GPU Technology Conference 2016 S6194: Delivering Graphics Intensive - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

November 6, 2015 Board of Councilors

GPU Technology Conference 2016 S6194: Delivering Graphics Intensive Applications to Computing Labs and BYOD in Education

Michael Goay,

Executive Director of IT USC Viterbi School of Engineering mgoay@usc.edu

Session Objectives

• Graphics‐enabled VDI @ USC Viterbi
• Options to deliver graphics‐rich applications in:

– physical computing lab – virtual computing lab

• Graphics‐enabled VDI implementation

– common pitfalls to avoid

Agenda

• USC Viterbi School of Engineering
• Challenges
• Solution
• Benefits
• Next steps
• Takeaways

USC Viterbi School of Engineering

• Founded 1905
• 8 Academic Departments:

AME, ASTE, BME, CEE, CHEM/MS, CS, EE, ISE

• Academic Programs:

27 BS, 58 MS, and 13 PhD

• Students: 2700 UGs, 5300 Gs
• Faculty: 185 TT and 110 NTT

USC Viterbi School of Engineering

• ~5% annual growth in MS

students over past 5 years

• 30 computer classrooms
• 900+ desktops/laptops
• 200+ instructional software
• 1300+ class sections per

semesters

• 18 FTE’s, 50 student workers

Challenges

• Digital natives; mobile
• More classes are teaching with graphics intensive

applications

• Applications require ever‐increasing processing

power to run with acceptable performance

• Increase in class enrollment
• Costly to build and maintain

classrooms with computers

Project Goals

Empowering students to study with cutting‐edge performance, graphics‐rich applications anywhere, anytime, on any device Enhancing mobility to improve student collaboration, productivity and innovation

Project Goals

Gaining flexible, rapid application deployment capabilities to enhance teaching and learning with latest engineering and design applications Empowering faculty to experiment with innovative teaching methods

Viterbi Virtual Desktops Relieve Space Constraints

Virtual Desktops From Any Device From Any Location

Auditoria General Classrooms Outdoor Classrooms

Solution

vGPU‐enabled Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

Defining Terms

• VDI – Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
• Horizon – VMware Horizon; VDI product
• Virtual Desktop – virtual computer hosted on a

server

• Host – server cluster that hosts the desktops
• Client – end‐point device
• Connection Broker – service that connects a client

to a virtual desktop

Instructional Computing

• In the business of application delivery
• Install : Local execution; on‐premises access
• Stream : Local execution; on‐premises access;

flexible

• Present : Server execution;
• n‐premises + remote access; flexible

Application Delivery ‐ Install

• Characteristics:
• Local program execution
• On‐premises access
• Pros:
• Use local hardware resource
• Cons:
• Inflexible
• Risk of software conflicts

Solutions: Sneakernet, sftp, download manager, Microsoft SCCM, Dell KACE, LANDesk, Symantec Altiris

Application Delivery ‐ Stream

• Characteristics:
• Local program execution
• On‐premises access
• Pros:
• Use local hardware resource
• Flexible computing
• Cons:
• Limited to LAN

Solutions: Citrix Provisioning Server (PVS), Dell vWorkspace (formerly WSM)

Application Delivery ‐ Present

• Characteristics:
• Programs execute on server
• Remote access
• Pros:
• Flexible computing
• Anywhere, anytime, any device
• Cons:
• High upfront cost; limited graphics support

Solutions: Microsoft RDS, Dell vWorkspace, VMware Horizon, Citrix XenDesktop

App Delivery ‐ Comparisons

Flexible Computing Performance Operational Risk Impact on Learning Experience

Install

Low High –h/w dependent Low Medium – compatibility issues

Stream

High High – h/w dependent Medium – High Medium –

• nsite only

Present

High Medium – High NVIDIA GRID the enabler High High – anywhere, anytime, any device; a clear winner!

When it Happened

• Desktop streaming in physical labs:

2008 Q3 ‐ Present

• VDI Proof of Concept : 2013 Q4 – 2014 Q2
• VDI Pilot : 2014 Q3 – 2015 Q2 (Academic Year

2014‐2015)

• VDI Phase I : 2015 Q3 – Present (Academic Year

2015‐2016)

Workstation Solution Architecture – VMware

Shared GPU – vSGA (Horizon View 5.2) Direct GPU – vDGA (Horizon View 5.3) Hardware Virtualized GPU (Horizon 6)

Up to DirectX 9.0c and OpenGL 2.1 only; no workstation‐class graphics support Aka GPU Pass‐Through DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.3; workstation‐class graphics Flexible workstation‐class graphics support with high application compatibility

Guest OS

virtual gfx driver

Guest OS

virtual gfx driver NV driver ESX w/ vSGA ESX w/ vDGA

Guest OS

NV driver

2 GPUs/GRID K2 4 GPUs/GRID K1

Guest OS

NV driver

2 GPUs/GRID K2 4 GPUs/GRID K1

ESX Hypervisor

vGPU vGPU 2 GPUs/GRID K2 4 GPUs/GRID K1

NVIDIA vGPU Profiles (K2/K1)

GRID K1 and GRID K2 : each GPU has 4GB of frame buffer memory Tesla M60 and M6 (Aug 2015) : each GPU has 8GB of frame buffer memory

GRID K2 vGPU Profiles @ USC

Each Dell PowerEdge R730 or R720 server has 2x GRID K2 cards.

Virtual GPU Frame Buffer (MB) vGPUs/ GPU vGPUs/ Board vGPUs/ Server Applications

GRID K260Q 2048 2 4 8 ArcGIS, Citilabs Cube, Siemens NX, SolidWorks, STAR‐CCM+, etc. GRID K240Q 1024 4 8 16 Adobe Creative Cloud suite: Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, etc. GRID K220Q 512 8 16 32 Autodesk AutoCAD, COMSOL, Erwin, Mathematica, MATLAB, Minitab, MS Office, Visual Studio, Python, Questa Sim, R, Revit, SAS, Xilinx ISE, etc.

VM Configurations

• High Graphics Intensity Apps
• Supported apps: ArcGIS, Autodesk Maya, Citilabs Cube, Siemens NX,

Siemens Solid Edge, SolidWorks, STAR‐CCM+, etc.

• 4 vCPUs, 32GB RAM, K260Q vGPU profile (2GB vRAM), 2 displays
• Medium Graphics Intensity Apps
• Supported apps: Adobe Creative Cloud suite – Photoshop, Dreamweaver,

Illustrator, etc.

• 2 vCPUs, 16GB RAM, K240Q vGPU profile (1GB vRAM), 2 displays
• Light Graphics Intensity Apps
• Supported apps: Autodesk AutoCAD, COMSOL, Microsoft Visio, Microsoft

Office, Mathematica, MATLAB, Minitab, R, SAS, Xilink, etc.

• 2 vCPUs, 8GB RAM, K220Q vGPU profile (512MB vRAM), 2 displays

Tech Specs Horizon 6 Architecture

Technical Specs ‐ Hardware

• Dell SonicWall SuperMassive firewalls
• Dell Force10 (10GbE) network switches
• Dell EqualLogic iSCSI SAN storage arrays
• Dell PowerEdge R730/R720 servers
• NVIDIA GRID K2 cards
• Teradici APEX 2800 PCoIP offload cards

Technical Specs – Software

• vSphere ‐ Cloud computing

virtualization system includes ESXi (hypervisor)

• Horizon ‐ Desktop virtualization system
• UX ‐ User experience monitoring
• PernixData FVP ‐ software‐based

storage acceleration solution

• TrendMicro Deep Security anti‐malware

USC‐Specific User Experience

• Simplified identity management – students

use same USC NetID account login credentials to access the Viterbi VDI system

• Granular user entitlement management –

users are authorized/prioritized access to VDI based on class enrollment, class schedule, and where the client is connecting from

• Unified desktop experience of data storage

across physical and virtual computing environments

VDI Benefits to Students

• Increases mobility
• Enables device independence
• Gains flexible computing
• Realizes enhanced performance, productivity, and

collaboration

• Improves security of user data via regular central

data backup

VDI Benefits to Faculty

• Affords the same flexibility and mobility
• Focuses on academics, not technology
• Enables classrooms to transform to customizable

learning spaces

• Empowers faculty to experiment with innovative

teaching methods

VDI Benefits to Administration

• Relieves space constraints; eases classroom

scheduling

• Facilitates online classes to include graphics‐

intensive applications

• Facilitates innovative teaching methodologies

VDI Benefits to IT

• Eases system maintenance
• Offers more secure computing environment
• Affords agile and flexible computing
• Affords rapid deployment of applications
• Reduces break/fix issues at users’ devices
• Focuses on more strategic projects

Next Steps

• Force multiplier… expand VDI capacity; capitalize on

new gen GPU, Tesla M60 cards and GRID 2.0

• Convert workstations in computer classrooms to

thin clients

• Optimize VDI management
• Enhance disaster recovery capabilities
• Faculty/staff desktop replacement

Takeaways

• Focus on the user experience
• Know your users and use cases
• Understand software licensing / behavior
• Get the right people involved
• Conduct a pilot that is true to scale
• Optimize at every level and scale for growth
• Prepare for change

Final Thoughts

• VDI gives flexibility, but implementation is complex
• Virtualization has needs and considerations
• New pressure on infrastructure
• Changed cost structures ‐ cost shifted from edge to

data center

Your Opportunity

Great rewards often require bold risk – so step up to face your giants!

GRID Test Drive http://www.nvidia.com/object/vmware‐trygrid.html NVIDIA and VMware Community (NVC) http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia‐vmware‐community.html

Questions and Comments