Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View

Because a GPU does not need to be dedicated to one specific virtual machine, with the NVIDIA GRID
vGPU option, you can create and configure a parent virtual machine or virtual machine template to be
NVIDIA GRID vGPU-enabled and then create a desktop pool of virtual machines that can share the same
physical GPU.
If all GPU resources on an ESXi host are being used by other virtual machines, when the next user tries to
log in to a desktop, View can move the virtual machine to another NVIDIA GRID vGPU-enabled ESXi
server in the cluster and then power on the virtual machine. All ESXi hosts must be version 6.0 or later and
must have GPU graphics cards installed.
When to Choose the Software Option
Select the Software option if you have ESXi 5.0 hosts only, or if ESXi 5.1 or later hosts do not have GPU
graphics cards, or if your users only run applications such as AERO and Microsoft Office, which do not
require hardware graphics acceleration.
Configuring Desktop Settings to Manage GPU Resources
You can configure other desktop settings to ensure that GPU resources are not wasted when users are not
actively using them.
For floating pools, set a session timeout so that GPU resources are freed up for other users when a user is
not using the desktop.
For dedicated pools, you can configure the Automatically logoff after disconnect setting to Immediately
and a Suspend power policy if these settings are appropriate for your users. For example, do not use these
settings for a pool of researchers who execute long-running simulations. Note that the Suspend power
policy is not available if you use the NVIDIA GRID vGPU option.
Overview of Steps for Preparing for NVIDIA GRID vGPU Capabilities
This overview is an outline of tasks you must perform in vSphere before you can create or configure
desktop pools in View Administrator. For complete information and detailed procedures, see the VMware
white paper about graphics acceleration.
1 Verify that VT-d or AMD IOMMU is enabled on the ESXi host.
2 Add a shared PCI device to the virtual machine and select the appropriate PCI device to enable GPU
pass-through on the virtual machine.
After you add a shared PCI device, you see a list of all supported graphics profile types that are
available from the GPU card on the ESXi host.
3 Reserve all memory when creating the virtual machine.
4 Obtain the GPU drivers from the GPU vendor and install the GPU device drivers in the guest operating
system of the virtual machine.
5 Install VMware Tools and View Agent in the guest operating system and reboot.
After you perform these tasks, you must add the virtual machine to a manual pool View desktop pool so
that you can access the guest operating system using PCoIP. In a PCoIP session, you can then activate the
NVIDIA display adapter in the guest operating system.
At this point, you can configure the virtual machine to be a template or take a snapshot of the virtual
machine for use as a base image in a View Composer linked-clone pool. (You must power off the virtual
machine before taking the snapshot.) When you use the Add Desktop Pool wizard, after you select the
NVIDIA GRID vGPU option for 3D Renderer, only NVIDIA GRID vGPU-enabled ESXi hosts and NVIDIA
GRID vGPU-enabled virtual machine templates and snapshots appear for selection in the wizard.
Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View
132 VMware, Inc.