In August, I wrote a blog on Nvidia GRID troubleshooting together with Stefan Achten on the Securelink Blog. Since then I have done some additional deployments and have some new insights on possible issues you can encounter.
But first if you did not already read our initial blog, I highly recommend reading it! You can find it here: Nvidia GRID Troubleshooting – basics
One of the most common issues that I see are hypervisors not configured with the correct license type. I have created a chart that shows all possible licenses needed to run Nvidia vGPU:
It is im
portant to know that when using VMware vSphere, NVIDIA GRID is an Enterprise Plus Feature!
I know, this may sound logical but I have had multiple instances that the customer forgot to take this in aspect. A workaround could be passthrough but this has its limitations. 1-1 assignment and no flexibility in frame buffer size and profile.
For Xenserver this is the same. A valid license is needed to enable the vGPU functionality.
VMware related
- The licensing should be Enterprise plus or vSphere for Desktop (Horizon deployments).
- A VM needs to have a VM Hardware version of 9 or higher.
- As mentioned in previous blog, the host graphics type on every ESX needs to be set to Shared Direct.
General issues
When using Nvidia GRID in a non-persistent environment with Citrix PVS, MCS or VMware Instant & linked clones. The Master image licensing folder needs to be cleared, this to make sure that the clones do not start with a license already present on the VM. As this would result in VM’s not getting licensed at boot.
- Following folder should be emptied: C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\Grid Licensing\ (files are hidden)
A delayed license acquisition due to time-out in a Service Provider certificate check.
- The check can be disabled without any impact by implementing the IgnoreSP registry key.
Issues with a square resolution when connected to your VDI: Square Resolution Issue with GRID
Again a quick round up of some issues that I had encountered during the past year.