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Table Of Contents
Additional Requirements for Using vDGA
vDGA dedicates a single physical GPU on an ESXi host to a single virtual machine. To support vDGA, a
pool must meet these additional requirements:
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The virtual machines must run on ESXi 5.5 or later hosts, be virtual hardware version 9 or later, and be
managed by vCenter Server 5.5 or later software.
You must enable GPU pass-through on the ESXi hosts and configure the individual virtual machines to
use dedicated PCI devices after the desktop pool is created in View. You cannot configure the parent
virtual machine or template for vDGA and then create a desktop pool, because the same physical GPU
would be dedicated to every virtual machine in the pool. See "vDGA Installation" in the VMware white
paper about graphics acceleration.
For linked-clone virtual machines, vDGA settings are preserved after refresh, recompose, and rebalance
operations.
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You must install graphics drivers from the GPU vendor in the guest operating system of the virtual
machine.
NOTE For a list of supported GPU hardware, see the VMware Hardware Compatibility List at
http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php.
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You must set the 3D Renderer option to Manage using vSphere Client.
Additional Requirements for Using vSGA
vSGA allows multiple virtual machines to share the physical GPUs on ESXi hosts. To support vSGA, a pool
must meet these additional requirements:
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The virtual machines must run on ESXi 5.1 or later hosts and be managed by vCenter Server 5.1 or later
software.
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GPU graphics cards and the associated vSphere Installation Bundles (VIBs) must be installed on the
ESXi hosts. For a list of supported GPU hardware, see the VMware Hardware Compatibility List at
http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php.
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Windows 7 machines must be virtual hardware version 8 or later. Windows 8 machines must be virtual
hardware version 9 or later. Windows 10 machines must be virtual hardware version 10 or later.
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You can set the 3D Renderer option to any of the following settings: Manage using vSphere Client,
Automatic, or Hardware. See also “Video RAM Configuration Options for the 3D Renderer,” on
page 148.
Automatic uses hardware acceleration if there is a capable and available hardware GPU in the ESXi
host. If a hardware GPU is not available, the virtual machine uses software 3D rendering for any 3D
tasks.
Additional Requirements for Using Soft 3D
To support software 3D rendering, a pool must meet these additional requirements:
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The virtual machines must run on ESXi 5.0 or later hosts and be managed by vCenter Server 5.0 or later
software.
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The machines must be virtual hardware version 8 or later.
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You must set the 3D Renderer option to Software. See also “Video RAM Configuration Options for the
3D Renderer,” on page 148.
Chapter 12 Provisioning Desktop Pools
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