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Hardware and software requirements
7 Dell EMC PowerEdge Servers with NVIDIA GPUs and VMware vSphere | Technical white paper
2 Hardware and software requirements
The hardware and software requirements for configuring the GPUs are:
• Hardware:
o PowerEdge servers must be certified for VMware vSphere ESXi. See VMware HCL.
o Ensure that criteria are met for PCIe device pass-through, which is also known as VM
DirectPath-IO as listed in VMware KB 2142307
• Software:
o VMware vSphere Hypervisor, ESXi versions
o GPU drivers in guest operating system and host operating system
o Specific CUDA software libraries
o VMware Horizon client
2.1 Configuring vDGA
Configuring vDGA involves configuring Windows VM with direct access to the GPU, and then configuring the
vDGA feature. The step-by-step procedure is provided in the following sections.
2.1.1 Configuring Windows VM with direct access to the GPU
To configure a Windows VM with direct access to the GPU, complete the following steps:
1. Update the server with the supported BIOS or firmware and NVIDIA GPU.
2. Install vSphere ESXi and enable NVIDIA GPU for pass-through, or Virtual DirectPath I/O.
3. Configure and deploy the virtual machine with a supported version of the Windows operating system.
4. Assign the GPU to the VM.
5. Install the relevant driver or software within the VM.
2.1.2 Configuring vDGA feature with vSphere
To configure the vDGA feature with vSphere on a Dell EMC PowerEdge server, complete the following steps:
1. See the support matrix to select the supported and certified GPU for your PowerEdge server.
2. Ensure that the appropriate PSUs are added to the server supplying power to the GPUs.
3. Turn off the system and install the NVIDIA GPU graphics card on the PowerEdge server.
4. Verify that VT-d or AMD IOMMU is enabled in the server BIOS.
5. Ensure that the minimum BIOS version is installed on the server. See the VMware HCL to verify the
certified BIOS version for vDGA support on the installed GPU.
6. Install the supported, certified ESXi version on the PowerEdge server.
7. After the successful installation of ESXi, enable pass-through for the GPU in the ESXi host
configuration and reboot the host.
8. Create the VM and deploy the supported guest operating system.
9. Ensure that ESXi host has adequate memory to create the VM.
10. Add a PCI device to the VM and select the appropriate PCIe function to enable GPU pass-through on
the virtual machine.
11. Configure the VM video card 3D capabilities.
12. Obtain the GPU drivers from the GPU vendor and install the GPU device drivers in the guest
operating system of the VM.
13. Install VMware Tools and Horizon Agent in the guest operating system and reboot the VM.
14. After the successful reboot of the VM, add the VM to the manual desktop pool, so that the guest
operating system can be accessed using PCoIP or VMware Blast Extreme. In PCoIP or VMware
Blast session, activate the NVIDIA display adapter.