GPU Adapter Details - OS Test

A graphics processing unit (GPU) adapter (also known as video card, graphics card, and video adapter) is a discreet card connected to one or more physical/virtual machines. The GPU adapter contains video RAM and a GPU chip and renders real-time 2D and 3D graphics applications, images, animations and video by performing rapid mathematical calculations. To perform such calculations at higher speed, the GPU adapter should be allocated with adequate memory on the virtual machine. Inadequate memory allocation and inefficient utilization of the GPU adapter can affect the processing of intensive tasks related graphics on the virtual machines, which in turn can adversely impact the performance of the applications operating on the VMs. Therefore, it is imperative that administrators should closely observe how well the GPU adapter uses the allocated and shared memory available to it. This way, a potential memory crunch can be proactively detected. This can be achieved with the help of the GPU Adapter Details - OS test.

The test auto-discovers the GPU adapters connected to each virtual machine on the virtual server and for each GPU adapter, reports the statistics related to memory utilization. This test also reveals how well the GPU is utilized for performing different tasks such as video decoding, processing 3D frames, etc. These metrics help administrators to judge whether/not adequate memory is available for use by the GPU adapters and identify the GPU adapter that is running out of memory.

Target of the test : A Proxmox Hypervisor

Agent deploying the test : An internal/remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every combination of each virtual machine:GPU adapter on the virtual server.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter	Description
Test period	How often should the test be executed.
Host	The IP address of the host for which this test is to be configured.
Port	The port at which the specified host listens. By default, this will be NULL.
Proxmox Node Name	Specify the name of the Proxmox node that you wish to monitor in this text box. By default, this parameter is set to none indicating that the test monitor all the nodes in the target hypervisor.
Ignore VMs Inside View	Administrators of some high security Proxmox environments might not have permissions to internally monitor one/more VMs. The eG agent can be configured to not obtain the 'inside view' of such ‘inaccessible’ VMs using the Ignore VMs Inside View parameter. Against this parameter, you can provide a comma-separated list of VM names, or VM name patterns, for which the inside view need not be obtained. For instance, yourIgnore VMs Inside View specification can be: xp,lin,win,vista. Here, the * (asterisk) is used to denote leading and trailing spaces (as the case may be). By default, this parameter is set to none indicating that the eG agent obtains the inside view of all VMs on a Proxmox Hypervisor by default. Note: While performing VM discovery, the eG agent will not discover the operating system of the VMs configured in the Ignore VMs Inside View text box.
Ignore WINNT	By default, the eG agent does not support the inside view for VMs executing on Windows NT operating systems. Accordingly, the Ignore WINNT flag is set to Yes by default.
Exclude VMs	Administrators of some virtualized environments may not want to monitor some of their less-critical VMs - for instance, VM templates - both from 'outside' and from 'inside'. The eG agent in this case can be configured to completely exclude such VMs from its monitoring purview. To achieve this, provide a comma-separated list of VMs to be excluded from monitoring in the Exclude VMs text box. Instead of VMs, VM name patterns can also be provided here in a comma-separated list. For example, your Exclude VMs specification can be: xp,lin,win,vista. Here, the * (asterisk) is used to denote leading and trailing spaces (as the case may be). By default, this parameter is set to none indicating that the eG agent obtains the inside and outside views of all VMs on a virtual host by default. By providing a comma-separated list of VMs/VM name patterns in the Exclude VMs text box, you can make sure the eG agent stops collecting 'inside' and 'outside' view metrics for a configured set of VMs.
Domain, Admin User, Admin Password, and Confirm Password	By default, this test connects to each virtual guest remotely and attempts to collect “inside view” metrics. In order to obtain a remote connection, the test must be configured with user privileges that allow remote communication with the virtual guests. The first step towards this is to specify the Domain within which the virtual guests reside. The Admin User and Admin Password will change according to the Domain specification. Discussed below are the different values that the Domain parameter can take, and how they impact the Admin User and Admin Password specifications: If the VMs belong to a single domain : If the guests belong to a specific domain, then specify the name of that domain against the Domain parameter. In this case, any administrative user in that domain will have remote access to all the virtual guests. Therefore, an administrator account in the given domain can be provided in the Admin User field and the corresponding password in the Admin Password field. Confirm the password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box. If the guests do not belong to any domain (as in the case of Linux guests) : In this case, specify "none" in the Domain field, and specify a local administrator account name in the Admin User below. Prior to this, you need to ensure that the same local administrator account is available or is explicitly created on each of the virtual machines to be monitored. Then, proceed to provide the password of the Admin User against Admin Password, and confirm the password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box. If key-based authentication is implemented between the eG agent and the SSH daemon of a Linux guest, then, in the Admin User text box, enter the name of the user whose <USER_HOME_DIR> (on that Linux guest) contains a .ssh directory with the public key file named authorized_keys. The Admin password in this case will be the passphrase of the public key; the default public key file that is bundled with the eG agent takes the password eginnovations. Specify this as the Admin Password if you are using the default private/public key pair that is bundled with the eG agent to implement key-based authentication. On the other hand, if you are generating a new public/private key pair for this purpose, then use the passphrase that you provide while generating the pair. For the detailed procedure on Implementing Key-based Authentication refer to Troubleshooting the Failure of the eG Remote Agent to Connect to or Report Measures for Linux Guests. If the guests belong to different domains - In this case, you might want to provide multiple domain names. If this is done, then, to access the guests in every configured domain, the test should be configured with the required user privileges; this implies that along with multiple Domain names, multiple Admin User names and Admin Passwords would also have to be provided. To help administrators provide these user details quickly and easily, the eG administrative interface embeds a special configuration page. To access this page, simply click on the icon adjacent to the Admin User text box. To know how to use the special page, refer to GPU Adapter Details - OS Test. If the Inside View Using flag is set to ‘eG VM Agent (Windows)’ - In this case, the inside view can be obtained without domain administrator privileges. Therefore, set the Domain, Admin User, and Admin Password parameters to none.
Report By User	While monitoring a Proxmox Hypervisor, the Report By User flag is set to No by default, indicating that by default, the VM operating systems on the target hypervisor are identified using the hostname specified in the operating system. On the other hand, if you want the desktops to be identified using the login of the user who is accessing them, set this flag to Yes. In other words, in VDI environments, this test will, by default, report measures for every username_on_virtualmachinename
Report Powered OS	This flag becomes relevant only if the Report By User flag is set to ‘Yes’. If this flag is set to Yes (which is the default setting), then this test will report measures for even those VMs that do not have any users logged in currently. Such guests will be identified by their virtualmachine name and not by the username_on_virtualmachinename. On the other hand, if the Report Powered OS flag is set to No, then this test will not report measures for those VMs to which no users are logged in currently.
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	To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise 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
Available GPU memory	Indicates the total amount of memory allocated for this GPU adapter on this VM.	MB
GPU memory used	Indicates the amount of memory that is utilized by this GPU adapters.	MB
GPU memory free	Indicates the amount of memory that is available for use by this GPU adapter.	MB	Ideally, the value of this measure should be high. A consistent decrease in the value of this measure is indicative of a steady erosion of memory available for GPU, which if left unattended, can significantly impact GPU functioning.
GPU memory usage	Indicates the percentage of memory that is utilized by this GPU adapter.	Percent	A low value is desired for this measure. If the value of this measure grows very close to 100%, it indicates that the GPU will soon run out of memory resources. Such an occurrence will not only impact the functioning of the GPU card, but also the applications depend on it.
Total dedicated video memory	Indicates the total amount of dedicated video memory allocated this GPU adapter.	MB	The dedicated video memory or Video RAM (or VRAM) is a special type of RAM that works with your computer's GPU card/adapter. The video RAM holds information that the GPU needs, including game textures and lighting effects. This allows the GPU to quickly access the info and output video to your monitor.
Used dedicated video memory	Indicates the amount of dedicated video memory that is utilized by this GPU adapter.	MB	Ideally, a low value is desired for this measure. A high value for this measure indicates that the dedicated video memory is depleting rapidly. When the dedicated video memory is filled up, the GPU will rely on standard RAM for processing video frames and display textures. This in turn will seriously impact overall performance of the RAM.
Free dedicated video memory	Indicates the amount of dedicated video memory that is available for use by this GPU adapter.	MB	A high value is desired for this measure. If the value of this measure is very low, it indicates that the GPU does not have adequate memory for processing video frames.
Dedicated memory usage	Indicates the percent of dedicated video memory that is utilized by this GPU adapter.	Percent	Use the detailed diagnosis of the this measure to find out the names of top-10 applications that are over-utilizing the dedicated memory. Administrators can also find out the percentage of dedicated memory utilized by each application, PID of each application and path to a folder where each application image is stored.
Total system shared memory	Indicates the total amount of system memory that can be utilized by this GPU adapter.	MB	Shared memory represents system memory that can be used by the GPU. Shared memory can be used by the CPU for processing normal system tasks needed or as “video memory” for the GPU while processing video tasks.
Used system shared memory	Indicates the amount of system memory that is utilized by this GPU adapter.	MB	Ideally, a low value is desired for this measure.
Free system shared memory	Indicates the amount of system memory that is available for use by this GPU adapter.	MB	The value of this measure should be high.
System shared usage	Indicates the percentage of system memory that is utilized by this GPU adapter.	Percent	Use the detailed diagnosis of the this measure to find out the names of top-10 applications that are over-utilizing the system shared memory. Administrators can also find out the percentage of dedicated memory utilized by each application, PID of each application and path to a folder where each application image is stored.
System video memory	Indicates the amount of system video memory that can be used by this GPU adapter.	MB
Total committed memory	Indicates the total amount of committed memory allocated for this GPU adapter.	MB	Use the detailed diagnosis of the Total committed memory measure to find out the names of top-10 applications that are over-utilizing the GPU committed memory. Administrators can also find out the percentage of dedicated memory utilized by each application, PID of each application and path to a folder where each application image is stored.
GPU utilization	Indicates the percentage of this GPU adapter utilized in this VM.	Percent	A value close to 100% is a cause of concern which requires further investigation. Compare the value of this measure across the GPU adapters to know the GPU adapter that is being over-utilized. The detailed diagnosis of this measure lists the names of top-10 applications in descending order based on the percentage of overall GPU utilization. Administrators can also find out the PID of application and path to a folder where the application image is stored.
3D utilization	Indicates the percentage of this GPU adapter utilized for processing 3D frames.	Percent	Compare the value of this measure across the GPU adapters to identify the GPU adapter that is being over-utilized. The detailed diagnosis of this measure lists the names of top-10 applications in descending order based on the percentage of GPU utilized for processing 3D frames. Administrators can also find out the PID of application and path to a folder where the application image is stored.
Video decode utilization	Indicates the percentage of this GPU adapter utilized for performing video decoding process.	Percent	The detailed diagnosis of this measure lists the names of top-10 applications in descending order based on the percentage of GPU utilized for video decoding process. Administrators can also find out the PID of application and path to a folder where the application image is stored.
Copy utilization	Indicates the percentage of this GPU adapter utilized for copying operations.	Percent	The detailed diagnosis of this measure lists the names of top-10 applications in descending order based on the percentage of GPU utilized for copying operations. Administrators can also find out the PID of application and path to a folder where the application image is stored.
Video processing utilization	Indicates the percentage of this GPU adapter utilized for processing video frames.	Percent	Compare the value of this measure across the GPU adapters to figure out which GPU adapter is over-utilized for processing video frames.