March 21, 2013

Virtualizing 3D Professional Graphics Apps

Yvonne Dresser, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Citrix Desktops and Apps

Thomas Poppelgaard, Solution Architect, Commaxx

© 2013 Citrix

Agenda

• XenDesktop & XenApp HDX 3D technologies• Tips and Tricks• Audience Q & A

© 2013 Citrix

Industries that use 3D professional graphics

Aerospace Automotive Construction Energy

Engineering Services

Hi Tech - Electronics

Industrial Equipment

Medical Equipment

© 2013 Citrix

Enterprise challenges and opportunities

• Desire to leverage a global talent base and collaborate across the supply chain

• Corporate requirements to safeguard product design IP

• Need to extend access to design models on mobile devices

• Economic demands for cost control and faster time to market

• Business continuity and disaster-recovery plans

© 2013 Citrix

Classification of 3D professional graphics users

Designers & Engineers Power Users

Create & manipulate large

3D models

View & edit 3D data

Dedicated GPU Shared GPU Shared GPU

Knowledge & Task users

Business graphics apps

© 2013 Citrix

Solutions for GPU-accelerated graphics

XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro XenApp HDX 3D

Citrix Confidential - Do Not Distribute

• GPU acceleration of DirectX and OpenGL ~1.5 Mbps• One user per GPU • H.264-based Deep Compression • 3D SpaceMouse supportTOP PERFORMANCE SOLUTION

• GPU acceleration of DirectX & OpenGL ~3 Mbps• GPU sharing • Lower cost Microsoft licensing• Apps must be compatible with RDSH (Terminal Services) MOST COST-EFFECTIVE SOLUTION

© 2013 Citrix

Internet LANDMZ

StoreFront Services

NetScaler Gateway

Primary

Secondary

XenApp(Multi Users : 1 GPU)Technical Overview

Receiver HDX 3D Graphics

Pod

XenServer with GPU cards

Pod

XenServer with GPU cards

XenDesktop(1 User : 1 GPU)

Delivery Controller

© 2013 Citrix

• Heavy 3D graphics app usage

• Exceptional graphics performance and response optimizations

• Multiple users per server

• Very usable experience ~1.5 Mbps

• OpenGL and DirectX

8

with HDX 3D Pro

© 2013 Citrix

Additional FeaturesHDX 3D Pro

• Pixel-perfect lossless compression • Can combine with lossy compression during motion, for

responsive remote access

• Dual monitor support•Receiver for Windows and Linux

• Connexion SpaceMouse

• Seamless app delivery

TOC

© 2013 Citrix

Compression Options

• CPU-based, deep compression codec• min. 1.5 Mbps bandwidth

• GPU-based implementation, • min. 2 Mbps

© 2013 Citrix

Desktop Virtualization for High-end 3D Graphics UsersXenDesktop with HDX 3D Pro

Client options

Optimized withspecial codecs:

Std. ICA codec:

© 2013 Citrix12

• Light 3D apps usage

• Many users per VM

• Very usable experience at 3 Mbps

• Graphics performance and response optimizations

• DirectX and OpenGL

with HDX 3D

© 2013 Citrix

XenApp with HDX 3D additional features

•Multi-monitor support

•Lossless compression

© 2013 Citrix

Apps & Desktop Virtualization for 3D graphics usersXenApp with HDX 3D

Std. ICA codec only

© 2013 Citrix

GPU Options

• Any graphics card (NVIDIA, AMD/ATI)supported by the application vendor

• NVIDIA cards deliver highest frame ratewith VGX™ API (“Monterey”) and support full-screen applications

• CPU-based deep compression is recommended, but if server CPU is limited then deep compression can be offloaded to the NVIDIA GPU

© 2013 Citrix

GPU Passthrough introduced in XenServer 6

Citrix Confidential - Do Not Distribute

• XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro and XenApp HDX 3D

• Windows 7 (32/64-bit), Windows XP (32-bit), Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)

• Multiple GPUs per host • Servers with 4 GPUs currently on HCL; testing underway with 8• One graphics-accelerated VM (single-user or multi-user) per GPU • Depending on CPU power, same host may also support

non-graphics-accelerated users (i.e. regular office workers)

• Leverages NVIDIA high-performance Quadro and Grid GPUs• e.g. Quadro 1000M/2000/3000M/4000/5000/6000, Tesla M2070Q, GRID K1/K2

© 2013 Citrix

Hardware platform

XenServer GPU Passthrough with XenDesktop

GPU

XenServer hypervisor

XenDesktop Windows VMs

GPU

GPU

GPU

3D ProVM

3D ProVM

3D ProVM

non-3DVM

3D ProVM

non-3DVM

non-3DVM

non-3DVM

non-3DVM

non-3DVM

non-3DVM

non-3DVM

© 2013 Citrix

Hardware platform

XenServer GPU Passthrough with XenApp

GPU

XenServer hypervisor

XenApp WindowsServer VMs

GPU

GPU

GPU

XenAppVM

XenAppVM

XenAppVM

Session 1

XenAppVM

Session 2

Session 3

Session 4

Session 5

SessionN-1

SessionN. . .

© 2013 Citrix

Multi-GPU Hardware Platforms

© 2013 Citrix

GPU passthrough and GPU sharing on vSphere 5.1XenDesktop/XenApp on vSphere 5.1

• vSphere 5.1 has introduced “virtual Direct Graphics Acceleration” (vDGA) and “virtual Shared Graphics Acceleration” (vSGA)

• Testing for XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro compatibility with vDGA has been successfully completed (http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX136291)

• Testing with vSGA successful (single monitor) for “tier 3” use cases• vSGA uses API Intercept method of sharing the GPU so performance may be an

issue with large 3D models, and graphics API compatibility is limited to DirectX 9c and OpenGL 2.1

© 2013 Citrix

3D graphics enhancements in Excalibur (first release from project Avalon)Looking ahead…

XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro•Multi-monitor support (i.e. more than two)• Dynamic resizing without disconnect•Auto-config / auto-adapt (no config tool / user intervention required)XenApp HDX 3D•Deep CompressionCitrix Receiver (enhancements targeted for Excalibur timeframe)•Deep Compression support on Mac, iPad, Android•HDX SoC support for low-cost Linux thin clients

© 2013 Citrix

Hardware vGPULooking ahead…

At the 2012 GPU Technology Conference, NVIDIA and Citrix announced our collaboration on GPU Hardware Virtualization •Enhancements to the VGX™ API and XenServer along with new GRID graphics cards will extend Citrix’s GPU sharing capability from Windows Server RDSH to Windows XP/7/8 VDI•Higher performance with large 3D models compared to API Intercept method used by VMware vSphere/ESX and Microsoft Hyper-V•Ideal for second tier users of 3D professional graphics•Beta trials with selected partners starting Q2 2013

© 2013 Citrix

Hardware platform

GPU Virtualization

GPU

XenServer hypervisor

XenDesktop Windows VMs 3D Pro

VM3D Pro

VM3D Pro

VM3D Pro

VM

vGPU

3D ProVM

. . .

vGPU

vGPU

vGPU

vGPU. . .

1 2 3 4 N

. . .

Tips and Tricks

© 2013 Citrix

• Optimize 3D application

• HDX Policies (i recommend)CTX131859 Best Practices and Recommendations for Citrix Receiver 3 and HDX Technology with XenDesktop 5.x

CTX132799XenDesktop and XenApp Best Practice

Tips and Tricks

XenApp 6.x HDX 3D

© 2013 Citrix

• Citrix Receiver ADM.file

Tips and Tricks

XenApp 6.x HDX 3D

© 2013 Citrix

• VDA Agent (VDA 4.x, 5.5, 5.6, 5.6FP1)

• Nvidia drivers (5.6FP1)

• Multi-monitor support (VDA 4.x, 5.5, 5.6,)

• 3D connexion - 3D Space Mouse (VDA 4.x, 5.5, 5.6, 5.6 FP1)

• Codec Compression (VDA 4, 5.5, 5.6)

• ClearType (VDA 4, 5.5, 5.6)

• Assign CPU cores to VM HDX 3D Pro

Tips and Tricks

XenDesktop HDX 3D

© 2013 Citrix

Upgrade existing VDA to HDX 3D Pro

• If you have standard installed VDA and you want to enable HDX 3D Pro, you have to uninstall and install with HDX 3D Pro parameters.

Tips and TricksXenDesktop HDX 3D

© 2013 Citrix

Installing or upgrading Nvidia drivers

• If you install NVIDIA drivers before you install XenDesktop Virtual Desktop Agent with HDX 3D Pro, NVIDIA VGX is enabled by default.

If you install NVIDIA drivers after you install XenDesktop Virtual Desktop Agent with HDX 3D Pro, NVIDIA VGX is disabled. Enable NVIDIA VGX by using the Montereryenable tool provided by NVIDIA.

To enable NVIDIA VGX, run the following command, then restart the virtual desktop agent:Montereyenable.exe –enable –noresetTo disable NVIDIA VGX, run the following command, then restart the virtual desktop agent:Montereyenable.exe –disable –noreset

Tips and TricksXenDesktop HDX 3D

© 2013 Citrix

Tips and TricksXenDesktop HDX 3D Pro - Multi-monitor support VDA 4-5.6**

http://www.poppelgaard.com/how-to-get-receiver-with-desired-screen-resolution-or-multiple-screens-to-work-with-citrix-xendesktop-5-5-hdx3d-pro

© 2013 Citrix

Enable USB redirection to enable 3D spacemouse

Tips and Tricks

XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro

© 2013 Citrix

Enable USB redirection to enable 3D spacemouse

Change Virtual Channel Priority CTX128190Create a key named “WDSettings” under:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\GroupPolicy\Defaults\] in VDA registry.

Create a MULTI_SZ named “VirtualChannelPriority” with the following content from CTX128190:increasing the priority of the Generic USB Redirection virtual channel to 0default value CTXGUSB,1 = configure this to CTXGUSB,0

Tips and Tricks

XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro

© 2013 Citrix

Vendor Card type CUDA GB/S Power Frame buffer MI Slot PCIe

Nvidia Quadro 2000 192 41.6 62 W 1GB DDR5 128 bit 1 PCI e 2.0

Nvidia Quadro 4000 256 89.6 142 W 2GB DDR5 256 bit 1 PCI e 2.0

Nvidia Quadro 5000 352 120 152 W 2.5GB DDR5 320 bit 2 PCI e 2.0

Nvidia Quadro 6000 448 144 204 W 6GB DDR5 384 bit 2 PCI e 2.0

Nvidia Tesla M2070Q 448 148 225 W 6GB DDR5 384 bit 2 PCI e 2.0

Nvidia Quadro K5000 1536 173 122 W 4GB DDR5 256 bit 2 PCI e 3.0

Sizing GPU solutionsXenApp HDX 3D - XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro

Vendor Card type CUDA GB/S Power Frame buffer MI Slot PCIe

Nvidia GRID K1 768 150 W 16GB DDR3 2 PCI e 3.0

Nvidia GRID K2 3072 225 W 8GB DDR5 2 PCI e 3.0

NVIDIA GRID (Worlds first GPU virtualization card)

© 2013 Citrix

XenServer 6.0 Multi-GPU Passthrough for XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro Graphics

• http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX126524

XenServer HostThe Server CPU should be IOMMU enabled for AMD processors or VT-d enabled for Intel processors.

Virtual CPUsHDX 3D Pro Graphics utilizes one virtual CPU completely for extracting desktop surfaces, typically 12 to 30 times per second. If Aero is enabled on Windows this requires a second virtual CPU. In addition, at least two vCPU is required for the graphics applications. Graphics applications are often CPU intensive, even with hardware acceleration of graphics rendering provided by the GPU. Hence it is important to configure the virtual machine running HDX 3D Pro Graphics with at least four virtual CPUs. Following are the instructions for increasing the number of virtual CPUs on XenServer.

© 2013 Citrix

XenServer 6.0 Multi-GPU Passthrough for XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro Graphics

• http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX135811

Warning: Snapshot does not work with GPU Cards. It is highly recommended to create/delete/revert snapshot of VM when GPU card is not assigned to VM or else you may have garbage entries in XenServer and VM will not start properly.

When you assign virtual CPUs to a virtual machine, by default one virtual CPU is equal to one core for a virtual machine. Some virtual machines have higher core limitations. By setting the cores-per-socket parameter, it is possible to present a virtual machine with certain amount of cores.Note: This feature is only available in the Advanced, Enterprise, and Platinum editions and is not available in the free version of XenServer.

© 2013 Citrix

XenServer 6.0 Multi-GPU Passthrough for XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro Graphics

• Complete the following procedure to set the cores-per-socket parameter for Windows virtual machine:

1.Get the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) of the Virtual Machine for which the parameter needs to be set:xe vm-list name-label=<Name of the VM>

2.Set the cores-per-socket parameter: xe vm-param-set platform:cores-per-socket=’X’ uuid=<VM UUID from Step1>

Here, X equals 2 for dual core and 4 for quad core. For example: To have a CPU with four cores: xe vm-param-set platform:cores-per-socket=4 uuid=<VM UUID>

• Set the virtual CPUs startup parameter equal to the number of virtual CPUs (number of cores) to be assigned to the virtual machine and set the VCPUs-max parameter to the total number of cores.xe vm-param-set VCPUs-at-startup=<Number of VCPUs> uuid=<VM-UUID>

xe vm-param-set VCPUs-max=<Maximum number of cores>. For a dual quad core CPUs, VCPUs-max=8

The number of virtual CPUs at startup is the number of cores to assign to the virtual machine. 

© 2013 Citrix

• Microsoft Process Explorerhttp://bit.ly/fzWyfq

• Microsoft GPUView http://bit.ly/KzBTNh

• Nvidia CUDA SDK

• GPUz http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

• HDX Monitor for XenApp http://hdx.citrix.com/hdx-monitor/tech-preview

HDX 3D and HDX 3D ProTools for troubleshooting/monitoring

© 2013 Citrix

• HDX Monitor for XenDesktophttp://hdx.citrix.com/hdx-monitor/tech-preview

• HDX 3D Pro monitor

• eG Innovationshttp://bit.ly/JdXqLZ

• Lakeside Software

• Login VSIhttp://www.loginvsi.com/en/download

HDX 3D and HDX 3D ProTools for troubleshooting/monitoring

© 2013 Citrix

Additional Information

• Resources: www.citrix.com/xendesktop/HDX3D/

• Blog: www.blogs.citrix.com/product/xendesktop/

• Twitter: @xendesktop

• http://www.poppelgaard.com/

Work better. Live better.