high-performance graphics with vmware horizon view...

A Dell Technical White Paper

High-Performance Graphics with VMware Horizon View 5.2 Technical White Paper

Dell Desktop Virtualization Solutions (DVS) Engineering September 2013

2 High-Performance Graphics with VMware Horizon View 5.2 | Technical White Paper v.5.05

Revisions

Date Description

September 2013 Initial release v.5.05

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Table of contents Revisions ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 2

Executive summary .......................................................................................................................................................................... 4

1 K1 graphics performance analysis results.............................................................................................................................. 5

1.1 K1 tests: Fixed frame rate video component – Single VM ....................................................................................... 5

1.2 K1 test: Heaven Benchmark – Single VM ................................................................................................................... 7

1.3 K1 test: Movie clip + companion workloads .............................................................................................................. 8

1.4 K1 test: Heaven Benchmark + companion workloads ............................................................................................. 8

1.5 K1 NVIDIA GPU results ................................................................................................................................................... 9

1.6 K1 subjective tests ......................................................................................................................................................... 10

1.7 K1 testing conclusions.................................................................................................................................................. 10

2 K2 graphics performance analysis results ............................................................................................................................ 11

2.1 K2 tests: Fixed frame rate video component – Single VM ..................................................................................... 11

2.2 K2 test: Heaven Benchmark – Single VM ................................................................................................................. 12

2.3 K1 / K2 comparison test – Viewperf single VM ........................................................................................................ 13

2.4 K2 test: Viewperf + companion workloads .............................................................................................................. 14

2.5 K2 NVIDIA GPU results with K1 comparison ............................................................................................................ 15

2.6 K2 subjective tests ......................................................................................................................................................... 16

2.7 K2 test: Dell Wyse P25 zero client comparison – Single VM ................................................................................ 16

2.8 K2 testing conclusions ................................................................................................................................................. 17

3 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................................................................. 18

A Configuration details ............................................................................................................................................................... 19

B Additional resources ................................................................................................................................................................ 20


Executive summary

VMware virtual dedicated graphics acceleration (vDGA), also known as pass through graphics support,

refers to the technology of mapping a VMware Horizon View desktop directly to a graphics processing

unit (GPU) on a high-end display adapter such as an NVIDIA GRID K1 or K2 card. These adapters, when

used with vDGA mode, enable the user of a virtual desktop to run high-end, graphics-intensive

applications such as CAD or other graphics editing and authoring applications. This solution offers a

greater density of high-end graphics users per server when compared to the traditional one-to-one model

of a dedicated graphics workstation. As such, cost benefits can be realized by using VMware vDGA,

VMware Horizon View, and Dell hardware technologies.

The capability for 3D graphics and video in VMware Horizon View further expands the use cases and user

groups to which IT can deliver virtual desktops. vDGA allows the IT department to deliver virtual desktops

to users who traditionally would have required high-performance workstations in order to get the graphics

performance that they required for running applications like AutoCAD and eDrawings.

The critical difference between vDGA and virtual shared graphics acceleration (vSGA) is that the virtual

machine (VM) has full usage of the assigned GPU. The dedicated GPU is passed through the hypervisor to

the VM and the driver is installed locally on the VM, whereas in vSGA mode a single GPU is shared between

a pool of multiple virtual machines.

Throughout the extensive testing and validation of this Reference Architecture, 2 graphics adapters were

used at any given time (either dual K1 adapters or dual K2 adapters). Additionally, the typical graphics-

intensive users were broadly classified as belonging to one of the following categories:

“Premium Plus” users are users who regularly consume high-end graphics through high frame rate

applications such as Google Earth™, graphics-rich HTML5 pages, and may also review electrical or

mechanical computer aided design (CAD) drawings. The term ‘Premium Plus’ is used to

distinguish this user category from the ‘Premium’ user category referenced in other DVS

Engineering documentation.

“Workstation” users are users who would have traditionally required a dedicated, high-end system

such as a Dell Precision Workstation to accomplish daily tasks. Users in this category typically

perform activities such as 3D modeling and rotation using applications commonly found in the gas

and oil industries which utilize large amounts of system resources.

For the purposes of this Technical Whitepaper, the validation efforts described in this document pertain to

“Workstation” users. It is also understood that all VMs used in these tests are configured to run in vDGA

mode, no other VMs are provisioned on the compute servers except those that are involved in testing and

that each server is configured to support the same number of users as GPUs installed in vDGA mode.

It should also be noted that as of this writing vDGA support with NVIDIA GRID adapters is a tech preview

option expected to be released for general availability in the coming months. vDGA is supported at the

ESXi hypervisor level but not currently with the NVIDIA GRID K1 or K2 adapters and Horizon View 5.2.


1 K1 graphics performance analysis results

1.1 K1 tests: Fixed frame rate video component – Single VM When considering the end-user experience in terms of perceived video or graphics smoothness, a useful

medium for assessment is broadcast video. NTSC (US analog television system) broadcasts are transmitted

at 30 frames per second (FPS), while PAL (used widely in Europe) broadcasts are transmitted in 25 FPS. For

each of the following tests, a 30 FPS movie trailer of “The Hobbit” was used.

The graph below shows that while the OptiPlex 7010 displayed many more FPS than the Dell Wyse Z90D7

during playback of the 10 minute video clip, both were above the 25 FPS mark.

Figure 1 K1 single VM movie clip test with GPU enabled

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In the following graphs, we see the difference in FPS from both endpoints during the same video clip

playback while the VM does and does not utilize the GPU.

Figure 2 K1 single VM movie clip on the OptiPlex 7010

Figure 3 K1 single VM movie clip on the Dell Wyse Z90D7

From these graphs it is clear (more so with the OptiPlex 7010 than the Dell Wyse Z90D7) that the VM is

able to achieve higher FPS when utilizing a GPU.

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1.2 K1 test: Heaven Benchmark – Single VM Heaven Benchmark is a GPU-intensive benchmark that significantly stresses graphics cards. This

benchmark tool can be used effectively to determine the stability of a GPU under extremely stressful

conditions, as well as validating the characteristics of the card’s thermal subsystems.

Figure 4 K1 Heaven Benchmark - Single VM

As shown above in the benchmark graph, the Dell Wyse endpoint is not able to maintain sufficiently high

FPS during the Heaven Benchmark so it was not used in any further heaven tests for K1. The Dell Wyse P25

and P45 zero clients showed significant performance gains over the Z90D7, and while they were only used

for K2 testing, they show to be a perfect match for K1 workloads as well.

Notes:

Heaven Benchmark produces a score after each benchmark test; however, the scores can be

unreliable so they are not included in this document.

Heaven benchmark was executed at the low quality setting with a resolution of 640 x 480 (lowest

possible). If the tests had been conducted at a higher quality and resolution, both endpoints would

have displayed consistently less than 25 FPS.

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1.3 K1 test: Movie clip + companion workloads As a companion workload for K1 testing, the eDrawings Viewer for SolidWorks was used, set to “Advanced

Animation”, and configured to rotate indefinitely. The eDrawings activity was not very high in terms of

graphics resource utilization, thus it is appropriate for use as a companion workload for the K1 card which

is targeted at lower end graphics scenarios.

Companion workloads were executed on 7 of the 8 VMs running on the host to establish whether or not it

would have any impact on the performance of the Heaven Benchmark VM. As expected, the additional

workload placed on the host had very little impact as each VM had access to a dedicated GPU. Figure 5

shows almost identical performance to the single VM configuration representing in Figure 1 confirming the

limited impact of the companion workloads on the tested VM.

Figure 5 K1 movie clip test with companion workloads

1.4 K1 test: Heaven Benchmark + companion workloads Following the same results pattern above, Figure 6 is comparable with the earlier graph of the Heaven

Benchmark test (Figure 4) which further shows that the companion workloads had very little impact on the

test results of the Heaven Benchmark VM. It should also be noted that there were no host resource issues

throughout these tests. CPU usage spiked briefly when the Heaven Benchmark ran but was well within the

acceptable range. Data store latency and network usage were also well within the capabilities of the host

system.

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Figure 6 K1 Heaven Benchmark test with companion workloads

1.5 K1 NVIDIA GPU results GPU usage during the Heaven Benchmark test is shown in Figure 7. Note that the GPU utilization is at

100% indicating that the K1 card is not capable of running highly intensive graphics programs on a regular

or sustained basis. In contrast, Figure 8 shows that the K1 GPU is very capable of handling the test video

clip with less than half of the available GPU resources.

Figure 7 K1 Heaven Benchmark GPU usage

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Figure 8 K1 movie clip GPU usage

1.6 K1 subjective tests While the companion workloads were running on the hosted VMs, the testing engineers were able to log

in to the virtual desktops and perform several subjective tests. Performance was generally good on both,

but the OptiPlex was superior to the Dell Wyse endpoint which occasionally encountered some jitter and

lag. The OptiPlex was more capable of handling the workload and therefore did not demonstrate the

same lag and jitter issues resulting in a better end user experience.

1.7 K1 testing conclusions The K1 card worked well in a vDGA environment. Each VM had dedicated access to its assigned GPU and

workloads on other VMs had little or no impact on each other. However, the K1 card was not well suited to

running highly-intensive graphics program workloads such as those produced by Heaven Benchmark.

When running these types of workloads, neither the OptiPlex 7010 nor the Dell Wyse Z90D7 was able to

maintain an FPS value of greater than 25.

Endpoint selection is very important when pairing them with these GPUs as performance can vary greatly.

The results from this testing indicate that the OptiPlex 7010 performed much better than the Dell Wyse

Z90D7 when paired with the K1 GPU. It should also be noted that the Dell Wyse P25 was not tested with

the NVIDIA GRID K1 card but was tested with the K2 card where it demonstrated excellent performance on

par with the OptiPlex 7010 client.

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2 K2 graphics performance analysis results

2.1 K2 tests: Fixed frame rate video component – Single VM Figure 9 shows that the OptiPlex client is able to maintain a higher level of FPS when using the K2 card

when compared to the K1 (see Figure 1). In contrast, the Dell Wyse Z90D7 displays roughly the same

performance regardless of GPU (K1 or K2).

Figure 9 K2 single VM movie clip test with GPU enabled

Figure 10 K1 / K2 movie clip test comparison

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The chart in Figure 10 compares the average FPS during the single VM movie clip tests run on both clients and both GPUs. The graph clearly shows that the OptiPlex 7010 + K2 configuration offers the best performance in this application.

2.2 K2 test: Heaven Benchmark – Single VM When paired with the K2 GPU, the OptiPlex 7010 is capable of maintaining higher FPS than the K1 GPU.

Figure 11 compares the performance of each configuration. Note: the Dell Wyse Z90D7 endpoint used in

these tests was incapable of maintaining greater than 20 FPS and therefore was excluded from the Heaven

Benchmark tests.

Figure 11 K1 / K2 Heaven Benchmark comparison OptiPlex 7010 – Single VM

The K2 GPU also ran at much lower rates of utilization during the Heaven Benchmark when compared to

the same tests using the K1 GPU. When comparing the data in Figures 7 and 12, it is quite clear that the K2

GPU has a greater overall capacity than the K1 GPU,

Note: The K2 card was able to run the Heaven Benchmark in high-quality mode at a resolution of 1366 x

768 while maintaining over 25 FPS.

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Figure 12 K2 Heaven Benchmark GPU usage

2.3 K1 / K2 comparison test – Viewperf single VM The graphs in Figures 13 and 14 compare the results between the K1 and K2 cards running various

Viewperf benchmarks. Both endpoints show better results when using the K2 card, supporting the claim

that the K2 is a higher performing GPU as compared to the K1.

Figure 13 K1 / K2 Comparison Viewperf single VM – OptiPlex 7010

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Figure 14 K1 / K2 Comparison Viewperf single VM – Dell Wyse Z90D7

2.4 K2 test: Viewperf + companion workloads As a companion workload for K2 tests, AutoCAD was configured to execute a continuous orbit activity on

a sample 3D drawing. The increased workload on the K2 GPU generated by AutoCAD was appropriate in

this case as the K2 card is intended for use in higher end graphics environments. In this configuration,

there were 3 VMs running the AutoCAD companion workload on the host.

Figure 15 K2 Viewperf score (FPS) with companion workload – Dell Wyse Z90D7

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2.5 K2 NVIDIA GPU results with K1 comparison The graphs in Figures 17 and 18 show that the GPU utilization and memory usage is much higher for the

K1 as compared to the K2 when running the Viewperf benchmarks thereby reinforcing the greater

performance and capacity of the K2 GPU.

Figure 17 K2 Viewperf benchmark test GPU usage

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Figure 18 K1 Viewperf benchmark test GPU usage

2.6 K2 subjective tests Similarly run in the K1 testing, subjective tests were conducted successfully on the OptiPlex 7010 and Dell

Wyse Z90D7 while companion workloads were running on other VMs on the same host. While Viewperf

ran, repeated zoom in/out activities were executed in AutoCAD. These activities were designed to

generate graphics loads visible to an end-user directly running subjective tests. Performance using the

OptiPlex 7010 was better than the Dell Wyse Z90D7 in that there was less jitter and greater responsiveness.

Both endpoints, however, displayed some lag when executing multiple activities simultaneously.

2.7 K2 test: Dell Wyse P25 zero client comparison – Single VM The Dell Wyse P25 PCoIP zero client for VMware View is a secure, easily managed zero client that provides

outstanding graphics performance for advanced applications such as CAD, 3D solids modeling, video

editing and advanced office productivity applications. Smaller than a typical notebook, this dedicated zero

client is designed specifically for VMware View. It features the latest Teradici processor technology to

process the PCoIP protocol on-chip rather than in software. The P25 also utilizes client-side content

caching to deliver the highest level of performance to 2 HD displays in an extremely compact, energy-

efficient form factor. The Dell Wyse P25 delivers a rich user experience while resolving the challenges of

provisioning, managing, maintaining and securing enterprise desktops.

Note: At the time of writing this document, multiple monitor configurations are not supported with vDGA

and K1 / K2 cards. However, a new firmware version is planned which will support this feature.

The graph in Figure 19 shows that the Dell Wyse P25 is capable of displaying more FPS than the Dell Wyse

Z90D7 and is comparable with the OptiPlex 7010 client.

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Figure 19 K2 Heaven Benchmark test GPU usage

2.8 K2 testing conclusions The K2 cards offer improved performance over the K1 cards. An increase in FPS was seen during the

playback of the movie clip and was particularly noticeable during Heaven Benchmark tests. The K2 cards

are capable of running more graphics-intensive workloads and are better suited to high end workstation

type users than the K1 cards. As with the K1, choice of endpoints is important as better performance was

seen with the OptiPlex 7010 than the Dell Wyse Z90D7.

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3 Conclusions vDGA works well and offers very good graphics performance in virtualized environments. Setup and

installation are straight forward and easily accomplished by the average VDI administrator.

While the NVIDIA GRID K1 GPU is best suited to entry-level high-end graphics usage, the K2 card is

capable of much greater performance when working with intensive, high-end graphics applications such

as Heaven Benchmark. K2 GPU usage was much lower than the K1 GPU usage when running the more

demanding applications. The K1 card was only capable of running Heaven Benchmark at the lowest

resolution, and the lowest quality setting available in the application; whereas the K2 was able to display

many more FPS when running Heaven at a higher resolution and quality. These test results clearly

demonstrate that the K2 GPU is much better suited to handling more graphically-intensive workloads.

Endpoint selection is also very important when designing a vDGA environment. Large differences

measured in FPS between the Dell Wyse Z90D7 and the Dell Wyse P25 demonstrate that one will be much

more suitable that the other when using certain high-end applications. The P25 offers frame rates

comparable to the OptiPlex 7010 and is much more efficient at rendering the displayed graphics than the

Z90D7.

As expected, performance of the VMs running in vDGA mode were unaffected by added workloads that

were placed on co-hosted VMs. The data collected in each of these tests confirm that when GPUs are

dedicated to VMs using the vDGA technology present in VMware Horizon View 5.2, performance was

maintained at a high level (as measured by frame rates and host metrics).


A Configuration details

Table 1 Configuration details

Solution Configuration – Hardware Components Description

Virtual desktops Windows 7 64-bit 4 x CPU 32 GB RAM

Configuration of VMs for vDGA testing

VMware compute host

1 x Dell PowerEdge R720 Server VMware ESXi 5.1 U1 Intel Xeon E5-2670 @ 2.6GHz 320 GB RAM @ 1600MHz 10 x 146GB 15K SAS HDDs Broadcom BCM5720 1GbE NIC PERC H710P RAID controller 2 x NVIDIA GRID K1 2 x NVIDIA GRID K2 Apex 2800 PCoIP card

For VMware ESXi environment 10 x 146GB drives were configured in a RAID-10 array

VMware management host

1 x Dell PowerEdge R720 Server ESXi 5.1 U1 Intel Xeon E5-2690 @ 2.7 GHZ 128 GB RAM @ 1600 MHZ 10 x 146GB 15K SAS HDDs Broadcom BCM5720 1GbE NIC PERC H710P RAID Controller

For VMware ESXi environment 10 x 146 GB drives were configured in a RAID-10 array. Each VM hosted the following workloads on Windows Server 2008 R2: VMware vCenter VMware Horizon View Connection Server Microsoft SQL Server (View Connection Server and vCenter databases) File server


B Additional resources

Referenced or recommended sites and publications:

DVS Enterprise for VMware Horizon View 5.2 Reference Architecture

Dell Wyse

Dell OptiPlex

VMware Horizon Suite

NVIDIA GRID cards

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/555/business~solutions~engineering-docs~en/documents~dvs-enterprise-6020-vmware-view.pdf

http://www.dell.com/wyse

http://www.dell.com/optiplex

http://www.vmware.com/products/horizon-suite/

http://www.nvidia.com/object/grid-boards.html

high-performance graphics with vmware horizon view...

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