Configuring the eG Agent to Monitor NVIDIA Graphics Processing Units (GPUs)

Citrix XenServer employs the NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU (vGPU) technology to provide exceptional graphics performance for virtual desktops. NVIDIA GRID vGPU enables multiple Virtual Machines (VM) to have simultaneous, direct access to a single physical GPU, using the same NVIDIA graphics drivers that are deployed on non-virtualized Operating Systems. Under the control of NVIDIA's GRID Virtual GPU Manager, which runs in XenServer's Control Domain (dom0), GRID physical GPUs are capable of supporting multiple virtual GPU devices (vGPUs) that can be assigned directly to VMs. 

To determine whether/not the vGPUs assigned to a VM are adequate for the graphic processing requirements of the that VM, administrators must understand whether/not memory-intensive I/O operations are performed on that VM and if so, how they impact vGPU usage. To perform this check, administrators can periodically run the GPU – OS test on every VM.

For this test to run and report metrics, the nvwmi must be installed on every VM.

NVIDIA WMI (NVWMI) is a graphics and display management and control technology that interfaces to Microsoft’s Windows Management Instrumentation infrastructure, specific to NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs). This allows scripts and programs to be created that configure specific GPU related settings, perform automated tasks, retrieve and display a range of information related to the GPU as well as many other administrative tasks and functions.

The following NVIDIA products support NVWMI:

  • NVIDIA Quadro K600

  • Quadro K6000

  • Quadro K5000

  • Quadro K4000

  • Quadro K2000D

  • Quadro K2000

  • Quadro FX 5800

  • Quadro FX 580

  • Quadro FX 570

  • Quadro FX 5600

  • Quadro FX 4800

  • Quadro FX 4700 X2

  • Quadro FX 4600

  • Quadro FX 380 Low Profile

  • Quadro FX 3800

  • Quadro FX 380

  • Quadro FX 3700

  • Quadro FX 370

  • Quadro FX 3450

  • Quadro FX 1800

  • Quadro FX 1700

  • Quadro CX

  • Quadro 7000

  • Quadro 6000

  • Quadro 600

  • Quadro 5000

  • Quadro 410

  • Quadro 4000 for Mac

  • Quadro 4000

  • Quadro 400

  • Quadro 2000D

  • Quadro 2000

  • NVIDIA NVS 510

  • NVS 450

  • NVS 420

  • NVS 315

  • NVS 310

  • NVS 300

  • NVS 295

  • NVS 290

  • Quadro Plex S Series

  • Quadro Plex Model IV

  • Quadro Plex D Series

  • Quadro Plex 7000

NVWMI can be installed in the following three ways:

  • When the NVIDIA GPU driver is installed

  • Via a standalone install

  • Via command line install

Note:

NVWMI is only supported on Windows 7 and later operating systems.

Each of these installation options are detailed in the sub-sections.