#

2.2. VMware vSphere

The following topics step you through the process of setting up a single VMware
vSphere VM to use GRID vGPU. After the process is complete, the VM is capable of
running the full range of DirectX and OpenGL graphics applications.

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 18
Getting Started

2.2.1. Prerequisites
Before proceeding, ensure that you have these prerequisites:
‣ NVIDIA GRID K1,K2, or Tesla M60, M6 cards.
‣ A server platform capable of hosting VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) and the
NVIDIA GRID or Tesla cards. Refer to the release notes for a list of recommended
servers.
‣ The NVIDIA GRID vGPU software package for VMware vSphere, consisting of
the GRID Virtual GPU Manager for ESXi, and NVIDIA GRID vGPU drivers for
Windows, 32- and 64-bit.
‣ VMware vSphere 2015 or later, obtainable from VMware.
‣ An installed Windows VM to be enabled with vGPU.
To run VMware Horizon with virtual machines running NVIDIA Virtual GPU, you will
also need:
‣ VMware Horizon 6.1 or later, obtainable from VMware.

Earlier versions of VMware vSphere and Horizon are not supported for use with NVIDIA
Virtual GPU.

Review the release notes and known issues for GRID Virtual GPU before proceeding
with installation.

2.2.2. Installing VMware vSphere

Install these VMware software products, following VMware’s installation instructions:
‣ VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi)
‣ VMware vCenter Server

2.2.3. Changing the Mode of a Tesla M60 or M6 GPU

2.2.4. Installing and Updating the NVIDIA Virtual GPU

Manager for vSphere
The NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager runs on ESXi host. It is provided as a VIB file, which
must be copied to the ESXi host and then installed.

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Getting Started

2.2.4.1. Installing the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager Package for

vSphere
To install the vGPU Manager VIB you need to access the ESXi host via the ESXi Shell or
SSH. Refer to VMware’s documentation on how to enable ESXi Shell or SSH for an ESXi
host.

Before proceeding with the vGPU Manager installation make sure that all VMs are
powered off and the ESXi host is placed in maintenance mode. Refer to VMware’s
documentation on how to place an ESXi host in maintenance mode.

1. Use the esxcli command to install the vGPU Manager package:

[root@esxi:~] esxcli software vib install -v /NVIDIA-vGPU-
VMware_ESXi_6.0_Host_Driver_361.40-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203.vib
Installation Result
Message: Operation finished successfully.
Reboot Required: false
VIBs Installed: NVIDIA_bootbank_NVIDIA-vGPU-
VMware_ESXi_6.0_Host_Driver_361.40-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203
VIBs Removed:
VIBs Skipped:
2. Reboot the ESXi host and remove it from maintenance mode.

Caution GRID Virtual GPU Manager and Guest VM drivers must be matched from
the same release. After updating vGPU Manager, guest VMs will boot with vGPU
disabled until their guest vGPU driver is updated to match the vGPU Manager
version. Consult the release notes for further details.

2.2.4.2. Updating the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager Package for

vSphere
Update the vGPU Manager VIB package if you want to install a new version of GRID
Virtual GPU Manager on a system where an existing version is already installed.
To update the vGPU Manager VIB you need to access the ESXi host via the ESXi Shell or
SSH. Refer to VMware’s documentation on how to enable ESXi Shell or SSH for an ESXi
host.

Before proceeding with the vGPU Manager update, make sure that all VMs are
powered off and the ESXi host is placed in maintenance mode. Refer to VMware’s
documentation on how to place an ESXi host in maintenance mode

1. Use the esxcli command to update the vGPU Manager package:

[root@esxi:~] esxcli software vib update -v /NVIDIA-vGPU-
VMware_ESXi_6.0_Host_Driver_361.40-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203.vib

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 20
Getting Started

Installation Result
Message: Operation finished successfully.
Reboot Required: false
VIBs Installed: NVIDIA_bootbank_NVIDIA-vGPU-
VMware_ESXi_6.0_Host_Driver_361.40-1OEM.600.0.0.2159203
VIBs Removed: NVIDIA_bootbank_NVIDIA-vGPU-
VMware_ESXi_6.0_Host_Driver_352.70-1OEM.600.0.0.2494585
VIBs Skipped:
2. Reboot the ESXi host and remove it from maintenance mode.

2.2.4.3. Verifying the installation of the vSphere GRID package

After the ESXi host has rebooted, verify the installation of the GRID package for vSphere
by performing the following steps:
1. Verify that the GRID package installed and loaded correctly by checking for the
NVIDIA kernel driver in the list of kernel loaded modules.
[root@esxi:~] vmkload_mod -l | grep nvidia
nvidia 5 8420
2. If the NVIDIA driver is not listed in the output, check dmesg for any load-time
errors reported by the driver.
3. Verify that the NVIDIA kernel driver can successfully communicate with the GRID
physical GPUs in your system by running the nvidia-smi command.
The nvidia-smi command is described in more detail in Using nvidia-smi to
monitor performance.

Running the nvidia-smi command should produce a listing of the GPUs in your
platform.

www.nvidia.com
GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 21
Getting Started

+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes: GPU Memory |
| GPU PID Type Process name Usage |
|=============================================================================|
| No running processes found |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

If nvidia-smi fails to report the expected output for all the NVIDIA GPUs in your
system, see Troubleshooting for troubleshooting steps.

2.2.5. Configuring a vSphere VM with Virtual GPU

Caution VMware vSphere does not support VM console in vSphere Web Client for
VMs configured with vGPU. Make sure that you have installed an alternate means
of accessing the VM (such as VMware Horizon or a VNC server) before you configure
vGPU.

VM console in vSphere Web Client will become active again once the vGPU parameters
are removed from the VM’s configuration.
To configure vGPU for a VM:
1. Select Edit Settings after right-clicking on the VM in the vCenter Web UI.
2. Select the Virtual Hardware tab.
3. In the New device list, select Shared PCI Device and click Add.
The PCI device field should be auto-populated with NVIDIA GRID vGPU, as
shown in Figure 10.

www.nvidia.com
GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 22
Getting Started

Figure 10 VM settings for vGPU

4. From the GPU Profile dropdown menu, choose the type of vGPU you want to
configure.
5. Ensure that VMs running vGPU have all their memory reserved:
a) Select Edit virtual machine settings from the vCenter Web UI.
b) Expand the Memory section and click Reserve all guest memory (All locked).

2.2.6. Booting the vSphere VM and Installing Drivers

Once you have configured a vSphere VM with a vGPU, start the VM. VM console in
vSphere Web Client is not supported in this vGPU release. Therefore, use VMware
Horizon or VNC to access the VM’s desktop.

www.nvidia.com
GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 23
Getting Started

The VM should boot to a standard Windows desktop in VGA mode at 800×600

resolution. The Windows screen resolution control panel may be used to increase the
resolution to other standard resolutions, but to fully enable vGPU operation, as for a
physical NVIDIA GPU, the NVIDIA driver must be installed.
1. Copy the 32-bit or 64-bit NVIDIA Windows driver package to the guest VM and
execute it to unpack and run the driver installer.
2. Click through the license agreement.
3. Select Express Installation.
Once driver installation completes, the installer may prompt you to restart the
platform.
4. If prompted to restart the platform, do one of the following:

‣ Select Restart Now to reboot the VM.

Figure 11 Verifying NVIDIA driver operation using NVIDIA Control

Panel

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 24
Getting Started

This task completes the process of setting up a single vSphere VM to use GRID vGPU.
The VM is now capable of running the full range of DirectX and OpenGL graphics
applications.

2.2.7. Applying a vGPU license

2.2.8. Removing a vSphere VM’s vGPU configuration

To remove a vSphere vGPU configuration from a VM:
1. Select Edit settings after right-clicking on the VM in the vCenter Web UI.
2. Select the Virtual Hardware tab.
3. Mouse over the PCI Device entry showing NVIDIA GRID vGPU and click on the
(X) icon to mark the device for removal.
4. Click OK to remove the device and update the VM settings.

2.2.9. Modifying GPU assignment for vGPU-Enabled VMs

VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) by default uses a breadth-first allocation scheme for
vGPU-enabled VMs; allocating new vGPU-enabled VMs on an available, least loaded
physical GPU. This policy generally leads to higher performance because it attempts
to minimize sharing of physical GPUs, but in doing so it may artificially limit the total
number of vGPUs that can run.
ESXi also provides a depth-first allocation scheme for vGPU-enabled VMs. The depth-
first allocation policy attempts to maximize the number of vGPUs running on each
physical GPU, by placing newly-created vGPUs on the physical GPU that can support
the new vGPU and that has the most number of vGPUs already resident. This policy
generally leads to higher density of vGPUs, particularly when different types of vGPUs
are being run, but may result in lower performance because it attempts to maximize
sharing of physical GPUs.
To switch to depth-first allocation scheme add the following parameter to /etc/
vmware/config:
vGPU.consolidation = true

2.3. Licensing vGPU on Windows

GRID vGPU is a licensed feature on Tesla M6 and Tesla M60 GPUs. When booted on
these GPUs, a vGPU runs at full capability even without a license. However, until a

www.nvidia.com
GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 25
Getting Started

license is acquired, users are warned each time a vGPU tries and fails to obtain a license.
These warnings cease after a license is acquired.
Full information on configuring and using GRID licensed features, including vGPU, is
given in GRID Licensing User Guide. Basic configuration information is given here.
To configure vGPU licensing on Windows:
1. Open NVIDIA Control Panel and select the Manage License task in the Licensing
section of the navigation pane.
2. Enter the address of your local GRID License Server in the License Server field.
The address can be a fully-qualified domain name such as
gridlicense.example.com, or an IP address such as 10.31.20.45.
3. Leave the Port Number field unset.
It will default to 7070, which is the default port number used by NVIDIA GRID
License Server.
4. Click Apply to assign the settings.
The system will request the appropriate license for the current vGPU from the
configured license server.

If the system fails to obtain a license, refer to GRID Licensing User Guide for guidance on
troubleshooting.

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 26
Chapter 3.
USING VGPU ON LINUX

Tesla M6 and Tesla M60 GPUs support vGPU on Linux VMs. 64-bit Linux guest VMs are
supported on the following virtual GPU types:

Table 6 Virtual GPUs supporting Linux

Tesla M60 Tesla M6

M60-8Q M6-8Q
M60-4Q M6-4Q
M60-2Q M6-2Q
M60-1Q M6-1Q
M60-0Q M6-0Q

Refer to the driver release notes for further information on supported hypervisor and
Linux VM configurations.

3.1. Installing vGPU drivers on Linux

After creating and booting a Linux VM on the hypervisor, the steps to install NVIDIA
Linux vGPU drivers are largely the same as those for installing NVIDIA GPU drivers on
a VM running pass-through GPU, or on bare-metal Linux.

3.1.1. Prerequisites for installing the NVIDIA Linux

driver
Installation of the NVIDIA Linux driver requires:
‣ Compiler toolchain
‣ Kernel headers

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Using vGPU on Linux

3.1.2. Running the driver installer

1. Copy the NVIDIA GRID Linux driver package, for example NVIDIA-
Linux_x86_64-352.47-grid.run, to the Linux VM.
2. Before attemting to run the driver installer, exit the X server and terminate all
OpenGL applications.
‣ On Red Hat Enterprise Linux and CentOS systems, exit the X server by
transitioning to runlevel 3:
[nvidia@localhost ~]$ sudo init 3
‣ On Ubuntu platforms, do the following:
1. Use CTRL-ALT-F1 to switch to a console login prompt.
2. Log in and shut down the display manager:
[nvidia@localhost ~]$ sudo service lightdm stop
3. From a console shell, run the driver installer as the root user.
sudo sh ./ NVIDIA-Linux_x86_64-352.47-grid.run

The installer should launch and display the driver license agreement as shown in
Figure 12:

Figure 12 NVIDIA Linux driver installer

4. Accept the license agreement to continue with the driver installation.
In some instances the installer may fail to detect the installed kernel headers and
sources. In this situation, re-run the installer, specifying the kernel source path with
the --kernel-source-path option:
sudo sh ./ NVIDIA-Linux_x86_64-352.47-grid.run \
–kernel-source-path=/usr/src/kernels/3.10.0-229.11.1.el7.x86_64

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Using vGPU on Linux

5. When prompted, accept the option to update the X configuration file (xorg.conf)
settings as shown in Figure 13:

Figure 13 Update xorg.conf settings

6. Once installation has completed, select OK to exit the installer.
7. Verify that the NVIDIA driver is operational with vGPU:
a) Reboot the system and log in.
b) Run nvidia-settings.
[nvidia@localhost ~]$ nvidia-settings

The NVIDIA X Server Settings dialog box opens to show that the NVIDIA driver
is operational as shown in Figure 14.

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Using vGPU on Linux

Figure 14 Verifying operation with nvidia-settings

3.2. Licensing GRID vGPU on Linux

GRID vGPU is a licensed feature on Tesla M6 and Tesla M60 GPUs. When booted on
these GPUs, a vGPU runs at full capability even without a license.
Full information on configuring and using GRID licensed features, including vGPU, is
given in the GRID Licensing User Guide. Basic configuration information is given here.
To license GRID vGPU on Linux:
1. As root, open the file /etc/nvidia/gridd.conf in a plain-text editor, such as vi.
[nvidia@localhost ~]$ sudo vi /etc/nvidia/gridd.conf

You can create the /etc/nvidia/gridd.conf file by copying the supplied

template file /etc/nvidia/gridd.conf.template.
2. Set ServerAddress to the address of your local NVIDIA GRID License Server.
The address can be a fully-qualified domain name such as
gridlicense.example.com, or an IP address such as 10.31.20.45.
3. Optional: Set ServerPort to the port number of your local NVIDIA GRID License
Server.
If you do not set ServerPort, it will default to 7070, which is the default port
number that is used by the NVIDIA GRID License Server.
4. Set FeatureType to 1, to license vGPU.
5. Save your changes to the /etc/nvidia/gridd.conf file.
6. Restart the nvidia-gridd service:

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Using vGPU on Linux

[nvidia@localhost ~]$ sudo service nvidia-gridd restart

The service should automatically obtain a license.

7. Optional: Confirm that the service has obtained a license by examining the log
messages written to /var/log/messages:
[nvidia@localhost ~]$ sudo grep gridd /var/log/messages
…
Aug 5 15:40:06 localhost nvidia-gridd: Started (4293)
Aug 5 15:40:24 localhost nvidia-gridd: License acquired successfully.

Once configured in gridd.conf, licensing settings persist across reboots and need only
be modified if the license server address changes, or the VM is switched to running GPU
passthrough.

gridd.conf file for GRID vGPU

The following example shows a gridd.conf file for GRID vGPU in which
ServerAddress is set to gridlicense.example.com, ServerPort is set to 7070,
and FeatureType is set to 1.
# /etc/nvidia/gridd.conf - Configuration file for NVIDIA Grid Daemon

# This is a template for the configuration file for NVIDIA Grid Daemon.
# For details on the file format, please refer to the nvidia-gridd(1)
# man page.

# Description: Set License Server Address

# Data type: string
# Format: "<address>"
ServerAddress=gridlicense.example.com

# Description: Set License Server port number

# Data type: integer
# Format: <port>, default is 7070
ServerPort=7070

# Description: Set Feature to be enabled

# Data type: integer
# Possible values:
# 1 => for GRID vGPU
# 2 => for GRID Virtual Workstation
FeatureType=1

# Description: Parameter to enable or disable Grid Licensing tab in nvidia-

settings
# Data type: boolean
# Possible values: TRUE or FALSE, default is TRUE
#EnableUI=TRUE

# Description: Set license borrow period in minutes

# Data type: integer
# Possible values: 10 to 10080 mins(7 days), default is 10080
#Licenselnterval=10080

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GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 31
Chapter 4.
PERFORMANCE MONITORING

Physical GPU performance monitoring can be done using the nvidia-smi command
line utility and, on Citrix XenServer platforms, using Citrix XenCenter.

It is not currently possible to monitor the performance of GPUs being used for GPU
pass-through.

4.1. Using nvidia-smi to monitor performance

NVIDIA System Management Interface, nvidia-smi, reports management information
for NVIDIA physical GPUs present in the system. nvidia-smi is a command line tool
that you run from the XenServer dom0 or ESXi host shells.

nvidia-smi will not list any GPU currently allocated for GPU pass-through.

In this release of GRID vGPU, nvidia-smi provides basic reporting of vGPU

instances running on physical GPUs. Each vGPU instance is reported in the Compute
processes section, together with its physical GPU index and the amount of
framebuffer memory assigned to it.
To get a summary of all GPUs in the system, along with PCI bus IDs, power state,
temperature, current memory usage, and so on, invoke nvidia-smi without additional
arguments.
In the example that follows, five vGPUs are running: one vGPU on physical GPU 0, and
four vGPUs on physical GPU 1:

[root@xenserver ~]# nvidia-smi

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Performance monitoring

For a list of commands supported by nvidia-smi, run nvidia-smi -h. Note that not
all commands apply to GRID supported GPUs.

4.2. Using Citrix XenCenter to monitor

performance
If you are using Citrix XenServer as your hypervisor, you can monitor GPU performance
in XenCenter.
1. Click on a server’s Performance tab.
2. Right-click on the graph window, then select Actions and New Graph.
3. Provide a name for the graph.
4. In the list of available counter resources, select one or more GPU counters.

Counters are listed for each physical GPU not currently being used for GPU pass-
through.

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Performance monitoring

Figure 15 Using XenCenter to monitor GPU performance

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Chapter 5.
XENSERVER VGPU MANAGEMENT

This chapter describes Citrix XenServer advanced vGPU management techniques using
XenCenter and xe command line operations.

5.1. Management objects for GPUs

XenServer uses four underlying management objects for GPUs: physical GPUs, vGPU
types, GPU groups, and vGPUs. These objects are used directly when managing vGPU
by using xe, and indirectly when managing vGPU by using XenCenter.

5.1.1. pgpu - physical GPU

A pgpu object represents a physical GPU, such as one of the multiple GPUs present
on a GRID K1 or K2 card. XenServer automatically creates pgpu objects at startup to
represent each physical GPU present on the platform.

5.1.1.1. Listing the pgpu objects present on a platform

To list the physical GPU objects present on a platform, use xe pgpu-list.
For example, this platform contains a single GRID K2 card with two physical GPUs:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe pgpu-list

uuid ( RO) : 7c1e3cff-1429-0544-df3d-bf8a086fb70a
vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
device-name ( RO): GK104GL [GRID K2]
gpu-group-uuid ( RW): be825ba2-01d7-8d51-9780-f82cfaa64924

uuid ( RO) : d07fa627-7dc9-f625-92be-ce5d2655e830

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
device-name ( RO): GK104GL [GRID K2]
gpu-group-uuid ( RW): be825ba2-01d7-8d51-9780-f82cfaa64924
[root@xenserver ~]#

5.1.1.2. Viewing detailed information about a pgpu object

To view detailed information about a pgpu, use xe pgpu-param-list:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe pgpu-param-list uuid=d07fa627-7dc9-f625-92be-ce5d2655e830

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XenServer vGPU Management

uuid ( RO) : d07fa627-7dc9-f625-92be-ce5d2655e830

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
device-name ( RO): GK104GL [GRID K2]
gpu-group-uuid ( RW): 315a1e1e-6d0c-1cb3-7903-1602d236a33a
gpu-group-name-label ( RO): Group of NVIDIA Corporation GK104GL [GRID K2]
GPUs
host-uuid ( RO): 2305cc32-c2d8-4fbd-b1aa-d0b0121ba454
host-name-label ( RO): acurrid-vgpu-2 (VM IPs 10.31.223.0 -
10.31.223.19)
pci-id ( RO): 0000:0a:00.0
dependencies (SRO):
other-config (MRW):
supported-VGPU-types ( RO): c18ab767-ba72-b286-9350-d8010bab4f30;
7cd190db-e4fe-e824-cf4a-ff1604882323; 24a7baa3-a70a-8c7b-ee7d-f437e0857eca;
bfcfb8cd-c01b-2691-272c-8e908937922d; 0d581f02-c601-a9b1-f440-f852f31f583e;
2c210411-7de3-37f5-c58c-9635b40d50f6
enabled-VGPU-types (SRW): c18ab767-ba72-b286-9350-d8010bab4f30;
7cd190db-e4fe-e824-cf4a-ff1604882323; 24a7baa3-a70a-8c7b-ee7d-f437e0857eca;
bfcfb8cd-c01b-2691-272c-8e908937922d; 0d581f02-c601-a9b1-f440-f852f31f583e;
2c210411-7de3-37f5-c58c-9635b40d50f6
resident-VGPUs ( RO):
[root@xenserver ~]#

5.1.1.3. Viewing physical GPUs in XenCenter

To view physical GPUs in XenCenter, click on the server’s GPU tab:

Figure 16 Physical GPU display in XenCenter

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XenServer vGPU Management

5.1.2. vgpu-type - virtual GPU type

A vgpu-type represents a type of virtual GPU, such as GRID K100, K140Q, K200, etc.
An additional, pass-through vGPU type is defined to represent a physical GPU that is
directly assignable to a single guest VM.
XenServer automatically creates vgpu-type objects at startup to represent each virtual
type supported by the physical GPUs present on the platform.

5.1.2.1. Listing the vgpu-type objects present on a platform

To list the vgpu-type objects present on a platform, use xe vgpu-type-list.
For example, as this platform contains multiple GRID K2 cards, the vGPU types
reported are solely those supported by GRID K2:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-type-list

uuid ( RO) : 7cd190db-e4fe-e824-cf4a-ff1604882323
vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID K240Q
max-heads ( RO): 2
max-resolution ( RO): 2560x1600

uuid ( RO) : 2c210411-7de3-37f5-c58c-9635b40d50f6

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID K220Q
max-heads ( RO): 2
max-resolution ( RO): 2560x1600

uuid ( RO) : 24a7baa3-a70a-8c7b-ee7d-f437e0857eca

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID K260Q
max-heads ( RO): 4
max-resolution ( RO): 2560x1600

uuid ( RO) : 0d581f02-c601-a9b1-f440-f852f31f583e

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID K200
max-heads ( RO): 2
max-resolution ( RO): 1920x1200

uuid ( RO) : c18ab767-ba72-b286-9350-d8010bab4f30

vendor-name ( RO):
model-name ( RO): passthrough
max-heads ( RO): 0
max-resolution ( RO): 0x0

uuid ( RO) : bfcfb8cd-c01b-2691-272c-8e908937922d

vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID K280Q
max-heads ( RO): 4
max-resolution ( RO): 2560x1600

[root@xenserver ~]#

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XenServer vGPU Management

5.1.2.2. Viewing detailed information about a vgpu-type object

To see detailed information about a vgpu-type, use xe vgpu-type-param-list:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-type-param-list uuid=7cd190db-e4fe-e824-cf4a-

ff1604882323
uuid ( RO) : 7cd190db-e4fe-e824-cf4a-ff1604882323
vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
model-name ( RO): GRID K240Q
framebuffer-size ( RO): 939524096
max-heads ( RO): 2
max-resolution ( RO): 2560x1600
supported-on-PGPUs ( RO): d72b9b0d-ae86-a1fa-4432-a46bcef4a4ab;
f17f00fc-dff2-ecb0-5bdb-8f050da2fd8b; 13cfa311-93fe-79e5-f94f-1e8c38a88486;
a9474d47-ddba-ab3a-8f44-58163ffa49f8; 8d147385-40a5-7305-95ea-de92ed4bcfc8;
d3984345-f8e1-c5fe-c5fc-78d2225f0382; 50493ce6-f3b1-1bd9-c012-2457472f2a92;
4778208a-97a9-cbf0-cedf-a20cd28f91f3
enabled-on-PGPUs ( RO): d72b9b0d-ae86-a1fa-4432-a46bcef4a4ab;
f17f00fc-dff2-ecb0-5bdb-8f050da2fd8b; 13cfa311-93fe-79e5-f94f-1e8c38a88486;
a9474d47-ddba-ab3a-8f44-58163ffa49f8; 8d147385-40a5-7305-95ea-de92ed4bcfc8;
d3984345-f8e1-c5fe-c5fc-78d2225f0382; 50493ce6-f3b1-1bd9-c012-2457472f2a92;
4778208a-97a9-cbf0-cedf-a20cd28f91f3
supported-on-GPU-groups ( RO): 315a1e1e-6d0c-1cb3-7903-1602d236a33a
enabled-on-GPU-groups ( RO): 315a1e1e-6d0c-1cb3-7903-1602d236a33a
VGPU-uuids ( RO): b6242c9c-87ad-92e9-5a24-a6bd1a3d8950
[root@xenserver ~]#

5.1.3. gpu-group - collection of physical GPUs

A gpu-group is a collection of physical GPUs, all of the same type. XenServer
automatically creates gpu-group objects at startup to represent the distinct types of
physical GPU present on the platform.

5.1.3.1. Listing the gpu-group objects present on a platform

To list the gpu-group objects present on a platform, use xe gpu-group-list.
For example, a system with a single GRID K2 card contains a single GPU group of type
GRID K2:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe gpu-group-list

uuid ( RO) : be825ba2-01d7-8d51-9780-f82cfaa64924
name-label ( RW): Group of NVIDIA Corporation GK104GL [GRID K2] GPUs
name-description ( RW):

[root@xenserver ~]#

5.1.3.2. Viewing detailed information about a gpu-group object

To view detailed information about a gpu-group, use xe gpu-group-param-list:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe gpu-group-param-list uuid=be825ba2-01d7-8d51-9780-

f82cfaa64924
uuid ( RO) : be825ba2-01d7-8d51-9780-f82cfaa64924
name-label ( RW): Group of NVIDIA Corporation GK104GL [GRID K2]
GPUs
name-description ( RW):
VGPU-uuids (SRO): 6493ff45-d895-764c-58d8-96f1bc0307aa;
8481cb68-66e5-25e6-a0c0-bd691df682b3; b73cbd30-096f-8a9a-523e-a800062f4ca7

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XenServer vGPU Management

PGPU-uuids (SRO): a4a4df34-4e5f-de9f-82d6-2134d9e339dc;

84c76e93-555c-5ffa-e9a9-0d6fcb9ff48d; d07fa627-7dc9-f625-92be-ce5d2655e830;
7c1e3cff-1429-0544-df3d-bf8a086fb70a
other-config (MRW):
enabled-VGPU-types ( RO): d1fb00dd-02e6-e7df-ccd5-1944965ece55;
1a312df9-5397-bd44-c447-c6da804d2fe7; fa50b0f0-9705-6c59-689e-ea62a3d35237;
3f318889-7508-c9fd-7134-003d4d05ae56
supported-VGPU-types ( RO): d1fb00dd-02e6-e7df-ccd5-1944965ece55;
1a312df9-5397-bd44-c447-c6da804d2fe7; fa50b0f0-9705-6c59-689e-ea62a3d35237;
3f318889-7508-c9fd-7134-003d4d05ae56
allocation-algorithm ( RW): depth-first

[root@xenserver ~]

5.1.4. vgpu - virtual GPU

A vgpu object represents a virtual GPU. Unlike the other GPU management objects,
vgpu objects are not created automatically by XenServer. Instead, they are created as
follows:
‣ When a VM is configured through XenCenter or through xe to use a vGPU
‣ By cloning a VM that is configured to use vGPU, as explained in Cloning vGPU-
enabled VMs

5.2. Creating a vGPU using xe

Use xe vgpu-create to create a vgpu object, specifying the type of vGPU required,
the GPU group it will be allocated from, and the VM it is associated with:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-create vm-uuid=e71afda4-53f4-3a1b-6c92-

a364a7f619c2 gpu-group-uuid=be825ba2-01d7-8d51-9780-f82cfaa64924 vgpu-type-
uuid=3f318889-7508-c9fd-7134-003d4d05ae56b73cbd30-096f-8a9a-523e-a800062f4ca7
[root@xenserver ~]#

Creating the vgpu object for a VM does not immediately cause a virtual GPU to
be created on a physical GPU. Instead, the vgpu object is created whenever its
associated VM is started. For more details on how vGPUs are created at VM startup, see
Controlling vGPU allocation.

The owning VM must be in the powered-off state in order for the vgpu-create
command to succeed.

A vgpu object’s owning VM, associated GPU group, and vGPU type are fixed at
creation and cannot be subsequently changed. To change the type of vGPU allocated
to a VM, delete the existing vgpu object and create another one.

5.3. Controlling vGPU allocation

Configuring a VM to use a vGPU in XenCenter, or creating a vgpu object for a VM using
xe, does not immediately cause a virtual GPU to be created; rather, the virtual GPU is
created at the time the VM is next booted, using the following steps:

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XenServer vGPU Management

‣ The GPU group that the vgpu object is associated with is checked for a physical
GPU that can host a vGPU of the required type (i.e. the vgpu object’s associated
vgpu-type). Because vGPU types cannot be mixed on a single physical GPU, the
new vGPU can only be created on a physical GPU that has no vGPUs resident on it,
or only vGPUs of the same type, and less than the limit of vGPUs of that type that
the physical GPU can support.
‣ If no such physical GPUs exist in the group, the vgpu creation fails and the VM
startup is aborted.
‣ Otherwise, if more than one such physical GPU exists in the group, a physical
GPU is selected according to the GPU group’s allocation policy, as described in GPU
allocation policy

5.3.1. GPU allocation policy

XenServer creates GPU groups with a default allocation policy of depth-first. The depth-
allocation policy attempts to maximize the number of vGPUs running on each physical
GPU within the group, by placing newly-created vGPUs on the physical GPU that can
support the new vGPU and that has the most number of vGPUs already resident. This
policy generally leads to higher density of vGPUs, particularly when different types
of vGPUs are being run, but may result in lower performance because it attempts to
maximize sharing of physical GPUs.
Conversely, a breadth-first allocation policy attempts to minimize the number of vGPUs
running on each physical GPU within the group, by placing newly-created vGPUs on
the physical GPU that can support the new vGPU and that has the least number of
vGPUs already resident. This policy generally leads to higher performance because it
attempts to minimize sharing of physical GPUs, but in doing so it may artificially limit
the total number of vGPUs that can run.

5.3.1.1. Controlling GPU allocation policy by using xe

The allocation policy of a GPU group is stored in the allocation-algorithm
parameter of the gpu-group object.
To change the allocation policy of a GPU group, use gpu-group-param-set:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe gpu-group-param-get uuid=be825ba2-01d7-8d51-9780-

f82cfaa64924 param-name=allocation-algorithmdepth-first
[root@xenserver ~]# xe gpu-group-param-set uuid=be825ba2-01d7-8d51-9780-
f82cfaa64924 allocation-algorithm=breadth-first
[root@xenserver ~]#

5.3.1.2. Controlling GPU allocation policy by using XenCenter

You can control GPU allocation policy from the GPU tab in XenCenter.

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XenServer vGPU Management

Figure 17 Modifying GPU placement policy in XenCenter

5.3.2. Determining the physical GPU that a virtual GPU

is resident on
The vgpu object’s resident-on parameter returns the UUID of the pgpu object for the
physical GPU the vGPU is resident on.
To determine the physical GPU that a virtual GPU is resident on, use vgpu-param-get:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-param-get uuid=8481cb68-66e5-25e6-a0c0-bd691df682b3

param-name=resident-on
a4a4df34-4e5f-de9f-82d6-2134d9e339dc

[root@xenserver ~]# xe pgpu-param-list uuid=a4a4df34-4e5f-de9f-82d6-2134d9e339dc

uuid ( RO) : a4a4df34-4e5f-de9f-82d6-2134d9e339dc
vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
device-name ( RO): GK104GL [GRID K2]
gpu-group-uuid ( RW): be825ba2-01d7-8d51-9780-f82cfaa64924
gpu-group-name-label ( RO): Group of NVIDIA Corporation GK104GL [GRID K2]
GPUs
host-uuid ( RO): 6f6209a6-0f11-4c51-b12d-2bce361e9639
host-name-label ( RO): xenserver (VM IPs 10.31.213.50-95, dom0 .98,
OOB .99)
pci-id ( RO): 0000:09:00.0
dependencies (SRO):
other-config (MRW):

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XenServer vGPU Management

supported-VGPU-types ( RO): fa50b0f0-9705-6c59-689e-ea62a3d35237;

1a312df9-5397-bd44-c447-c6da804d2fe7; d1fb00dd-02e6-e7df-ccd5-1944965ece55;
3f318889-7508-c9fd-7134-003d4d05ae56
enabled-VGPU-types (SRW): fa50b0f0-9705-6c59-689e-ea62a3d35237;
1a312df9-5397-bd44-c447-c6da804d2fe7; d1fb00dd-02e6-e7df-ccd5-1944965ece55;
3f318889-7508-c9fd-7134-003d4d05ae56
resident-VGPUs ( RO): 8481cb68-66e5-25e6-a0c0-bd691df682b3

[root@xenserver ~]#

If the vGPU is not currently running, the resident-on parameter is not instantiated
for the vGPU, and the vgpu-param-get operation returns:

5.3.3. Controlling the vGPU types enabled on specific

physical GPUs
Physical GPUs support several vGPU types, as defined in Supported GPUs and the
“pass-through” type that is used to assign an entire physical GPU to a VM (see Using
GPU pass-through).

5.3.3.1. Controlling vGPU types enabled on specific physical GPUs

by using XenCenter
To limit the types of vGPU that may be created on a specific vGPU:
1. Open the server’s GPU tab in XenCenter.
2. Select the box beside one or more GPUs on which you want to limit the types of
vGPU.
3. Select Edit Selected GPUs.

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XenServer vGPU Management

Figure 18 Editing a GPU’s enabled vGPU types using XenCenter

5.3.3.2. Controlling vGPU types enabled on specific physical GPUs

by using xe
The physical GPU’s pgpu object’s enabled-vGPU-types parameter controls the vGPU
types enabled on specific physical GPUs.
To modify the pgpu object’s enabled-vGPU-types parameter , use xe pgpu-param-
set:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe pgpu-param-list uuid=f2607117-5b4c-d6cc-3900-00bf712e33f4

uuid ( RO) : f2607117-5b4c-d6cc-3900-00bf712e33f4
vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
device-name ( RO): GK104GL [GRID K2]
gpu-group-uuid ( RW): f4662c69-412c-abc5-6d02-f74b7703cccd
gpu-group-name-label ( RO): GRID K2 Socket 0
host-uuid ( RO): d9eb9118-a5c5-49fb-970e-80e6a8f7ff98
host-name-label ( RO): xenserver-vgx-test (VM IPs 10.31.223.0-49,
dom0 .96, OOB .97)
pci-id ( RO): 0000:08:00.0
dependencies (SRO):
other-config (MRW):
supported-VGPU-types ( RO): a724b756-d108-4c9f-0ea3-8f3a1553bfbc;
63d9d912-3454-b020-8519-58dedb3b0117; 0bdf4715-e035-19c3-a57d-5ead20b3e5cd;
a7838abe-0d73-1918-7d29-fd361d3e411f
enabled-VGPU-types (SRW): a724b756-d108-4c9f-0ea3-8f3a1553bfbc;
63d9d912-3454-b020-8519-58dedb3b0117; 0bdf4715-e035-19c3-a57d-5ead20b3e5cd;
a7838abe-0d73-1918-7d29-fd361d3e411f
resident-VGPUs ( RO):

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XenServer vGPU Management

[root@xenserver-vgx-test ~]# xe pgpu-param-set uuid=f2607117-5b4c-

d6cc-3900-00bf712e33f4 enabled-VGPU-types=a724b756-d108-4c9f-0ea3-8f3a1553bfbc

5.3.4. Creating vGPUs on specific physical GPUs

To precisely control allocation of vGPUs on specific physical GPUs, create separate
GPU groups for the physical GPUs you wish to allocate vGPUs on. When creating a
virtual GPU, create it on the GPU group containing the physical GPU you want it to be
allocated on.
For example, to create a new GPU group for the physical GPU at PCI bus ID
0000:05:0.0, follow these steps:
1. Create the new GPU group with an appropriate name:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe gpu-group-create name-label="GRID K2 5:0.0"
585877ef-5a6c-66af-fc56-7bd525bdc2f6
[root@xenserver ~]#
2. Find the UUID of the physical GPU at 0000:05:0.0 that you want to assign to the
new GPU group:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe pgpu-list pci-id=0000:05:00.0
uuid ( RO) : 7c1e3cff-1429-0544-df3d-bf8a086fb70a
vendor-name ( RO): NVIDIA Corporation
device-name ( RO): GK104GL [GRID K2]
gpu-group-uuid ( RW): be825ba2-01d7-8d51-9780-f82cfaa64924

[root@xenserver ~]

The pci-id parameter passed to the pgpu-list command must be in the

exact format shown, with the PCI domain fully specified (for example, 0000) and
the PCI bus and devices numbers each being two digits (for example, 05:00.0).
3. Ensure that no vGPUs are currently operating on the physical GPU by checking the
resident-VGPUs parameter:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe pgpu-param-get uuid=7c1e3cff-1429-0544-df3d-
bf8a086fb70a param-name=resident-VGPUs

[root@xenserver ~]#
4. If any vGPUs are listed, shut down the VMs associated with them.
5. Change the gpu-group-uuid parameter of the physical GPU to the UUID of the
newly-created GPU group:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe pgpu-param-set uuid=7c1e3cff-1429-0544-df3d-
bf8a086fb70a gpu-group-uuid=585877ef-5a6c-66af-fc56-7bd525bdc2f6
[root@xenserver ~]#

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XenServer vGPU Management

Any vgpu object now created that specifies this GPU group UUID will always have its
vGPUs created on the GPU at PCI bus ID 0000:05:0.0.

You can add more than one physical GPU to a manually-created GPU group – for
example, to represent all the GPUs attached to the same CPU socket in a multi-socket
server platform - but as for automatically-created GPU groups, all the physical GPUs
in the group must of the same type.

In XenCenter, manually-created GPU groups appear in the GPU type listing in a VM’s
GPU Properties. Select a GPU type within the group from which you wish the vGPU to
be allocated:

Figure 19 Using a custom GPU group within XenCenter

5.4. Cloning vGPU-enabled VMs

XenServer’s fast-clone or copying feature can be used to rapidly create new VMs from
a “golden” base VM image that has been configured with GRID vGPU, the NVIDIA
driver, applications, and remote graphics software.
When a VM is cloned, any vGPU configuration associated with the base VM is copied to
the cloned VM. Starting the cloned VM will create a vGPU instance of the same type as
the original VM, from the same GPU group as the original vGPU.

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XenServer vGPU Management

5.4.1. Cloning a vGPU-enabled VM by using xe

To clone a vGPU-enabled VM from the dom0 shell, use vm-clone:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-clone new-name-label="new-vm" vm="base-vm-name"

7f7035cb-388d-1537-1465-1857fb6498e7
[root@xenserver ~]#

5.4.2. Cloning a vGPU-enabled VM by using XenCenter

To clone a vGPU-enabled VM by using XenCenter, use the VM’s Copy VM command as
shown in Figure 20.

Figure 20 Cloning a VM using XenCenter

5.5. Using GPU pass-through

GPU pass-through is used to directly assign an entire physical GPU to one VM,
bypassing the GRID Virtual GPU Manager. In this mode of operation, the GPU is
accessed exclusively by the NVIDIA driver running in the VM to which it is assigned;
the GPU is not shared among VMs.
GPU pass-through can be used in a server platform alongside GRID vGPU, with some
restrictions:

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XenServer vGPU Management

‣ A physical GPU can host GRID vGPUs, or can be used for pass-through, but cannot
do both at the same time.
‣ The performance of a physical GPU passed through to a VM cannot be monitored
through XenCenter or nvidia-smi (see Performance monitoring).
‣ Pass-through GPUs do not provide console output via XenCenter’s VM Console tab.
Use a remote graphics connection directly into the VM to access the VM’s OS.

5.5.1. Configuring a VM for GPU pass-through by using

XenCenter
Select the Pass-through whole GPU option as the GPU type in the VM’s Properties:

Figure 21 Using XenCenter to configure a pass-through GPU

5.5.2. Configuring a VM for GPU pass-through by using

xe
Create a vgpu object with the passthrough vGPU type:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-type-list model-name="passthrough"

uuid ( RO) : fa50b0f0-9705-6c59-689e-ea62a3d35237
vendor-name ( RO):
model-name ( RO): passthrough
framebuffer-size ( RO): 0

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XenServer vGPU Management

[root@xenserver ~]# xe vgpu-create vm-uuid=753e77a9-e10d-7679-f674-65c078abb2eb

vgpu-type-uuid=fa50b0f0-9705-6c59-689e-ea62a3d35237 gpu-group-
uuid=585877ef-5a6c-66af-fc56-7bd525bdc2f6
6aa530ec-8f27-86bd-b8e4-fe4fde8f08f9
[root@xenserver ~]#

Caution Do not assign pass-through GPUs using the legacy other-config:pci

parameter setting. This mechanism is not supported alongside the XenCenter UI and
xe vgpu mechanisms, and attempts to use it may lead to undefined results.

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Chapter 6.
XENSERVER PERFORMANCE TUNING

This chapter provides recommendations on optimizing performance for VMs running

with GRID vGPU on Citrix XenServer.

6.1. XenServer tools

To get maximum performance out of a VM running on Citrix XenServer, regardless
of whether you are using GRID vGPU, you must install Citrix XenServer tools within
the VM. Without the optimized networking and storage drivers that the XenServer
tools provide, remote graphics applications running on GRID vGPU will not deliver
maximum performance.

6.2. Using remote graphics

GRID vGPU implements a console VGA interface that permits the VM’s graphics output
to be viewed through XenCenter’s console tab. This feature allows the desktop of a
vGPU-enabled VM to be visible in XenCenter before any NVIDIA graphics driver is
loaded in the virtual machine, but it is intended solely as a management convenience;
it only supports output of vGPU’s primary display and isn’t designed or optimized to
deliver high frame rates.
To deliver high frames from multiple heads on vGPU, NVIDIA recommends that you
®
install a high-performance remote graphics stack such as Citrix XenDesktop with HDX
3D Pro remote graphics and, after the stack is installed, disable vGPU’s console VGA.

Caution Using Windows Remote Desktop (RDP) to access Windows 7 or Windows

Server 2008 VMs running GRID vGPU will cause the NVIDIA driver in the VM to be
unloaded. GPU-accelerated DirectX, OpenGL, and the NVIDIA control panel will be
unavailable whenever RDP is active. Installing a VNC server in the VM will allow for
basic, low-performance remote access while leaving the NVIDIA driver loaded and

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XenServer Performance Tuning

vGPU active, but for high performance remote accesses, use an accelerated stack
such as XenDesktop.

6.2.1. Disabling console VGA

The console VGA interface in vGPU is optimized to consume minimal resources,
but when a system is loaded with a high number of VMs, disabling the console VGA
interface entirely may yield some performance benefit.
Once you have installed an alternate means of accessing a VM (such as XenDesktop
or a VNC server), its vGPU console VGA interface can be disabled by specifying
disable_vnc=1 in the VM’s platform:vgpu_extra_args parameter:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-param-set uuid=e71afda4-53f4-3a1b-6c92-a364a7f619c2

platform:vgpu_extra_args="disable_vnc=1"
[root@xenserver ~]#

The new console VGA setting takes effect the next time the VM is started or rebooted.
With console VGA disabled, the XenCenter console will display the Windows boot
splash screen for the VM, but nothing beyond that.

Caution

If you disable console VGA before you have installed or enabled an alternate
mechanism to access the VM (such as XenDesktop), you will not be able to interact
with the VM once it has booted.

You can recover console VGA access by making one of the following changes:

‣ Removing the vgpu_extra_args key from the platform parameter

‣ Removing disable_vnc=1 from the vgpu_extra_args key
‣ Setting disable_vnc=0, for example:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-param-set uuid=e71afda4-53f4-3a1b-6c92-

a364a7f619c2 platform:vgpu_extra_args="disable_vnc=0"

6.3. Allocation strategies

Strategies for pinning VM CPU cores to physical cores on Non-Uniform Memory Access
(NUMA) platforms and for allocating VMs to CPUs and vGPUs to physical GPUs can
improve performance for VMs running with GRID vGPU.

6.3.1. NUMA considerations

Server platforms typically implement multiple CPU sockets, with system memory and
PCI Express expansion slots local to each CPU socket, as illustrated in Figure 22:

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XenServer Performance Tuning

Figure 22 A NUMA server platform

These platforms are typically configured to operate in Non-Uniform Memory Access
(NUMA) mode; physical memory is arranged sequentially in the address space, with all
the memory attached to each socket appearing in a single contiguous block of addresses.
The cost of accessing a range of memory from a CPU or GPU varies; memory attached
to the same socket as the CPU or GPU is accessible at lower latency than memory on
another CPU socket, because accesses to remote memory must additionally traverse the
interconnect between CPU sockets.
To obtain best performance on a NUMA platform, NVIDIA recommends pinning
VM vCPU cores to physical cores on the same CPU socket to which the physical GPU
hosting the VM’s vGPU is attached. For example, using as a reference, a VM with a
vGPU allocated on physical GPU 0 or 1 should have its vCPUs pinned to CPU cores on
CPU socket 0. Similarly, a VM with a vGPU allocated on physical GPU 2 or 3 should
have its vCPUs pinned to CPU cores on socket 1.
See Pinning VMs to a specific CPU socket and cores for guidance on pinning vCPUs,
and How GPU locality is determined for guidance on determining which CPU socket
a GPU is connected to. Controlling the vGPU types enabled on specific physical GPUs
describes how to precisely control which physical GPU is used to host a vGPU, by
creating GPU groups for specific physical GPUs.

6.3.2. Maximizing performance

To maximize performance as the number of vGPU-enabled VMs on the platform
increases, NVIDIA recommends adopting a breadth-first allocation: allocate new VMs on
the least-loaded CPU socket, and allocate the VM’s vGPU on an available, least-loaded,
physical GPU connected via that socket.

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XenServer creates GPU groups with a default allocation policy of depth-first. See GPU
allocation policy for details on switching the allocation policy to breadth-first.

Due to vGPU’s requirement that only one type of vGPU can run on a physical GPU at
any given time, not all physical GPUs may be available to host the vGPU type required
by the new VM.

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Chapter 7.
TROUBLESHOOTING

This chapter describes basic troubleshooting steps for GRID vGPU on Citrix XenServer
and VMware vSphere, and how to collect debug information when filing a bug report.

7.1. Known issues

Before troubleshooting or filing a bug report, review the release notes that accompany
each driver release, for information about known issues with the current release, and
potential workarounds.

7.2. Troubleshooting steps

If a vGPU-enabled VM fails to start, or doesn’t display any output when it does start,
follow these steps to narrow down the probable cause.

7.2.1. Verifying the NVIDIA kernel driver is loaded

1. Use the command that your hypervisor provides to verify that the kernel driver is
loaded:
‣ On Citrix XenServer, use lsmod:
[root@xenserver ~]# lsmod|grep nvidia
nvidia 9604895 84
i2c_core 20294 2 nvidia,i2c_i801
[root@xenserver ~]#
‣ On VMware vSphere, use vmkload_mod:
[root@esxi:~] vmkload_mod -l | grep nvidia
nvidia 5 8420
2. If the nvidia driver is not listed in the output, check dmesg for any load-time
errors reported by the driver (see Examining NVIDIA kernel driver output).
3. On XenServer, also use the rpm -q command to verify that the NVIDIA GPU
Manager package is correctly installed (see Installing the RPM package for
XenServer).

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Troubleshooting

7.2.2. Verifying that nvidia-smi works

If the NVIDIA kernel driver is correctly loaded on the physical GPU, run nvidia-smi
and verify that all physical GPUs not currently being used for GPU past-through are
listed in the output. For details on expected output, see Using nvidia-smi to monitor
performance.
If nvidia-smi fails to report the expected output, check dmesg for NVIDIA kernel
driver messages.

7.2.3. Examining NVIDIA kernel driver output

Information and debug messages from the NVIDIA kernel driver are logged in kernel
logs, prefixed with NVRM or nvidia.
Run dmesg on both Citrix XenServer and VMware vSphere and check for the NVRM and
nvidia prefixes:

[root@xenserver ~]# dmesg | grep -E "NVRM|nvidia"

[ 22.054928] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
[ 22.390414] NVRM: loading
[ 22.829226] nvidia 0000:04:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0003)
[ 22.829236] nvidia 0000:04:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 32 (level, low) -> IRQ 32
[ 22.829240] NVRM: This PCI I/O region assigned to your NVIDIA device is
invalid:
[ 22.829241] NVRM: BAR0 is 0M @ 0x0 (PCI:0000:00:04.0)
[ 22.829243] NVRM: The system BIOS may have misconfigured your GPU.

7.2.4. Examining GRID Virtual GPU Manager messages

Information and debug messages from the GRID Virtual GPU Manager are logged to the
hypervisor’s log files, prefixed with vmiop.

7.2.4.1. Examining Citrix XenServer vGPU Manager messages

For Citrix Xenserver, GRID Virtual GPU Manager messages are written to /var/log/
messages.
Look in the /var/log/messages file for the vmiop prefix:

[root@xenserver ~]# grep vmiop /var/log/messages

Nov 8 09:17:44 xenserver-vgx-test2 fe: vgpu-2[14901]: vmiop_log: notice: vmiop-
env: guest_max_gpfn:0x10efff
Nov 8 09:17:44 xenserver-vgx-test2 fe: vgpu-2[14901]: vmiop_log: notice:
pluginconfig: /usr/share/nvidia/vgx/grid_k100.conf,disable_vnc=0,gpu-pci-
id=0000:88:00.0
Nov 8 09:17:44 xenserver-vgx-test2 fe: vgpu-2[14901]: vmiop_log: notice:
Loading Plugin0: libnvidia-vgx
Nov 8 09:17:45 xenserver-vgx-test2 fe: vgpu-2[14901]: vmiop_log: notice:
vgpu_type : vdi
Nov 8 09:17:45 xenserver-vgx-test2 fe: vgpu-2[14901]: vmiop_log: notice:
Framebuffer: 0x10000000
Nov 8 09:17:45 xenserver-vgx-test2 fe: vgpu-2[14901]: vmiop_log: notice:
Virtual Device Id: 0x0FE7:0x101E

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Troubleshooting

Nov 8 09:17:45 xenserver-vgx-test2 fe: vgpu-2[14901]: vmiop_log: notice:

######## vGPU Manager Information: ########
Nov 8 09:17:45 xenserver-vgx-test2 fe: vgpu-2[14901]: vmiop_log: notice: Driver
Version: 331.59
Nov 8 09:17:45 xenserver-vgx-test2 fe: vgpu-2[14901]: vmiop_log: notice: VGX
Version: 1.1
Nov 8 09:17:45 xenserver-vgx-test2 fe: vgpu-2[14901]: vmiop_log: notice: Init
frame copy engine: syncing...
Nov 8 09:18:03 xenserver-vgx-test2 fe: vgpu-2[14901]: vmiop_log: notice:
######## Guest NVIDIA Driver Information: ########
Nov 8 09:18:03 xenserver-vgx-test2 fe: vgpu-2[14901]: vmiop_log: notice: Driver
Version: 331.82
Nov 8 09:18:03 xenserver-vgx-test2 fe: vgpu-2[14901]: vmiop_log: notice: VGX
Version: 0.5[root@xenserver ~]
#

7.2.4.2. Examining VMware vSphere vGPU Manager messages

For VMware vSphere, GRID Virtual GPU Manager messages are written to the
vmware.log file in the guest VM’s storage directory.
Look in the vmware.log file for the vmiop prefix:

[root@esxi:~] grep vmiop /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/win7-vgpu-test1/vmware.log

2015-04-28T14:02:21.275Z| vmx| I120: DICT pciPassthru0.virtualDev = "vmiop"
2015-04-28T14:02:21.344Z| vmx| I120: GetPluginPath testing /usr/lib64/vmware/
plugin/libvmx-vmiop.so
2015-04-28T14:02:21.344Z| vmx| I120: PluginLdr_LoadShared: Loaded shared plugin
libvmx-vmiop.so from /usr/lib64/vmware/plugin/libvmx-vmiop.so
2015-04-28T14:02:21.344Z| vmx| I120: VMIOP: Loaded plugin libvmx-
vmiop.so:VMIOP_InitModule
2015-04-28T14:02:21.359Z| vmx| I120: VMIOP: Initializing plugin vmiop-display
2015-04-28T14:02:21.365Z| vmx| I120: vmiop_log: gpu-pci-id : 0000:04:00.0
2015-04-28T14:02:21.365Z| vmx| I120: vmiop_log: vgpu_type : quadro
2015-04-28T14:02:21.365Z| vmx| I120: vmiop_log: Framebuffer: 0x74000000
2015-04-28T14:02:21.365Z| vmx| I120: vmiop_log: Virtual Device Id: 0x11B0:0x101B
2015-04-28T14:02:21.365Z| vmx| I120: vmiop_log: ######## vGPU Manager
Information: ########
2015-04-28T14:02:21.365Z| vmx| I120: vmiop_log: Driver Version: 361.40
2015-04-28T14:02:21.365Z| vmx| I120: vmiop_log: VGX Version: 2.0
2015-04-28T14:02:21.445Z| vmx| I120: vmiop_log: Init frame copy engine:
syncing...
2015-04-28T14:02:37.031Z| vthread-12| I120: vmiop_log: ######## Guest NVIDIA
Driver Information: ########
2015-04-28T14:02:37.031Z| vthread-12| I120: vmiop_log: Driver Version: 347.52
2015-04-28T14:02:37.031Z| vthread-12| I120: vmiop_log: VGX Version: 2.0
2015-04-28T14:02:37.093Z| vthread-12| I120: vmiop_log: Clearing BAR1 mapping
2015-07-06T23:39:55.726Z| vmx| I120: VMIOP: Shutting down plugin vmiop-display
[root@esxi:~]

7.3. Capturing configuration data for filing a bug

report
When filing a bug report with NVIDIA, capture relevant configuration data from the
platform exhibiting the bug in one of the following ways:
‣ On any supported hypervisor, run nvidia-bug-report.sh.
‣ On Citrix XenServer, create a XenServer server status report.

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Troubleshooting

7.3.1. Capturing configuration data by running nvidia-

bug-report.sh
The nvidia-bug-report.sh script captures debug information into a gzip-
compressed log file on the server.
Run nvidia-bug-report.sh from Citrix XenServer’s dom0 shell or VMware ESXi’s
host shell.
This example runs nvidia-bug-report.sh on Citrix XenServer, but the procedure is
the same on vSphere ESXi.

[root@xenserver ~]# nvidia-bug-report.sh

nvidia-bug-report.sh will now collect information about your

system and create the file 'nvidia-bug-report.log.gz' in the current
directory. It may take several seconds to run. In some
cases, it may hang trying to capture data generated dynamically
by the Linux kernel and/or the NVIDIA kernel module. While
the bug report log file will be incomplete if this happens, it
may still contain enough data to diagnose your problem.

For Xen open source/XCP users, if you are reporting a domain issue,
please run: nvidia-bug-report.sh --domain-name <"domain_name">

Please include the 'nvidia-bug-report.log.gz' log file when reporting

your bug via the NVIDIA Linux forum (see devtalk.nvidia.com)
or by sending email to '[email protected]'.

Running nvidia-bug-report.sh...

If the bug report script hangs after this point consider running with
--safe-mode command line argument.

complete

[root@xenserver ~]#

7.3.2. Capturing configuration data by creating a

XenServer status report
1. In XenCenter, from the Tools menu, choose Server Status Report.
2. Select the XenServer instance from which you want to collect a status report.
3. Select the data to include in the report.
4. To include GRID vGPU debug information, select NVIDIA-logs in the Report
Content Item list.
5. Generate the report.

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Troubleshooting

Figure 23 Including NVIDIA logs in a XenServer status report

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Appendix A.
XENSERVER BASICS

This appendix outlines basic operations on XenServer that are needed in order to install
and configure GRID vGPU, and optimize XenServer operation with vGPU.

A.1. Opening a dom0 shell

Most configuration commands must be run in a command shell on XenServer’s dom0.
You can open a shell on XenServer’s dom0 in any of the following ways:
‣ Using the console window in XenCenter
‣ Using a standalone secure shell (SSH) client

A.1.1. Accessing the dom0 shell through XenCenter

1. In the left pane of the XenCenter window, select the XenServer host that you want to
connect to.
2. Click on the Console tab to open the XenServer’s console.
3. Press Enter to start a shell prompt.

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XenServer Basics

Figure 24 Connecting to the dom0 shell by using XenCenter

A.1.2. Accessing the dom0 shell through an SSH client

1. Ensure that you have an SSH client suite such as PuTTY on Windows, or the SSH
client from OpenSSH on Linux.
2. Connect your SSH client to the management IP address of the XenServer host.
3. Log in as the root user.

A.2. Copying files to dom0

You can easily copy files to and from XenServer dom0 in any of the following ways:
‣ Using a Secure Copy Protocol (SCP) client
‣ Using a network-mounted file system

A.2.1. Copying files by using an SCP client

The SCP client to use for copying files to dom0 depends on where you are running the
client from.

‣ If you are running the client from dom0, use the secure copy command scp.
The scp command is part of the SSH suite of applications. It is implemented in
dom0 and can be used to copy from a remote SSH-enabled server:

[root@xenserver ~]# scp [email protected]:/tmp/somefile .

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XenServer Basics

The authenticity of host '10.31.213.96 (10.31.213.96)' can't be established.

RSA key fingerprint is 26:2d:9b:b9:bf:6c:81:70:36:76:13:02:c1:82:3d:3c.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added '10.31.213.96' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
[email protected]'s password:
somefile 100% 532 0.5KB/s 00:00
[root@xenserver ~]#
‣ If you are running the client from Windows, use the pscp program.
The pscp program is part of the PuTTY suite and can be used to copy files from a
remote Windows system to XenServer:

C:\Users\nvidia>pscp somefile [email protected]:/tmp

[email protected]'s password:
somefile | 80 kB | 80.1 kB/s | ETA: 00:00:00 | 100%

C:\Users\nvidia>

A.2.2. Copying files by using a CIFS-mounted file system

You can copy files to and from a CIFS/SMB file share by mounting the share from dom0.
The following example shows how to mount a network share \
\myserver.example.com\myshare at /mnt/myshare on dom0 and how to copy
files to and from the share. The example assumes that the file share is part of an Active
Directory domain called example.com and that user myuser has permissions to access
the share.
1. Create the directory /mnt/myshare on dom0.
[root@xenserver ~]# mkdir /mnt/myshare
2. Mount the network share \\myserver.example.com\myshare at /mnt/
myshare on dom0.
[root@xenserver ~]# mount -t cifs -o
username=myuser,workgroup=example.com //myserver.example.com/myshare /mnt/
myshare
Password:
[root@xenserver ~]#
3. When prompted for a password, enter the password for myuser in the
example.com domain.
4. After the share has been mounted, copy files to and from the file share by using the
cp command to copy them to and from /mnt/myshare:
[root@xenserver ~]# cp /mnt/myshare/NVIDIA-vGPU-
xenserver-6.2-331.59.i386.rpm .
[root@xenserver ~]#

A.3. Determining a VM’s UUID

You can determine a virtual machine’s UUID in any of the following ways:
‣ Using the xe vm-list command in a dom0 shell
‣ Using XenCenter

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A.3.1. Determining a VM’s UUID by using xe vm-list

Use the xe vm-list command to list all VMs and their associated UUIDs or to find the
UUID of a specific named VM.

‣ To list all VMs and their associated UUIDs, use xe vm-list without any
parameters:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-list

uuid ( RO) : 6b5585f6-bd74-2e3e-0e11-03b9281c3ade
name-label ( RW): vgx-base-image-win7-64
power-state ( RO): halted

uuid ( RO) : fa3d15c7-7e88-4886-c36a-cdb23ed8e275

name-label ( RW): test-image-win7-32
power-state ( RO): halted

uuid ( RO) : 501bb598-a9b3-4afc-9143-ff85635d5dc3

name-label ( RW): Control domain on host: xenserver
power-state ( RO): running

uuid ( RO) : 8495adf7-be9d-eee1-327f-02e4f40714fc

name-label ( RW): vgx-base-image-win7-32
power-state ( RO): halted
‣ To find the UUID of a specific named VM, use the name-label parameter to xe
vm-list:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-list name-label=test-image-win7-32

uuid ( RO) : fa3d15c7-7e88-4886-c36a-cdb23ed8e275
name-label ( RW): test-image-win7-32
power-state ( RO): halted

A.3.2. Determining a VM’s UUID by using XenCenter

1. In the left pane of the XenCenter window, select the VM whose UUID you want to
determine.
2. In the right pane of the XenCenter window, click the General tab.

The UUID is listed in the VM’s General Properties.

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XenServer Basics

Figure 25 Using XenCenter to determine a VM's UUID

A.4. Using more than two vCPUs with Windows

client VMs
Windows client operating systems support a maximum of two CPU sockets. When
allocating vCPUs to virtual sockets within a guest VM, XenServer defaults to allocating
one vCPU per socket. Any more than two vCPUs allocated to the VM won’t be
recognized by the Windows client OS.
To ensure that all allocated vCPUs are recognized, set platform:cores-per-socket
to the number of vCPUs that are allocated to the VM:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-param-set uuid=vm-uuid platform:cores-per-socket=4

VCPUs-max=4 VCPUs-at-startup=4

vm-uuid is the VM’s UUID, which you can obtain as explained in Determining a VM’s
UUID.

A.5. Pinning VMs to a specific CPU socket and

cores
1. Use xe host-cpu-info to determine the number of CPU sockets and logical CPU
cores in the server platform.
In this example the server implements 32 logical CPU cores across two sockets:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe host-cpu-info
cpu_count : 32

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XenServer Basics

socket_count: 2
vendor: GenuineIntel
speed: 2600.064
modelname: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2670 0 @ 2.60GHz
family: 6
model: 45
stepping: 7
flags: fpu de tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr mca
cmov pat clflush acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht nx constant_tsc nonstop_tsc
aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq vmx est ssse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic popcnt aes
hypervisor ida arat tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid
features: 17bee3ff-bfebfbff-00000001-2c100800
features_after_reboot: 17bee3ff-bfebfbff-00000001-2c100800
physical_features: 17bee3ff-bfebfbff-00000001-2c100800
maskable: full
2. Set VCPUs-params:mask to pin a VM’s vCPUs to a specific socket or to specific
cores within a socket.
This setting persists over VM reboots and shutdowns. In a dual socket platform with
32 total cores, cores 0-15 are on socket 0, and cores 16-31 are on socket 1.
In the examples that follow, vm-uuid is the VM’s UUID, which you can obtain as
explained in Determining a VM’s UUID.
‣ To restrict a VM to only run on socket 0, set the mask to specify cores 0-15:
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-param-set uuid=vm-uuid VCPUs-
params:mask=0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15
‣ To restrict a VM to only run on socket 1, set the mask to specify cores 16-31:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-param-set uuid=vm-uuid VCPUs-

params:mask=16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31
‣ To pin vCPUs to specific cores within a socket, set the mask to specify the cores
directly:

[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-param-set uuid=vm-uuid VCPUs-

params:mask=16,17,18,19
3. Use xl vcpu-list to list the current assignment of vCPUs to physical CPUs:
[root@xenserver ~]# xl vcpu-list
Name ID VCPU CPU State Time(s) CPU
Affinity
Domain-0 0 0 25 -b- 9188.4 any cpu
Domain-0 0 1 19 r-- 8908.4 any cpu
Domain-0 0 2 30 -b- 6815.1 any cpu
Domain-0 0 3 17 -b- 4881.4 any cpu
Domain-0 0 4 22 -b- 4956.9 any cpu
Domain-0 0 5 20 -b- 4319.2 any cpu
Domain-0 0 6 28 -b- 5720.0 any cpu
Domain-0 0 7 26 -b- 5736.0 any cpu
test-image-win7-32 34 0 9 -b- 17.0 4-15
test-image-win7-32 34 1 4 -b- 13.7 4-15

A.6. Changing dom0 vCPU Default configuration

By default, dom0 vCPUs are configured as follows:
‣ The number of vCPUs assigned to dom0 is 8.

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‣ The dom0 shell’s vCPUs are unpinned and able to run on any physical CPU in the
system.

A.6.1. Changing the number of dom0 vCPUs

The default number of vCPUs assigned to dom0 is 8.
1. Modify the dom0_max_vcpus parameter in the Xen boot line.
For example:
[root@xenserver ~]# /opt/xensource/libexec/xen-cmdline --set-xen
dom0_max_vcpus=4
2. After applying this setting, reboot the system for the setting to take effect by doing
one of the following:
‣ Run the following command:
shutdown –r
‣ Reboot the system from XenCenter.

A.6.2. Pinning dom0 vCPUs

By default, dom0’s vCPUs are unpinned, and able to run on any physical CPU in the
system.
1. To pin dom0 vCPUs to specific physical CPUs, use xl vcpu-pin.
For example, to pin dom0’s vCPU 0 to physical CPU 18, use the following command:
[root@xenserver ~]# xl vcpu-pin Domain-0 0 18

CPU pinnings applied this way take effect immediately but do not persist over
reboots.
2. To make settings persistent, add xl vcpu-pin commands into /etc/rc.local.

For example:
xl vcpu-pin 0 0 0-15
xl vcpu-pin 0 1 0-15
xl vcpu-pin 0 2 0-15
xl vcpu-pin 0 3 0-15
xl vcpu-pin 0 4 16-31
xl vcpu-pin 0 5 16-31
xl vcpu-pin 0 6 16-31
xl vcpu-pin 0 7 16-31

A.7. How GPU locality is determined

As noted in NUMA considerations, current multi-socket servers typically implement
PCIe expansion slots local to each CPU socket and it is advantageous to pin VMs to the
same socket that their associated physical GPU is connected to.
For current Intel platforms, CPU socket 0 typically has its PCIe root ports located on bus
0, so any GPU below a root port located on bus 0 is connected to socket 0. CPU socket 1

www.nvidia.com
GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 64
XenServer Basics

has its root ports on a higher bus number, typically bus 0x20 or bus 0x80 depending on
the specific server platform.

www.nvidia.com
GRID Virtual GPU DU-06920-001 _v3.3 (GRID) | 65
Notice
ALL NVIDIA DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS, REFERENCE BOARDS, FILES, DRAWINGS,
DIAGNOSTICS, LISTS, AND OTHER DOCUMENTS (TOGETHER AND SEPARATELY,
"MATERIALS") ARE BEING PROVIDED "AS IS." NVIDIA MAKES NO WARRANTIES,
EXPRESSED, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE WITH RESPECT TO THE
MATERIALS, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
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PURPOSE.
Information furnished is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, NVIDIA
Corporation assumes no responsibility for the consequences of use of such
information or for any infringement of patents or other rights of third parties
that may result from its use. No license is granted by implication of otherwise
under any patent rights of NVIDIA Corporation. Specifications mentioned in this
publication are subject to change without notice. This publication supersedes and
replaces all other information previously supplied. NVIDIA Corporation products
are not authorized as critical components in life support devices or systems
without express written approval of NVIDIA Corporation.

HDMI
HDMI, the HDMI logo, and High-Definition Multimedia Interface are trademarks or
registered trademarks of HDMI Licensing LLC.

OpenCL
OpenCL is a trademark of Apple Inc. used under license to the Khronos Group Inc.

Trademarks
NVIDIA and the NVIDIA logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of NVIDIA
Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Other company and product names
may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

www.nvidia.com

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