Xen Grid vGPU Profiles Test

In VDI/virtualized server environments, the NVIDIA GRID delivers GPU resources to virtual desktops/VMs. This way, graphics can be rendered on a virtual machine's (VM’s) host server rather than on a physical endpoint device. This technology now makes it possible to use virtual desktop technology to support users accessing graphics intensive workloads. There are two modes of making GPU resources available to virtual desktops:

  • Dedicated GPU or GPU Pass-through Technology: NVIDIA GPU pass-through technology lets you create a virtual workstation that gives users all the benefits of a dedicated graphics processor at their desk. By directly connecting a dedicated GPU to a virtual machine through the hypervisor, you can now allocate the full GPU and graphics memory capability to a single virtual machine without any resource compromise.
  • Shared GPU or Virtual GPU (vGPU) Technology: GRID vGPU is the industry's most advanced technology for sharing true GPU hardware acceleration between multiple virtual desktops-without compromising the graphics experience. With GRID vGPU technology, the graphics commands of each virtual machine are passed directly to the GPU, without translation by the hypervisor. This allows the GPU hardware to be time-sliced to deliver improved shared virtualized graphics performance. The GRID vGPU manager allows for management of user profiles. IT managers can assign the optimal amount of graphics memory and deliver a customized graphics profile to meet the specific needs of each user. Every virtual desktop has dedicated graphics memory, just like they would at their desk, so they always have the resources they need to launch and run their applications.

In GPU-enabled VDI/Virtual server environments, administrators should plan the capacity of their environment accordingly so that the users can access the virtual machines/desktops on which graphics is rendered, without any delay. Moreover administrators should be able to capacitate their environment based on the nature of graphics that need to be accessed by the users. For example, certain users may try to access graphics intensive applications such as Autocad - in such cases, administrators may need to apply such a profile on the physical GPU of the NVIDIA GRID to provision the virtual machines/desktops that the users will not face even a minor lag in accessing the graphics resources. Based on the type of profile applied on the physical GPUs on the NVIDIA GRID, administrators should be able to capacitate their environment and be prepared to provision virtual machines/desktops to the users without any delay. To achieve this, administrators can use the Xen Grid vGPU Profiles test!

For each profile applied on the physical GPU of the NVIDIA GRID, this test helps adminsitrators to figure out the number of physical GPUs in the NVIDIA GRID and the number of vGPUs that can be provisioned from the physical GPUs. In addition, this test accurately pinpoints the number of virtual machines/desktops that can still be utilized on the NVIDIA GRID thus enabling administrators plan the capacity of their environment prior to the exhaustion of critical GPU resources!

Target of the test : A Citrix Hypervisor

Agent deploying the test : An internal/remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for combination of Grid GPU:Profile

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter Description

Test period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The host for which the test is to be configured.
Port

The port at which the specified host listens. By default, this is NULL.

Xen User, Xen Password and Confirm Password

To enable the eG agent to connect to the XenServer API for collecting statistics of interest, this test should login to the target hypervisor as a root user. Provide the name of the root user in the Xen User text box. Root user privileges are mandatory when monitoring a XenServer 5.5 (or below). However, if you are monitoring XenServer 5.6 (or above) and you prefer not to expose the credentials of the root user, then, you have the option of configuring a user with pool-admin privileges as the Xen User. If you do not want to expose the credentials of a root/pool-admin user, then you can configure the tests with the credentials of a Xen User with Read-only privileges to the XenServer. However, if this is done, then the Xen Uptime test will not run, and the Xen CPU and Xen Memory tests will not be able to report metrics for the control domain descriptor. To avoid such an outcome, do the following before attempting to configure the eG tests with a Xen User who has Read-only privileges to the Citrix Hypervisor:

  • Modify the target hypervisor's configuration in the eG Enterprise. For this, follow the Infrastructure -> Components -> Add/Modify menu sequence, pick Citrix Hypervisor as the Component type, and click the Modify button corresponding to the target hypervisor.
  • In the MODIFY COMPONENT DETAILS page that then appears, make sure that the os is set to Xen and the Mode is set to SSH.
  • Then, in the same page, proceed to provide the User and Password of a user who has the right to connect to the XenServer console via SSH.
  • Then, click the Update button to save the changes.

Once this is done, you can configure the eG tests with the credentials of a Xen User with Read-only privileges.

The password of the specified Xen User needs to be mentioned in the Xen Password text box.

Then, confirm the Xen Password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box.
SSL

By default, the Citrix Hypervisor is not SSL-enabled. This indicates that by default, the eG agent communicates with the target hypervisor using HTTP. Accordingly, the SSL flag is set to No by default. If you configure the target hypervisor to use SSL, then make sure that the SSL flag is set to Yes, so that the eG agent communicates with the target hypervisor using HTTPS. Note that a default SSL certificate comes bundled with every Citrix Hypervisor installation. If you want the eG agent to use this default certificate for communicating with an SSL-enabled Citrix Hypervisor, then no additional configuration is required. However, if you do not want to use the default certificate, then you can generate a self-signed certificate for use by the target hypervisor. In such a case, you need to explicitly follow the broad steps given below to enable the eG agent to communicate with the target hypervisor via HTTPS:

  • Obtain the server-certificate for the Citrix Hypervisor
  • Import the server-certificate into the local certificate store of the eG agent

For a detailed discussion on each of these steps, refer to the Troubleshooting section of this document.

Webport

By default, in most virtualized environments, the target hypervisor listens on port 80 (if not SSL-enabled) or on port 443 (if SSL-enabled). This implies that while monitoring an SSL-enabled Citrix hypervisor, the eG agent, by default, connects to port 443 of the server to pull out metrics, and while monitoring a non-SSL-enabled Citrix hypervisor, the eG agent connects to port 80. Accordingly, the webport parameter is set to 80 or 443 depending upon the status of the ssl flag.  In some environments however, the default ports 80 or 443 might not apply. In such a case, against the webport parameter, you can specify the exact port at which the target hypervisor in your environment listens so that the eG agent communicates with that port.

DD Frequency

Refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 1:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD FREQUENCY.

Detailed Diagnosis

  1. To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG suite embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option.

    The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:

    • The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability
    • Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.
   
Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Physical GPUs per board:

Indicates the number of physical GPUs on this GPU grid.

Number

Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to know the details of the physical GPUs.

vGPUs per pGPU:

Indicates the number of vGPUs provisioned from the physical GPU on which this profile is applied.

Number

A high value is desired for this measure. A sudden/gradual decrease in the value of this measure is an indication for the administrator to add additional Grid cards in their environment.

Remaining capacity of vGPUs per board:

Indicates the number of vGPUs that can still be provisined from the physical GPU on which this profile is applied.

Number

 

Allocated capacity of vGPUs per board:

Indicates the total number of vGPUs that can be provisioned from this GPU grid when this profile is applied to all the physical GPUs.

Number

 

GPU memory per VM:

Indicates the amount of memory allocated to the virtual machine/virtual desktop when this profile is applied.

MB

 

Max display per VM:

Indicates the maximum number of displays that can be supported by each virtual machine/virtual desktop to which this profile is assigned.

Number

 

Max users per graphics board:

Indicates the maximum number of users on this GPU grid card when this profile is applied to all the physical GPUs.

Number