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Table Of Contents

When to Choose the NVIDIA GRID vGPU Option

With the NVIDIA GRID vGPU option, you can achieve a higher consolidation ratio of virtual machines on

an NVIDIA GRID vGPU-enabled ESXi host than is possible by using vDGA, while maintaining the same

performance level. As with vDGA (Dedicated Virtual Graphics), the ESXi and virtual machine also use GPU

pass-through for NVIDIA GRID vGPU.

NOTE To improve virtual machine consolidation ratios, you can set the ESXi host to use consolidation

mode. Edit the /etc/vmware/config file on the ESXi host and add the following entry:

vGPU.consolidation = "true"

By default, the ESXi host assigns virtual machines to the physical GPU with the fewest virtual machines

already assigned. This is called performance mode. If you would rather have the ESXi host assign virtual

machines to the same physical GPU until the maximum number of virtual machines is reached before

placing virtual machines on the next physical GPU, you can use consolidation mode.

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

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.

For more information, see “Preparing for NVIDIA GRID vGPU Capabilities,” on page 153.

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.

Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View

152 VMware, Inc.