Virtual GPU Software R390 for VMware vSphere Release Notes

Release information for all users of NVIDIA virtual GPU software and hardware on VMware vSphere.

1. Release Notes

These Release Notes summarize current status, information on validated platforms, and known issues with NVIDIA vGPU software and associated hardware on VMware vSphere.

The releases in this release family of NVIDIA vGPU software include the software listed in the following table:

Software 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4
NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager for the VMware vSphere releases listed in Hypervisor Software Releases 390.42 390.57 390.72 390.94 390.113
NVIDIA Windows driver 391.03 391.58 391.81 392.05 392.37
NVIDIA Linux driver 390.42 390.57 390.75 390.96 390.115
CAUTION:

If you install the wrong NVIDIA vGPU software packages for the version of VMware vSphere you are using, NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager will fail to load.

The releases of the vGPU Manager and guest VM drivers that you install must be compatible. Different versions of the vGPU Manager and guest VM driver from within the same main release branch can be used together. For example, you can use the vGPU Manager from release 6.1 with guest VM drivers from release 6.0. However, versions of the vGPU Manager and guest VM driver from different main release branches cannot be used together. For example, you cannot use the vGPU Manager from release 6.1 with guest VM drivers from release 5.2.

See VM running older NVIDIA vGPU drivers fails to initialize vGPU when booted.

This requirement does not apply to the NVIDIA vGPU software license sever. All releases of NVIDIA vGPU software are compatible with all releases of the license server.

1.1. Updates in Release 6.0

New Features in Release 6.0

  • Suspend-resume support for VMs that are configured with vGPU
  • New -2B vGPU type for each supported GPU
  • vGPU support for NVML accounting functions
  • vGPU support for nvidia-smi accounting modes
  • Change of default scheduler to best effort scheduler for GPUs based on the NVIDIA® Pascal™ architecture
  • Change of maximum resolution for unlicensed GPUs based on the Pascal architecture to 1280×1024
  • Plain-text logging on Windows of significant licensing events
  • New setting EnableLogging for disabling or enabling logging of significant licensing events
  • Miscellaneous bug fixes

Hardware and Software Support Introduced in Release 6.0

  • Support for GPUs based on the NVIDIA® Volta architecture
  • Support for VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
  • Support for VMware Horizon 7.4
  • Support for Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (1709) as a guest OS

1.2. Updates in Release 6.1

New Features in Release 6.1

  • Change in behavior to enable suspend-resume support for VMs that are configured with vGPU by default
  • Change in behavior to enable logging of licensing events on Windows by default
  • Miscellaneous bug fixes

Hardware and Software Support Introduced in Release 6.1

  • Support for the Tesla V100 SXM2 32GB GPU
  • Support for the Tesla V100 PCIe 32GB GPU

1.3. Updates in Release 6.2

New Features in Release 6.2

  • New -2B4 vGPU type, which supports up to four displays at resolutions up to 2560×1600 for each supported GPU
  • Relaxation of restrictions on unlicensed vGPUs to allow screen resolutions higher than 1280×1024
  • Miscellaneous bug fixes

Hardware and Software Support Introduced in Release 6.2

  • Support for VMware Horizon 7.5

1.4. Updates in Release 6.3

New Features in Release 6.3

  • Inclusion of the name and version of the licensed product in logged license acquisition events
  • Ability to disable pop-up notifications for license state changes
  • Miscellaneous bug fixes

Hardware and Software Support Introduced in Release 6.3

  • Support for VMware Horizon 7.6

1.5. Updates in Release 6.4

New Features in Release 6.4

Hardware and Software Support Introduced in Release 6.4

  • Support for VMware Horizon 7.7

2. Validated Platforms

This release family of NVIDIA vGPU software provides support for several NVIDIA GPUs on validated server hardware platforms, VMware vSphere hypervisor software versions, and guest operating systems. It also supports the version of NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit that is compatible with R390 drivers.

2.1. Supported NVIDIA GPUs and Validated Server Platforms

This release of NVIDIA vGPU software provides support for the following NVIDIA GPUs on VMware vSphere, running on validated server hardware platforms:

  • Tesla M6
  • Tesla M10
  • Tesla M60
  • Tesla P4
  • Tesla P6
  • Tesla P40
  • Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (vSGA and suspend-resume with vGPU are not supported.)
  • Tesla P100 SXM2 16 GB (vSGA and suspend-resume with vGPU are not supported.)
  • Tesla P100 PCIe 12GB (vSGA and suspend-resume with vGPU are not supported.)
  • Tesla V100 SXM2 (vSGA and suspend-resume with vGPU are not supported.)
  • Tesla V100 SXM2 32GB (vSGA and suspend-resume with vGPU are not supported.)
  • Tesla V100 PCIe (vSGA and suspend-resume with vGPU are not supported.)
  • Tesla V100 PCIe 32GB (vSGA and suspend-resume with vGPU are not supported.)
  • Tesla V100 FHHL (vSGA and suspend-resume with vGPU are not supported.)

For a list of validated server platforms, refer to NVIDIA GRID Certified Servers.

Note:

Tesla M60 and M6 GPUs support compute mode and graphics mode. NVIDIA vGPU requires GPUs that support both modes to operate in graphics mode.

Recent Tesla M60 GPUs and M6 GPUs are supplied in graphics mode. However, your GPU might be in compute mode if it is an older Tesla M60 GPU or M6 GPU, or if its mode has previously been changed.

To configure the mode of Tesla M60 and M6 GPUs, use the gpumodeswitch tool provided with NVIDIA vGPU software releases.

Requirements for Using vGPU on GPUs Requiring 64 GB of MMIO Space with Large-Memory VMs

Some GPUs require 64 GB of MMIO space. When a vGPU on a GPU that requires 64 GB of MMIO space is assigned to a VM with 32 GB or more of memory on ESXi 6.0 Update 3 and later, or ESXi 6.5 and later updates, the VM’s MMIO space must be increased to 64 GB. For more information, see VMware Knowledge Base Article: VMware vSphere VMDirectPath I/O: Requirements for Platforms and Devices (2142307).

With ESXi 6.7, no extra configuration is needed.

The following GPUs require 64 GB of MMIO space:

  • Tesla P6
  • Tesla P40

Requirements for Using GPUs Based on the Pascal and Volta Architectures in Pass-Through Mode

  • The Tesla V100, Tesla P100, and Tesla P6 GPUs require 32 GB of MMIO space in pass-through mode.
  • The Tesla P40 GPU requires 64 GB of MMIO space in pass-through mode.
  • Pass through of GPUs with large BAR memory settings has some restrictions on VMware ESXi:

2.2. Hypervisor Software Releases

Supported VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) Releases

This release is supported on the VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) releases listed in the table.

Note:

Support for NVIDIA vGPU software requires the Enterprise Plus Edition of VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi). For details, see Compare VMware vSphere Editions (PDF).

Updates to a base release of VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) are compatible with the base release and can also be used with this version of NVIDIA vGPU software unless expressly stated otherwise.

Software Release Supported Notes
VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 6.7 6.7 and compatible updates

All NVIDIA GPUs that support NVIDIA vGPU software are supported.

This release supports suspend and resume with vGPU on suitable GPUs as listed in Supported NVIDIA GPUs and Validated Server Platforms.

vMotion with vGPU is not supported.

VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 6.5 6.5 and compatible updates

All NVIDIA GPUs that support NVIDIA vGPU software are supported.

Suspend-resume with vGPU and vMotion with vGPU are not supported.

VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 6.0 6.0 and compatible updates

GPUs based on the Pascal and Volta architectures in pass-through mode require 6.0 Update 3 or later.

For vGPU, all NVIDIA GPUs that support NVIDIA vGPU software are supported.

Suspend-resume with vGPU and vMotion with vGPU are not supported.

VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 5.5 5.5 and compatible updates

Only the following NVIDIA GPUs are supported:

  • Tesla M6
  • Tesla M10
  • Tesla M60

vSGA, suspend-resume with vGPU, and vMotion with vGPU are not supported.

Supported Management Software and Virtual Desktop Software Releases

This release supports the management software and virtual desktop software releases listed in the table.

Note: Updates to a base release of VMware Horizon and VMware vCenter Server are compatible with the base release and can also be used with this version of NVIDIA vGPU software unless expressly stated otherwise.
Software Releases Supported
VMware Horizon

Since 6.4: 7.7 and compatible 7.7.x updates

Since 6.3: 7.6 and compatible 7.6.x updates

Since 6.2: 7.5 and compatible 7.5.x updates

7.4 and compatible 7.4.x updates

7.3 and compatible 7.3.x updates

7.2 and compatible 7.2.x updates

7.1 and compatible 7.1.x updates

7.0 and compatible 7.0.x updates

6.2 and compatible 6.2.x updates

VMware vCenter Server

6.5 and compatible updates

6.0 and compatible updates

2.3. Guest OS Support

NVIDIA vGPU software supports several Windows releases and Linux distributions as a guest OS. The supported guest operating systems depend on the hypervisor software version.

Note:

Use only a guest OS release that is listed as supported by NVIDIA vGPU software with your virtualization software. To be listed as supported, a guest OS release must be supported not only by NVIDIA vGPU software, but also by your virtualization software. NVIDIA cannot support guest OS releases that your virtualization software does not support.

In pass-through mode, GPUs based on the Pascal architecture or Volta architecture support only 64-bit guest operating systems. No 32-bit guest operating systems are supported in pass-through mode for these GPUs.

Windows Guest OS Support

NVIDIA vGPU software supports only the Windows releases listed in the table as a guest OS on VMware vSphere. The releases of VMware vSphere for which a Windows release is supported depend on whether NVIDIA vGPU or pass-through GPU is used. When configured for NVIDIA vGPU, GPUs based on the Volta architecture support only 64-bit Windows guest operating systems. No 32-bit Windows guest operating systems are supported for these GPUs when configured for NVIDIA vGPU.

Note:

If a specific release, even an update release, is not listed, it’s not supported.

Suspend-resume with vGPU is supported on supported Windows guest OS releases.

Guest OS NVIDIA vGPU - VMware vSphere Releases Pass-Through GPU - VMware vSphere Releases
Windows Server 2016 1607, 1709

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

6.7, 6.5, 6.0, 5.5

Windows Server 2012 R2

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

6.7, 6.5, 6.0, 5.5

Windows Server 2008 R2

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

6.7, 6.5, 6.0, 5.5

Windows 10 RTM (1507), November Update (1511), Anniversary Update (1607), Creators Update (1703), Fall Creators Update (1709) (64-bit)

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

6.7, 6.5, 6.0, 5.5

Windows 10 RTM (1507), November Update (1511), Anniversary Update (1607), Creators Update (1703), Fall Creators Update (1709) (32-bit)

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

6.7, 6.5, 6.0, 5.5

Supported only on GPUs based on the Maxwell architecture

Windows 8.1 Update (64-bit)

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

6.7, 6.5, 6.0, 5.5

Windows 8.1 Update (32-bit)

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

6.7, 6.5, 6.0, 5.5

Supported only on GPUs based on the Maxwell architecture

Windows 8.1 (64-bit)

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

-

Windows 8.1 (32-bit)

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

Supported only on GPUs based on the Maxwell and Pascal architectures

-

Windows 8 (64-bit)

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

-

Windows 8 (32-bit)

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

Supported only on GPUs based on the Maxwell and Pascal architectures

-

Windows 7 (64-bit)

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

6.7, 6.5, 6.0, 5.5

Windows 7 (32-bit)

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

Supported only on GPUs based on the Maxwell and Pascal architectures

6.7, 6.5, 6.0, 5.5

Supported only on GPUs based on the Maxwell architecture

2.3.2. Linux Guest OS Support

NVIDIA vGPU software supports only the Linux distributions listed in the table as a guest OS on VMware vSphere. The releases of VMware vSphere for which a Linux release is supported depend on whether NVIDIA vGPU or pass-through GPU is used.

Note:

If a specific release, even an update release, is not listed, it’s not supported.

Suspend-resume with vGPU is supported on supported Linux guest OS releases.

Guest OS NVIDIA vGPU - VMware vSphere Releases Pass-Through GPU - VMware vSphere Releases
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0-7.5 and later compatible 7.x versions

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

6.7, 6.5, 6.0, 5.5

CentOS 7.0-7.5 and later compatible 7.x versions

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

6.7, 6.5, 6.0, 5.5

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 and later compatible 6.x versions

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

6.7, 6.5, 6.0, 5.5

CentOS 6.6 and later compatible 6.x versions

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

6.7, 6.5, 6.0, 5.5

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

6.7, 6.5, 6.0, 5.5

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

6.7, 6.5, 6.0, 5.5

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

6.7, 6.5, 6.0

2.4. NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit Version Support

The releases in this release family of NVIDIA vGPU software support NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit 9.1.

For more information about NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit, see CUDA Toolkit 9.1 Documentation.

2.5. Suspend-Resume with vGPU Support

Suspend-resume with vGPU is supported only on a subset of supported GPUs, VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) releases, and guest operating systems.

Supported GPUs:
  • Tesla M6
  • Tesla M10
  • Tesla M60
  • Tesla P4
  • Tesla P6
  • Tesla P40

Supported VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) releases: 6.7 and compatible updates only.

Supported guest OS releases: Windows and Linux.

3. Known Product Limitations

Known product limitations for this release of NVIDIA vGPU software are described in the following sections.

3.1. vGPU profiles with 512 Mbytes or less of frame buffer support only 1 virtual display head on Windows 10

Description

To reduce the possibility of memory exhaustion, vGPU profiles with 512 Mbytes or less of frame buffer support only 1 virtual display head on a Windows 10 guest OS.

The following vGPU profiles have 512 Mbytes or less of frame buffer:

  • Tesla M6-0B, M6-0Q
  • Tesla M10-0B, M10-0Q
  • Tesla M60-0B, M60-0Q

Workaround

Use a profile that supports more than 1 virtual display head and has at least 1 Gbyte of frame buffer.

3.2. NVENC requires at least 1 Gbyte of frame buffer

Description

Using the frame buffer for the NVIDIA hardware-based H.264/HEVC video encoder (NVENC) may cause memory exhaustion with vGPU profiles that have 512 Mbytes or less of frame buffer. To reduce the possibility of memory exhaustion, NVENC is disabled on profiles that have 512 Mbytes or less of frame buffer. Application GPU acceleration remains fully supported and available for all profiles, including profiles with 512 MBytes or less of frame buffer. NVENC support from both Citrix and VMware is a recent feature and, if you are using an older version, you should experience no change in functionality.

The following vGPU profiles have 512 Mbytes or less of frame buffer:

  • Tesla M6-0B, M6-0Q
  • Tesla M10-0B, M10-0Q
  • Tesla M60-0B, M60-0Q

Workaround

If you require NVENC to be enabled, use a profile that has at least 1 Gbyte of frame buffer.

3.3. VM failures or crashes on servers with 1 TB or more of system memory

Description

Support for vGPU and vSGA is limited to servers with less than 1 TB of system memory. On servers with 1 TB or more of system memory, VM failures or crashes may occur. For example, when Citrix XenDesktop is used with a Windows 7 guest OS, a blue screen crash may occur. However, support for vDGA is not affected by this limitation.

This limitation applies only to systems with supported GPUs based on the Maxwell architecture: Tesla M6, Tesla M10, and Tesla M60.

Resolution

  1. Limit the amount of system memory on the server to 1 TB minus 16 GB by setting memmapMaxRAMMB to 1032192, which is equal to 1048576 minus 16384.

  2. Reboot the server.

If the problem persists, contact your server vendor for the recommended system memory configuration with NVIDIA GPUs.

3.4. VM running older NVIDIA vGPU drivers fails to initialize vGPU when booted

Description

A VM running a version of the NVIDIA guest VM drivers from a previous main release branch, for example release 4.4, will fail to initialize vGPU when booted on a VMware vSphere platform running the current release of Virtual GPU Manager.

In this scenario, the VM boots in standard VGA mode with reduced resolution and color depth. The NVIDIA virtual GPU is present in Windows Device Manager but displays a warning sign, and the following device status:

Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)

Depending on the versions of drivers in use, the VMware vSphere VM’s log file reports one of the following errors:

  • A version mismatch between guest and host drivers:
    vthread-10| E105: vmiop_log: Guest VGX version(2.0) and Host VGX version(2.1) do not match
  • A signature mismatch:
    vthread-10| E105: vmiop_log: VGPU message signature mismatch.

Resolution

Install the current NVIDIA guest VM driver in the VM.

3.5. Virtual GPU fails to start if ECC is enabled

Description

Tesla M60, Tesla M6, and GPUs based on the Pascal GPU architecture, for example Tesla P100 or Tesla P4, support error correcting code (ECC) memory for improved data integrity. Tesla M60 and M6 GPUs in graphics mode are supplied with ECC memory disabled by default, but it may subsequently be enabled using nvidia-smi. GPUs based on the Pascal GPU architecture are supplied with ECC memory enabled.

However, NVIDIA vGPU does not support ECC memory. If ECC memory is enabled, NVIDIA vGPU fails to start.

The following error is logged in the VMware vSphere host’s log file:

vthread10|E105: Initialization: VGX not supported with ECC Enabled.

Resolution

Ensure that ECC is disabled on all GPUs.

Before you begin, ensure that NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager is installed on your hypervisor.

  1. Use nvidia-smi to list the status of all GPUs, and check for ECC noted as enabled on GPUs.
    # nvidia-smi -q
    
    ==============NVSMI LOG==============
    
    Timestamp                           : Tue Dec 19 18:36:45 2017
    Driver Version                      : 384.99
    
    Attached GPUs                       : 1
    GPU 0000:02:00.0
    
    [...]
    
        Ecc Mode
            Current                     : Enabled
            Pending                     : Enabled
    
    [...]
  2. Change the ECC status to off on each GPU for which ECC is enabled.
    • If you want to change the ECC status to off for all GPUs on your host machine, run this command:
      # nvidia-smi -e 0
    • If you want to change the ECC status to off for a specific GPU, run this command:
      # nvidia-smi -i id -e 0

      id is the index of the GPU as reported by nvidia-smi.

      This example disables ECC for the GPU with index 0000:02:00.0.

      # nvidia-smi -i 0000:02:00.0 -e 0
  3. Reboot the host.
  4. Confirm that ECC is now disabled for the GPU.
    # nvidia-smi -q
    
    ==============NVSMI LOG==============
    
    Timestamp                           : Tue Dec 19 18:37:53 2017
    Driver Version                      : 384.99
    
    Attached GPUs                       : 1
    GPU 0000:02:00.0
    [...]
    
        Ecc Mode
            Current                     : Disabled
            Pending                     : Disabled
    
    [...]

If you later need to enable ECC on your GPUs, run one of the following commands:

  • If you want to change the ECC status to on for all GPUs on your host machine, run this command:
    # nvidia-smi -e 1
  • If you want to change the ECC status to on for a specific GPU, run this command:
    # nvidia-smi -i id -e 1

    id is the index of the GPU as reported by nvidia-smi.

    This example enables ECC for the GPU with index 0000:02:00.0.

    # nvidia-smi -i 0000:02:00.0 -e 1

After changing the ECC status to on, reboot the host.

3.6. Single vGPU benchmark scores are lower than pass-through GPU

Description

A single vGPU configured on a physical GPU produces lower benchmark scores than the physical GPU run in pass-through mode.

Aside from performance differences that may be attributed to a vGPU’s smaller frame buffer size, vGPU incorporates a performance balancing feature known as Frame Rate Limiter (FRL). On vGPUs that use the best-effort scheduler, FRL is enabled. On vGPUs that use the fixed share or equal share scheduler, FRL is disabled.

FRL is used to ensure balanced performance across multiple vGPUs that are resident on the same physical GPU. The FRL setting is designed to give good interactive remote graphics experience but may reduce scores in benchmarks that depend on measuring frame rendering rates, as compared to the same benchmarks running on a pass-through GPU.

Resolution

FRL is controlled by an internal vGPU setting. On vGPUs that use the best-effort scheduler, NVIDIA does not validate vGPU with FRL disabled, but for validation of benchmark performance, FRL can be temporarily disabled by adding the configuration parameter pciPassthru0.cfg.frame_rate_limiter in the VM’s advanced configuration options.

Note: This setting can only be changed when the VM is powered off.
  1. Select Edit Settings.
  2. In Edit Settings window, select the VM Options tab.
  3. From the Advanced drop-down list, select Edit Configuration.
  4. In the Configuration Parameters dialog box, click Add Row.
  5. In the Name field, type the parameter name pciPassthru0.cfg.frame_rate_limiter, in the Value field type 0, and click OK.

    Screen capture showing a dialog box that contains advanced VM configuration options

With this setting in place, the VM’s vGPU will run without any frame rate limit. The FRL can be reverted back to its default setting by setting pciPassthru0.cfg.frame_rate_limiter to 1 or by removing the parameter from the advanced settings.

3.7. VMs configured with large memory fail to initialize vGPU when booted

Description

When starting multiple VMs configured with large amounts of RAM (typically more than 32GB per VM), a VM may fail to initialize vGPU. In this scenario, the VM boots in VMware SVGA mode and doesn’t load the NVIDIA driver. The NVIDIA vGPU software GPU is present in Windows Device Manager but displays a warning sign, and the following device status:

Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)

The VMware vSphere VM’s log file contains these error messages:

vthread10|E105: NVOS status 0x29
vthread10|E105: Assertion Failed at 0x7620fd4b:179
vthread10|E105: 8 frames returned by backtrace
 ...
vthread10|E105: VGPU message 12 failed, result code: 0x29
...
vthread10|E105: NVOS status 0x8
vthread10|E105: Assertion Failed at 0x7620c8df:280
vthread10|E105: 8 frames returned by backtrace
...
vthread10|E105: VGPU message 26 failed, result code: 0x8

Resolution

vGPU reserves a portion of the VM’s framebuffer for use in GPU mapping of VM system memory. The reservation is sufficient to support up to 32GB of system memory, and may be increased to accommodate up to 64GB by adding the configuration parameter pciPassthru0.cfg.enable_large_sys_mem in the VM’s advanced configuration options

Note: This setting can only be changed when the VM is powered off.
  1. Select Edit Settings.
  2. In Edit Settings window, select the VM Options tab.
  3. From the Advanced drop-down list, select Edit Configuration.
  4. In the Configuration Parameters dialog box, click Add Row.
  5. In the Name field, type the parameter name pciPassthru0.cfg.enable_large_sys_mem, in the Value field type 1, and click OK.

With this setting in place, less GPU framebuffer is available to applications running in the VM. To accommodate system memory larger than 64GB, the reservation can be further increased by adding pciPassthru0.cfg.extra_fb_reservation in the VM’s advanced configuration options, and setting its value to the desired reservation size in megabytes. The default value of 64M is sufficient to support 64 GB of RAM. We recommend adding 2 M of reservation for each additional 1 GB of system memory. For example, to support 96 GB of RAM, set pciPassthru0.cfg.extra_fb_reservation to 128.

The reservation can be reverted back to its default setting by setting pciPassthru0.cfg.enable_large_sys_mem to 0, or by removing the parameter from the advanced settings.

4. Resolved Issues

Only resolved issues that have been previously noted as known issues or had a noticeable user impact are listed. The summary and description for each resolved issue indicate the effect of the issue on NVIDIA vGPU software before the issue was resolved.

Issues Resolved in Release 6.0

Bug ID Summary and Description
200376678

The license expires prematurely in Linux guest VMs

In Linux guest VMs, the license expires before the default borrow period has elapsed. In normal operation, the license is renewed periodically at an interval that depends on the license borrow period. As a result, a failure to renew the license may cause the license to expire before the default borrow period has elapsed.

Issues Resolved in Release 6.1

Bug ID Summary and Description
-

Suspending and Resuming a VM Configured with vGPU Fails

Suspending and resuming a VM configured with vGPU fails if vGPU migration is not configured in NVIDIA vGPU software.

2075467

The displays flicker each time a license is requested or renewed in Linux guest VMs

Whenever a license is requested or renewed in Linux guest VMs, the displays are reconfigured and rescanned. Rescanning the displays causes the remoting solution to momentarily drop the connection and, as a result, the displays flicker.

200391532

Issues in remote desktop sessions if a license is acquired after a session is started

A VM might acquire a license for NVIDIA vGPU software after a remote desktop session has connected to the VM. In this situation, some licensed features and capabilities are not available to a properly licensed vGPU or pass-through GPU in the session. For example, the updated maximum resolution supported is not available.

Issues Resolved in Release 6.2

Bug ID Summary and Description
2104867

Screen resolution reverts to a lower value after a VM is rebooted

When a VM is booted, the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver is initially unlicensed. Screen resolution is limited to a maximum of 1280×1024 until the VM requires a license for NVIDIA vGPU software.

200407382

Benign Calling load_byte_array(tra) messages are logged

In Linux guest VMs, the Calling load_byte_array(tra) messages from the nvidia-gridd daemon are logged in /var/log/syslog.

Issues Resolved in Release 6.3

Bug ID Summary and Description
2194234

The mouse cursor moves slowly when traversing the Windows 10 Start menu

When a user traverses the Windows 10 Start menu with the mouse, highlighting of items on the menu is slow and lags behind the motion of the mouse.

200346607

Licensing pop-up windows contain the text microsoft.explorer.notification

On Windows 10 Creators Update (1703), licensing pop-up windows contain the text microsoft.explorer.notification.

2161478

Purple screen crashes on a system with a dual Tesla M10 configuration

When the Tesla M10 cards are installed, a purple screen crash occurs with the following error: #PF Exception 14 in world 143387

Issues Resolved in Release 6.4

Bug ID Summary and Description
2407960

Intermittent purple screen crashes

Intermittent purple screen crashes can occur with nv_interrupt_handler.

5. Security Updates

5.1. Since 6.4: Restricting Access to GPU Performance Counters

The NVIDIA graphics driver contains a vulnerability (CVE-2018-6260) that may allow access to application data processed on the GPU through a side channel exposed by the GPU performance counters. To address this vulnerability, update the driver and restrict access to GPU performance counters to allow access only by administrator users and users who need to use CUDA profiling tools.

The GPU performance counters that are affected by this vulnerability are the hardware performance monitors used by the CUDA profiling tools such as CUPTI, Nsight Graphics, and Nsight Compute. These performance counters are exposed on the hypervisor host and in guest VMs only as follows:

  • On the hypervisor host, they are always exposed. However, the Virtual GPU Manager does not access these performance counters and, therefore, is not affected.
  • In Windows and Linux guest VMs, they are exposed only in VMs configured for GPU pass through. They are not exposed in VMs configured for NVIDIA vGPU.

5.1.1. Windows: Restricting Access to GPU Performance Counters for One User by Using NVIDIA Control Panel

Perform this task from the guest VM to which the GPU is passed through.

Ensure that you are running NVIDIA Control Panel version 8.1.950.
  1. Open NVIDIA Control Panel:
    • Right-click on the Windows desktop and select NVIDIA Control Panel from the menu.
    • Open Windows Control Panel and double-click the NVIDIA Control Panel icon.
  2. In NVIDIA Control Panel, select the Manage GPU Performance Counters task in the Developer section of the navigation pane.
  3. Complete the task by following the instructions in the Manage GPU Performance Counters > Developer topic in the NVIDIA Control Panel help.

5.1.2. Windows: Restricting Access to GPU Performance Counters Across an Enterprise by Using a Registry Key

You can use a registry key to restrict access to GPU Performance Counters for all users who log in to a Windows guest VM. By incorporating the registry key information into a script, you can automate the setting of this registry for all Windows guest VMs across your enterprise.

Perform this task from the guest VM to which the GPU is passed through.

CAUTION:
Only enterprise administrators should perform this task. Changes to the Windows registry must be made with care and system instability can result if registry keys are incorrectly set.
  1. Set the RmProfilingAdminOnly Windows registry key to 1.
    [HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\nvlddmkm\Global\NVTweak]
    Value: "RmProfilingAdminOnly"
    Type: DWORD
    Data: 00000001

    The data value 1 restricts access, and the data value 0 allows access, to application data processed on the GPU through a side channel exposed by the GPU performance counters.

  2. Restart the VM.

5.1.3. Linux Guest VMs: Restricting Access to GPU Performance Counters

On systems where unprivileged users don't need to use GPU performance counters, restrict access to these counters to system administrators, namely users with the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability set. By default, the GPU performance counters are not restricted to users with the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability.

Perform this task from the guest VM to which the GPU is passed through.

This task requires sudo privileges.

  1. Log in to the guest VM.
  2. Set the kernel module parameter NVreg_RestrictProfilingToAdminUsers to 1 by adding this parameter to the /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf file.
    • If you are setting only this parameter, add an entry for it to the /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf file as follows:

      options nvidia NVreg_RegistryDwords="NVreg_RestrictProfilingToAdminUsers=1"
    • If you are setting multiple parameters, set them in a single entry as in the following example:

      options nvidia NVreg_RegistryDwords="RmPVMRL=0x0" "NVreg_RestrictProfilingToAdminUsers=1"

    If the /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf file does not already exist, create it.

  3. Restart the VM.

5.1.4. Hypervisor Host: Restricting Access to GPU Performance Counters

On systems where unprivileged users don't need to use GPU performance counters, restrict access to these counters to system administrators. By default, the GPU performance counters are not restricted to system administrators.

Perform this task from your hypervisor host machine.

  1. Open a command shell as the root user on your hypervisor host machine.
  2. Set the kernel module parameter NVreg_RestrictProfilingToAdminUsers to 1 by using the esxcli set command.
    • If you are setting only this parameter, set it as follows:

      # esxcli system module parameters set -m nvidia -p "NVreg_RestrictProfilingToAdminUsers=1"
    • If you are setting multiple parameters, set them in a single command as in the following example:

      # esxcli system module parameters set -m nvidia -p "NVreg_RegistryDwords=RmPVMRL=0x0 NVreg_RestrictProfilingToAdminUsers=1"
      
  3. Reboot your hypervisor host machine.

6. Known Issues

6.1. Since 6.4: H.264 encoder falls back to software encoding on 2Q vGPUs with 3 or more 4K displays

Description

On 2Q vGPUs with three or more 4K displays, a shortage of frame buffer causes the H.264 encoder to fall back to software encoding.

This issue affects only vGPUs assigned to VMs that are running a Linux guest OS.

Workaround

Use a 4Q or larger virtual GPU type to provide more frame buffer for each vGPU

Status

Open

Ref. #

200457177

6.2. Frame capture while the interactive logon message is displayed returns blank screen

Description

Because of a known limitation with NvFBC, a frame capture while the interactive logon message is displayed returns a blank screen.

An NvFBC session can capture screen updates that occur after the session is created. Before the logon message appears, there is no screen update after the message is shown and, therefore, a black screen is returned instead. If the NvFBC session is created after this update has occurred, NvFBC cannot get a frame to capture.

Workaround

Press Enter or wait for the screen to update for NvFBC to capture the frame.

Status

Not a bug

Ref. #

2115733

6.3. Cloned VMs configured with a vGPU type different than the type in the master image fail to start

Description

Cloned VMs configured with a vGPU type different than the type in the master image fail to start.

When a Windows 10 VM is booted, the VM becomes stuck in a loop and alternately displays Getting devices ready: 50% and Preparation in progress.

Workaround

Create one master image for each vGPU type that you want to use. Do not attempt to configure a cloned VM with a vGPU type different than the type in the master image.

Status

Not an NVIDIA bug

Ref. #

2285306

6.4. Since 6.2: View session freezes intermittently after a Linux VM acquires a license

Description

In a Linux VM, the view session can sometimes freeze after the VM acquires a license.

Version

Since NVIDIA vGPU software 6.2

Workaround

Resize the view session.

Status

Open

Ref. #

200426961

6.5. Suspending and resuming a VM configured with vGPU can cause errors

Description

If the guest VM graphics driver comes from an older release of NVIDIA vGPU software than the Virtual GPU Manager, suspending and resuming a VM configured with vGPU causes one of the following sets of errors depending on the guest OS:
  • Windows: XID error 43, a TDR, and a VM crash
  • Linux: XID error 13 and XID error 69

Workaround

Ensure that the guest VM graphics driver and the Virtual GPU Manager come from the same release of NVIDIA vGPU software.

Status

Open

Ref. #

200426078

6.6. Even when the scheduling policy is equal share, unequal GPU utilization is reported

Description

When the scheduling policy is equal share, unequal GPU engine utilization can be reported for the vGPUs on the same physical GPU.

For example, GPU engine usage for three P40-8Q vGPUs on a Tesla P40 GPU might be reported as follows:

[root@localhost:~] nvidia-smi vgpu
Wed Jun 27 10:33:18 2018
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 390.59                 Driver Version: 390.59                    |
|-------------------------------+--------------------------------+------------+
| GPU  Name                     | Bus-Id                         | GPU-Util   |
|      vGPU ID    Name          | VM ID    VM Name               | vGPU-Util  |
|===============================+================================+============|
|   0  Tesla P40                | 00000000:81:00.0               |  52%       |
|      2122661    GRID P40-8Q   | 2122682  centos7.4-xmpl-211... |     19%    |
|      2122663    GRID P40-8Q   | 2122692  centos7.4-xmpl-211... |      0%    |
|      2122659    GRID P40-8Q   | 2122664  centos7.4-xmpl-211... |     25%    |
+-------------------------------+--------------------------------+------------+
|   1  Tesla P40                | 00000000:85:00.0               |  58%       |
|      2122662    GRID P40-8Q   | 2122689  centos7.4-xmpl-211... |      0%    |
|      2122658    GRID P40-8Q   | 2122667  centos7.4-xmpl-211... |     59%    |
|      2122660    GRID P40-8Q   | 2122670  centos7.4-xmpl-211... |      0%    |
+-------------------------------+--------------------------------+------------+

The vGPU utilization of the vGPU 2122658 is reported as 59%. However, the expected vGPU utilization should not exceed 33%.

This behavior is a result of the mechanism that is used to measure GPU engine utilization.

Status

Open

Ref. #

2175888

6.7. When the scheduling policy is fixed share, GPU utilization is reported as higher than expected

Description

When the scheduling policy is fixed share, GPU engine utilization can be reported as higher than expected for a vGPU.

For example, GPU engine usage for six P40-4Q vGPUs on a Tesla P40 GPU might be reported as follows:

[root@localhost:~] nvidia-smi vgpu
Mon Aug 20 10:33:18 2018
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 390.42                 Driver Version: 390.42                    |
|-------------------------------+--------------------------------+------------+
| GPU  Name                     | Bus-Id                         | GPU-Util   |
|      vGPU ID    Name          | VM ID    VM Name               | vGPU-Util  |
|===============================+================================+============|
|   0  Tesla P40                | 00000000:81:00.0               |  99%       |
|      85109      GRID P40-4Q   | 85110    win7-xmpl-146048-1    |     32%    |
|      87195      GRID P40-4Q   | 87196    win7-xmpl-146048-2    |     39%    |
|      88095      GRID P40-4Q   | 88096    win7-xmpl-146048-3    |     26%    |
|      89170      GRID P40-4Q   | 89171    win7-xmpl-146048-4    |      0%    |
|      90475      GRID P40-4Q   | 90476    win7-xmpl-146048-5    |      0%    |
|      93363      GRID P40-4Q   | 93364    win7-xmpl-146048-6    |      0%    |
+-------------------------------+--------------------------------+------------+
|   1  Tesla P40                | 00000000:85:00.0               |   0%       |
+-------------------------------+--------------------------------+------------+

The vGPU utilization of vGPU 85109 is reported as 32%. For vGPU 87195, vGPU utilization is reported as 39%. And for 88095, it is reported as 26%. However, the expected vGPU utilization of any vGPU should not exceed approximately 16.7%.

This behavior is a result of the mechanism that is used to measure GPU engine utilization.

Status

Open

Ref. #

2227591

6.8. No data displayed on NVIDIA dashboards in VMware vRealize Operations

Description

No data is displayed on NVIDIA dashboards in VMware vRealize Operations with the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Management Pack.

Data is not collected for any ESXi host that is identified by its host name when it is added to VMware vCenter Server. The connection to CIM provider from NVIDIA Virtual GPU Management Pack fails for such hosts because their host names cannot be resolved.

Workaround

When adding a host to VMware vCenter Server, specify its IP address instead of its host name.

Status

Open

Ref. #

200422318

6.9. Since 6.1: nvidia-smi reports that vGPU migration is supported on all hypervisors

Description

The command nvidia-smi vgpu -m shows that vGPU migration is supported on all hypervisors, even hypervisors or hypervisor versions that do not support vGPU migration.

Status

Closed

Ref. #

200407230

6.10. Screen resolution reverts to a lower value after a VM is rebooted

Description

When a VM is booted, the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver is initially unlicensed. Screen resolution is limited to a maximum of 1280×1024 until the VM requires a license for NVIDIA vGPU software. Because the higher resolutions are not available, the OS falls back to next available resolution in its mode list (for example, 1366×768) even if the resolution for the VM had previously been set to a higher value (for example, 1920×1080). After the license has been acquired, the OS does not attempt to set the resolution to a higher value.

This behavior is the expected behavior for licensed NVIDIA vGPU software products.

Workaround

Manually set the screen resolution to the required higher value after the VM has acquired the NVIDIA vGPU software license.

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software release 6.2.

Ref. #

2104867

6.11. 6.1 Only: Benign Calling load_byte_array(tra) messages are logged

Description

In Linux guest VMs, the following messages from the nvidia-gridd daemon are logged in /var/log/syslog:

May 21 18:36:39 test-HVM-domU nvidia-gridd: Started (657)
May 21 18:36:39 test-HVM-domU nvidia-gridd: Ignore Service Provider Licensing.
May 21 18:36:39 test-HVM-domU nvidia-gridd: Calling load_byte_array(tra)
May 21 18:36:41 test-HVM-domU nvidia-gridd: Acquiring license for GRID vGPU Edition.
May 21 18:36:41 test-HVM-domU nvidia-gridd: Calling load_byte_array(tra)
May 21 18:36:43 test-HVM-domU nvidia-gridd: License acquired successfully. Server URL : http://192.0.2.117:7070/request

Workaround

Ignore these messages as they are benign.

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software release 6.2.

Ref. #

200407382

6.12. GPU resources not available error during VMware instant clone provisioning

Description

A GPU resources not available error might occur during VMware instant clone provisioning. On Windows VMs, a Video TDR failure - NVLDDMKM.sys error causes a blue screen crash.

This error occurs when options for VMware Virtual Shared Graphics Acceleration (vSGA) are set for a VM that is configured with NVIDIA vGPU. VMware vSGA is a feature of VMware vSphere that enables multiple virtual machines to share the physical GPUs on ESXi hosts and can be used as an alternative to NVIDIA vGPU.

Depending on the combination of options set, one of the following error messages is seen when the VM is powered on:

  • Module ‘MKS’ power on failed.

    This message is seen when the following options are set:

    • Enable 3D support is selected.
    • 3D Renderer is set to Hardware
    • The graphics type of all GPUs on the ESXi host is Shared Direct.
  • Hardware GPU resources are not available. The virtual machine will use software rendering.

    This message is seen when the following options are set:

    • Enable 3D support is selected.
    • 3D Renderer is set to Automatic.
    • The graphics type of all GPUs on the ESXi host is Shared Direct.

Resolution

If you want to use NVIDIA vGPU, unset any options for VMware vSGA that are set for the VM.

  1. Ensure that the VM is powered off.
  2. Open the vCenter Web UI.
  3. In the vCenter Web UI, right-click the VM and choose Edit Settings.
  4. Click the Virtual Hardware tab.
  5. In the device list, expand the Video card node and de-select the Enable 3D support option.
  6. Start the VM.

Status

Not a bug

Ref. #

2369683

6.13. 6.0 Only: Suspending and Resuming a VM Configured with vGPU Fails

Description

Suspending and resuming a VM configured with vGPU fails if vGPU migration is not configured in NVIDIA vGPU software.

Resolution

Ensure that vGPU migration is configured in NVIDIA vGPU software to enable support for suspend and resume. For instructions, see Virtual GPU Software User Guide.

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software release 6.1, in which vGPU migration is enabled by default.

6.14. VMs with 32 GB or more of RAM fail to boot with GPUs requiring 64 GB of MMIO space

Description

VMs with 32 GB or more of RAM fail to boot with GPUs that require 64 GB of MMIO space. VMs boot successfully with RAM allocations of less than 32 GB.

The following GPUs require 64 GB of MMIO space:

  • Tesla P6
  • Tesla P40

Version

This issue affects the following versions of VMware vSphere ESXi:

  • 6.0 Update 3 and later updates
  • 6.5 and later updates

Workaround

If you want to use a VM with 32 GB or more of RAM with GPUs that require 64 GB of MMIO space, use this workaround:

  1. Create a VM to which less than 32 GB of RAM is allocated.

  2. Choose VM Options > Advanced and set pciPassthru.use64bitMMIO="TRUE".

  3. Allocate the required amount of RAM to the VM.

For more information, see VMware Knowledge Base Article: VMware vSphere VMDirectPath I/O: Requirements for Platforms and Devices (2142307).

Status

Not an NVIDIA bug

Resolved in VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7

Ref. #

2043171

6.15. Module load failed during VIB downgrade from R390 to R384

Description

Some registry keys are available only with the R390 Virtual GPU Manager, for example, NVreg_IgnoreMMIOCheck. If any keys that are available only with the R390 Virtual GPU Manager are set, the NVIDIA module fails to load after a downgrade from R390 to R384.

When nvidia-smi is run without any arguments to verify the installation, the following error message is displayed:

NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running.

Workaround

Before uninstalling the R390 VIB, clear all parameters of the nvidia module to remove any registry keys that are available only for the R390 Virtual GPU Manager.

# esxcli system module parameters set -p "" -m nvidia

Status

Not an NVIDIA bug

Ref. #

200366884

6.16. 6.0 Only: Issues in remote desktop sessions if a license is acquired after a session is started

Description

A VM might acquire a license for NVIDIA vGPU software after a remote desktop session has connected to the VM. In this situation, some licensed features and capabilities are not available to a properly licensed vGPU or pass-through GPU in the session. For example, the updated maximum resolution supported is not available.

Workaround

Before attempting this workaround, confirm that the VM has obtained the correct license for NVIDIA vGPU software.

  1. After installing the guest VM driver package and configuring required license settings on the VM (or on the master image used for VM deployment), set the IgnoreSP property to 1.

    • On Windows, add the following registry setting:

      [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\GridLicensing] 
      "IgnoreSP"=dword:00000001
    • On Linux, add the following setting to the file /etc/nvidia/gridd.conf:

      IgnoreSP=1
  2. Restart the VM.

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software release 6.1.

Ref. #

200391532

6.17. 6.0-6.2 Only: Licensing pop-up windows contain the text microsoft.explorer.notification

Description

On Windows 10 Creators Update (1703), licensing pop-up windows contain the text microsoft.explorer.notification.

Version

Windows 10 Creators Update (1703)

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software release 6.3

Ref. #

200346607

6.18. Resolution is not updated after a VM acquires a license and is restarted

Description

In a Red Enterprise Linux 7.3 guest VM, an increase in resolution from 1024×768 to 2560×1600 is not applied after a license is acquired and the gridd service is restarted. This issue occurs if the multimonitor parameter is added to the xorg.conf file.

Version

Red Enterprise Linux 7.3

Status

Open

Ref. #

200275925

6.19. On Tesla P40, P6, and P4 GPUs, the default ECC setting prevents NVIDIA vGPU from starting

Description

On Tesla P40, Tesla P6, and Tesla P4 GPUs, the default error-correcting code (ECC) memory setting prevents NVIDIA vGPU from starting. By default, ECC memory is enabled on these GPUs, but NVIDIA vGPU does not support ECC memory.

Workaround

Before running NVIDIA vGPU, disable ECC memory as explained in Virtual GPU Software User Guide.

Status

Closed.

Ref. #

200269717

6.20. Tesla P40 cannot be used in pass-through mode

Description

Pass-through mode on Tesla P40 GPUs and other GPUs based on the Pascal architecture does not work as expected. In some situations, after the VM is powered on, the guest OS crashes or fails to boot.

Workaround

Ensure that your GPUs are configured as described in Requirements for Using GPUs Based on the Pascal and Volta Architectures in Pass-Through Mode

Status

Not a bug

Ref. #

1944539

6.21. NVIDIA vGPU encoder and process utilization counters don't work with Windows Performance Counters

Description

GPU encoder and process utilization counter groups are listed in Windows Performance Counters, but no instances of the counters are available. The counters are disabled by default and must be enabled.

Workaround

Enable the counters by running the following sequence of commands from a command shell:

wmic /namespace:nv path System call enableProcessUtilizationPerfCounter
wmic /namespace:nv path System call enableEncoderSessionsPerfCounter

If you need to disable the counters, run the following sequence of commands from a command shell:

wmic /namespace:nv path System call disableProcessUtilizationPerfCounter
wmic /namespace:nv path System call disableEncoderSessionsPerfCounter

Status

Open

Ref. #

1971698

6.22. On Linux, 3D applications run slowly when windows are dragged

Description

When windows for 3D applications on Linux are dragged, the frame rate drops substantially and the application runs slowly.

This issue does not affect 2D applications.

Status

Open

Ref. #

1949482

6.23. A segmentation fault in DBus code causes nvidia-gridd to exit on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and CentOS

Description

On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.8 and 6.9, and CentOS 6.8 and 6.9, a segmentation fault in DBus code causes the nvidia-gridd service to exit.

The nvidia-gridd service uses DBus for communication with NVIDIA X Server Settings to display licensing information through the Manage License page. Disabling the GUI for licensing resolves this issue.

To prevent this issue, the GUI for licensing is disabled by default. You might encounter this issue if you have enabled the GUI for licensing and are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.8 or 6.9, or CentOS 6.8 and 6.9.

Version

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.8 and 6.9

CentOS 6.8 and 6.9

Status

Open

Ref. #

  • 200358191
  • 200319854
  • 1895945

6.24. No Manage License option available in NVIDIA X Server Settings by default

Description

By default, the Manage License option is not available in NVIDIA X Server Settings. This option is missing because the GUI for licensing on Linux is disabled by default to work around the issue that is described in A segmentation fault in DBus code causes nvidia-gridd to exit on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and CentOS.

Workaround

This workaround requires sudo privileges.

Note: Do not use this workaround with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.8 and 6.9 or CentOS 6.8 and 6.9. To prevent a segmentation fault in DBus code from causing the nvidia-gridd service from exiting, the GUI for licensing must be disabled with these OS versions.
  1. If NVIDIA X Server Settings is running, shut it down.
  2. If the /etc/nvidia/gridd.conf file does not already exist, create it by copying the supplied template file /etc/nvidia/gridd.conf.template.

  3. As root, edit the /etc/nvidia/gridd.conf file to set the EnableUI option to TRUE.

  4. Start the nvidia-gridd service.

    # sudo service nvidia-gridd start

When NVIDIA X Server Settings is restarted, the Manage License option is now available.

Status

Open

6.25. Licenses remain checked out when VMs are forcibly powered off

Description

NVIDIA vGPU software licenses remain checked out on the license server when non-persistent VMs are forcibly powered off.

The NVIDIA service running in a VM returns checked out licenses when the VM is shut down. In environments where non-persistent licensed VMs are not cleanly shut down, licenses on the license server can become exhausted. For example, this issue can occur in automated test environments where VMs are frequently changing and are not guaranteed to be cleanly shut down. The licenses from such VMs remain checked out against their MAC address for seven days before they time out and become available to other VMs.

Resolution

If VMs are routinely being powered off without clean shutdown in your environment, you can avoid this issue by shortening the license borrow period. To shorten the license borrow period, set the LicenseInterval configuration setting in your VM image. For details, refer to Virtual GPU Client Licensing User Guide.

Status

Closed

Ref. #

1694975

6.26. Memory exhaustion can occur with vGPU profiles that have 512 Mbytes or less of frame buffer

Description

Memory exhaustion can occur with vGPU profiles that have 512 Mbytes or less of frame buffer.

This issue typically occurs in the following situations:

  • Full screen 1080p video content is playing in a browser. In this situation, the session hangs and session reconnection fails.
  • Multiple display heads are used with Citrix XenDesktop or VMware Horizon on a Windows 10 guest VM.
  • Higher resolution monitors are used.
  • Applications that are frame-buffer intensive are used.
  • NVENC is in use.

To reduce the possibility of memory exhaustion, NVENC is disabled on profiles that have 512 Mbytes or less of frame buffer.

When memory exhaustion occurs, the NVIDIA host driver reports Xid error 31 and Xid error 43 in the VMware vSphere log file vmware.log in the guest VM’s storage directory.

The following vGPU profiles have 512 Mbytes or less of frame buffer:

  • Tesla M6-0B, M6-0Q
  • Tesla M10-0B, M10-0Q
  • Tesla M60-0B, M60-0Q

The root cause is a known issue associated with changes to the way that recent Microsoft operating systems handle and allow access to overprovisioning messages and errors. If your systems are provisioned with enough frame buffer to support your use cases, you should not encounter these issues.

Workaround

  • Use an appropriately sized vGPU to ensure that the frame buffer supplied to a VM through the vGPU is adequate for your workloads.
  • Monitor your frame buffer usage.
  • If you are using Windows 10, consider these workarounds and solutions:

Status

Open

Ref. #

  • 200130864
  • 1803861

6.27. vGPU VM fails to boot in ESXi 6.5 if the graphics type is Shared

Description

Note: If vSGA is being used, this issue shouldn't be encountered and changing the default graphics type is not necessary.

On VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 6.5, after vGPU is configured, VMs to which a vGPU is assigned may fail to start and the following error message may be displayed:

The amount of graphics resource available in the parent resource pool is insufficient for the operation.

The vGPU Manager VIB provides vSGA and vGPU functionality in a single VIB. After this VIB is installed, the default graphics type is Shared, which provides vSGA functionality. To enable vGPU support for VMs in VMware vSphere 6.5, you must change the default graphics type to Shared Direct. If you do not change the default graphics type you will encounter this issue.

Version

VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 6.5

Workaround

Change the default graphics type to Shared Direct as explained in Virtual GPU Software User Guide.

Status

Open

Ref. #

200256224

6.28. ESXi 6.5 web client shows high memory usage even when VMs are idle

Description

On VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 6.5, the web client shows a memory usage alarm with critical severity for VMs to which a vGPU is attached even when the VMs are idle. When memory usage is monitored from inside the VM, no memory usage alarm is shown. The web client does not show a memory usage alarm for the same VMs without an attached vGPU.

Version

VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 6.5

Workaround

Avoid using the VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 6.5 web client to monitor memory usage for VMs to which a vGPU is attached.

Status

Not an NVIDIA bug

Ref. #

200191065

6.29. VMs configured with NVIDIA vGPU must not be on a host in a VMware DRS cluster

Description

The ESXi host on which VMs configured with NVIDIA vGPU reside must not be a member of a VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) cluster. The installer for the NVIDIA driver for NVIDIA vGPU software cannot locate the NVIDIA vGPU software GPU card on a host in a VMware DRS Cluster. Any attempt to install the driver on a VM on a host in a DRS cluster fails with the following error:

NVIDIA Installer cannot continue
This graphics driver could not find compatible graphics hardware.

Furthermore, you cannot overcome this limitation by configuring a VM with NVIDIA vGPU and installing the driver on the VM on a host outside a DRS cluster and moving the host into the DRS cluster after configuring it.

Workaround

Move each VM configured with NVIDIA vGPU to a host outside the DRS cluster.

  1. Remove NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager from the host in the DRS cluster.
  2. Create a cluster of VMware ESXi hosts outside the DRS domain.
  3. Install the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager on an ESXi host in the cluster that you created in the previous step.
  4. Create a vSphere VM for use with NVIDIA vGPU.
  5. Configure the vSphere VM with NVIDIA vGPU.
  6. Boot the vSphere VM and install the NVIDIA driver for NVIDIA vGPU.

For instructions for performing these tasks, refer to Virtual GPU Software User Guide.

Status

Open

Ref. #

1933449

6.30. GNOME Display Manager (GDM) fails to start on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 and CentOS 7.0

Description

GDM fails to start on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 and CentOS 7.0 with the following error:

Oh no! Something has gone wrong!

Workaround

Permanently enable permissive mode for Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux).

  1. As root, edit the /etc/selinux/config file to set SELINUX to permissive.
    SELINUX=permissive
  2. Reboot the system.
    ~]# reboot

For more information, see Permissive Mode in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 SELinux User's and Administrator's Guide.

Status

Not an NVIDIA bug

Ref. #

200167868

6.31. NVIDIA Control Panel fails to start and reports that “you are not currently using a display that is attached to an Nvidia GPU”

Description

When you launch NVIDIA Control Panel on a VM configured with vGPU, it fails to start and reports that you are not using a display attached to an NVIDIA GPU. This happens because Windows is using VMware’s SVGA device instead of NVIDIA vGPU.

Fix

Make NVIDIA vGPU the primary display adapter.

Use Windows screen resolution control panel to make the second display, identified as “2” and corresponding to NVIDIA vGPU, to be the active display and select the Show desktop only on 2 option. Click Apply to accept the configuration.

You may need to click on the Detect button for Windows to recognize the display connected to NVIDIA vGPU.

Note: If the VMware Horizon/View agent is installed in the VM, the NVIDIA GPU is automatically selected in preference to the SVGA device.

Status

Open

Ref. #

6.32. VM configured with more than one vGPU fails to initialize vGPU when booted

Description

Using the current VMware vCenter user interface, it is possible to configure a VM with more than one vGPU device. When booted, the VM boots in VMware SVGA mode and doesn’t load the NVIDIA driver. The additional vGPU devices are present in Windows Device Manager but display a warning sign, and the following device status:

Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)

Workaround

NVIDIA vGPU currently supports a single virtual GPU device per VM. Remove any additional vGPUs from the VM configuration before booting the VM.

Status

Open

Ref. #

6.33. A VM configured with both a vGPU and a passthrough GPU fails to start the passthrough GPU

Description

Using the current VMware vCenter user interface, it is possible to configure a VM with a vGPU device and a passthrough (direct path) GPU device. This is not a currently supported configuration for vGPU. The passthrough GPU appears in Windows Device Manager with a warning sign, and the following device status:

Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)

Workaround

Do not assign vGPU and passthrough GPUs to a VM simultaneously.

Status

Open

Ref. #

1735002

6.34. vGPU allocation policy fails when multiple VMs are started simultaneously

Description

If multiple VMs are started simultaneously, vSphere may not adhere to the placement policy currently in effect. For example, if the default placement policy (breadth-first) is in effect, and 4 physical GPUs are available with no resident vGPUs, then starting 4 VMs simultaneously should result in one vGPU on each GPU. In practice, more than one vGPU may end up resident on a GPU.

Workaround

Start VMs individually.

Status

Not an NVIDIA bug

Ref. #

200042690

6.35. Before Horizon agent is installed inside a VM, the Start menu’s sleep option is available

Description

When a VM is configured with a vGPU, the Sleep option remains available in the Windows Start menu. Sleep is not supported on vGPU and attempts to use it will lead to undefined behavior.

Workaround

Do not use Sleep with vGPU.

Installing the VMware Horizon agent will disable the Sleep option.

Status

Closed

Ref. #

200043405

6.36. vGPU-enabled VMs fail to start, nvidia-smi fails when VMs are configured with too high a proportion of the server’s memory.

Description

If vGPU-enabled VMs are assigned too high a proportion of the server’s total memory, the following errors occur:

  • One or more of the VMs may fail to start with the following error:
    The available Memory resources in the parent resource pool are insufficient for the operation
  • When run in the host shell, the nvidia-smi utility returns this error:
    -sh: can't fork

For example, on a server configured with 256G of memory, these errors may occur if vGPU-enabled VMs are assigned more than 243G of memory.

Workaround

Reduce the total amount of system memory assigned to the VMs.

Status

Closed

Ref. #

200060499

6.37. On reset or restart VMs fail to start with the error VMIOP: no graphics device is available for vGPU…

Description

On a system running a maximal configuration, that is, with the maximum number of vGPU VMs the server can support, some VMs might fail to start post a reset or restart operation.

Fix

Upgrade to ESXi 6.0 Update 1.

Status

Closed

Ref. #

200097546

6.38. nvidia-smi shows high GPU utilization for vGPU VMs with active Horizon sessions

Description

vGPU VMs with an active Horizon connection utilize a high percentage of the GPU on the ESXi host. The GPU utilization remains high for the duration of the Horizon session even if there are no active applications running on the VM.

Workaround

None

Status

Open

Partially resolved for Horizon 7.0.1:

  • For Blast connections, GPU utilization is no longer high.
  • For PCoIP connections, utilization remains high.

Ref. #

1735009

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