New Features in Release 9.0

• NVIDIA Virtual Compute Server () vGPUs for artificial intelligence, deep learning, and high-performance computing workloads
• Support for multiple vGPUs in a single VM (requires release 6.7 Update 3)
• Error correcting code (ECC) memory support
• Page retirement support
• Configurable times slices for equal share schedulers and fixed share schedulers
• New configuration parameter to specify host ID of a licensed client
• Miscellaneous bug fixes

Hardware and Software Support Introduced in Release 9.0

• Support for Windows 10 May 2019 Update (1903) as a guest OS
• Support for VMware Horizon 7.9

Feature Support Withdrawn in Release 9.0

• VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0 is no longer supported.

New Features in Release 9.1

• Support for NVIDIA Virtual Compute Server vGPUs on the following GPUs:
  • Quadro RTX 6000
  • Quadro RTX 8000
• Security updates
• Miscellaneous bug fixes

New Features in Release 9.2

• Miscellaneous bug fixes
• Security updates
• Limitation on the maximum number of NVIDIA Virtual Compute Server vGPUs to eight vGPUs per physical GPU, irrespective of the available hardware resources of the physical GPU

Hardware and Software Support Introduced in Release 9.2

• Support for VMware Horizon 7.10

New Features in Release 9.3

• Miscellaneous bug fixes
• Security updates (see Security Bulletin: NVIDIA GPU Display Driver - February 2020)

Hardware and Software Support Introduced in Release 9.3

• Support for VMware Horizon 7.12 and 7.11

Feature Support Withdrawn in Release 9.3

• The following OS releases are no longer supported as a guest OS:
  • Windows Server 2008 R2
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0-7.4
  • CentOS 7.0-7.4

New Features in Release 9.4

• Miscellaneous bug fixes
• Security updates - see Security Bulletin: NVIDIA GPU Display Driver - June 2020

Hardware and Software Support Introduced in Release 9.4

• Support for the following OS releases as a guest OS:
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.8
  • CentOS 7.8

Feature Support Withdrawn in Release 9.4

• The following OS releases are no longer supported as a guest OS:
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5
  • CentOS 7.5

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

• GPUs based on the NVIDIA Maxwell™ graphic architecture:
  • Tesla M6 (vCS is not supported.)
  • Tesla M10 (vCS is not supported.)
  • Tesla M60 (vCS is not supported.)
• GPUs based on the NVIDIA Pascal™ architecture:
  • Tesla P4
  • Tesla P6
  • Tesla P40
  • Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (vSGA, vMotion with vGPU, and suspend-resume with vGPU are not supported.)
  • Tesla P100 SXM2 16 GB (vSGA, vMotion with vGPU, and suspend-resume with vGPU are not supported.)
  • Tesla P100 PCIe 12GB (vSGA, vMotion with vGPU, and suspend-resume with vGPU are not supported.)
• GPUs based on the NVIDIA Volta architecture:
  • Tesla V100 SXM2 (vSGA is not supported.)
  • Tesla V100 SXM2 32GB (vSGA is not supported.)
  • Tesla V100 PCIe (vSGA is not supported.)
  • Tesla V100 PCIe 32GB (vSGA is not supported.)
  • Tesla V100 FHHL (vSGA is not supported.)
• GPUs based on the NVIDIA Turing™ architecture:
  • Tesla T4 (vSGA is not supported.)
  • Quadro RTX 6000 in displayless mode (GRID Virtual PC and GRID Virtual Applications are not supported. vSGA is not supported. vCS is supported only since release 9.1.)
  • Quadro RTX 8000 in displayless mode (GRID Virtual PC and GRID Virtual Applications are not supported. vSGA is not supported. vCS is supported only since release 9.1.)

In displayless mode, local physical display connectors are disabled.

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

Requirements for Using C-Series vCS vGPUs

Because C-Series vCS vGPUs have large BAR memory settings, using these vGPUs has some restrictions on VMware ESXi:

• The guest OS must be a 64-bit OS.
• 64-bit MMIO and EFI boot must be enabled for the VM.
• The guest OS must be able to be installed in EFI boot mode.
• The VM’s MMIO space must be increased to 64 GB as explained in VMware Knowledge Base Article: VMware vSphere VMDirectPath I/O: Requirements for Platforms and Devices (2142307).
• Because the VM’s MMIO space must be increased to 64 GB, vCS requires ESXi 6.0 Update 3 and later, or ESXi 6.5 and later.

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
• Tesla P100 (all variants)
• Tesla V100 (all variants)

Requirements for Using GPUs Requiring Large MMIO Space in Pass-Through Mode

• The following GPUs require 32 GB of MMIO space in pass-through mode:
  • Tesla V100 (all 16GB variants)
  • Tesla P100 (all variants)
  • Tesla P6
• The following GPUs require 64 GB of MMIO space in pass-through mode.
  • Tesla V100 (all 32GB variants)
  • Tesla P40
• Pass through of GPUs with large BAR memory settings has some restrictions on VMware ESXi:
  • The guest OS must be a 64-bit OS.
  • 64-bit MMIO must be enabled for the VM.
  • If the total BAR1 memory exceeds 256 Mbytes, EFI boot must be enabled for the VM.
    Note: To determine the total BAR1 memory, run nvidia-smi -q on the host.
  • The guest OS must be able to be installed in EFI boot mode.
  • The Tesla V100, Tesla P100, and Tesla P6 require ESXi 6.0 Update 1 and later, or ESXi 6.5 and later.
  • Because it requires 64 GB of MMIO space, the Tesla P40 requires ESXi 6.0 Update 3 and later, or ESXi 6.5 and later.

    As a result, the VM’s MMIO space must be increased to 64 GB as explained in VMware Knowledge Base Article: VMware vSphere VMDirectPath I/O: Requirements for Platforms and Devices (2142307).

Linux Only: Error Messages for Misconfigured GPUs Requiring Large MMIO Space

In a Linux VM, if the requirements for using C-Series vCS vGPUs or GPUs requiring large MMIO space in pass-through mode are not met, the following error messages are written to the VM's dmesg log during installation of the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver:

NVRM: BAR1 is 0M @ 0x0 (PCI:0000:02:02.0)
[  90.823015] NVRM: The system BIOS may have misconfigured your GPU.
[  90.823019] nvidia: probe of 0000:02:02.0 failed with error -1
[  90.823031] NVRM: The NVIDIA probe routine failed for 1 device(s).

Supported VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) Releases

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

Supported Management Software and Virtual Desktop Software Releases

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

Supported vGPUs

Only Q-series and C-series vGPUs that are allocated all of the physical GPU's frame buffer are supported.

Maximum vGPUs per VM

NVIDIA vGPU software supports up to a maximum of four vGPUs per VM on VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi).

Supported Hypervisor Releases

VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) release 6.7 U3 and later compatible updates only.

If you upgraded to VMware vSphere 6.7 Update 3 from an earlier version and are using VMs that were created with that version, change the VM compatibility to vSphere 6.7 Update 2 and later. For details, see Virtual Machine Compatibility in the VMware documentation.

Supported vGPUs

Only Q-series and C-series vGPUs that are allocated all of the physical GPU's frame buffer on physical GPUs that support NVLink are supported.

Supported Hypervisor Releases

Peer-to-Peer CUDA Transfers over NVLink are supported on all hypervisor releases that support the assignment of more than one vGPU to a VM. For details, see Multiple vGPU Support.

Supported Guest OS Releases

Linux only. Peer-to-Peer CUDA Transfers over NVLink are not supported on Windows.

Limitations

• Only direct connections are supported. NVSwitch is not supported.
• PCIe is not supported.
• SLI is not supported.

Description

Issues occur when the channels allocated to a vGPU are exhausted and the guest VM to which the vGPU is assigned fails to allocate a channel to the vGPU. A physical GPU has a fixed number of channels and the number of channels allocated to each vGPU is inversely proportional to the maximum number of vGPUs allowed on the physical GPU.

When the channels allocated to a vGPU are exhausted and the guest VM fails to allocate a channel, the following errors are reported on the hypervisor host or in an NVIDIA bug report:

Jun 26 08:01:25 srvxen06f vgpu-3[14276]: error: vmiop_log: (0x0): Guest attempted to allocate channel above its max channel limit 0xfb
Jun 26 08:01:25 srvxen06f vgpu-3[14276]: error: vmiop_log: (0x0): VGPU message 6 failed, result code: 0x1a
Jun 26 08:01:25 srvxen06f vgpu-3[14276]: error: vmiop_log: (0x0):         0xc1d004a1, 0xff0e0000, 0xff0400fb, 0xc36f,
Jun 26 08:01:25 srvxen06f vgpu-3[14276]: error: vmiop_log: (0x0):         0x1, 0xff1fe314, 0xff1fe038, 0x100b6f000, 0x1000,
Jun 26 08:01:25 srvxen06f vgpu-3[14276]: error: vmiop_log: (0x0):         0x80000000, 0xff0e0200, 0x0, 0x0, (Not logged),
Jun 26 08:01:25 srvxen06f vgpu-3[14276]: error: vmiop_log: (0x0):         0x1, 0x0
Jun 26 08:01:25 srvxen06f vgpu-3[14276]: error: vmiop_log: (0x0): , 0x0

Workaround

Use a vGPU type with more frame buffer, thereby reducing the maximum number of vGPUs allowed on the physical GPU. As a result, the number of channels allocated to each vGPU is increased.

Description

Issues may occur when graphics-intensive OpenCL applications are used with vGPU types that have limited frame buffer. These issues occur when the applications demand more frame buffer than is allocated to the vGPU.

For example, these issues may occur with the Adobe Photoshop and LuxMark OpenCL Benchmark applications:

• When the image resolution and size are changed in Adobe Photoshop, a program error may occur or Photoshop may display a message about a problem with the graphics hardware and a suggestion to disable OpenCL.
• When the LuxMark OpenCL Benchmark application is run, XID error 31 may occur.

Workaround

For graphics-intensive OpenCL applications, use a vGPU type with more frame buffer.

Description

In pass through mode, all GPUs connected to each other through NVLink must be assigned to the same VM. If a subset of GPUs connected to each other through NVLink is passed through to a VM, unrecoverable error XID 74 occurs when the VM is booted. This error corrupts the NVLink state on the physical GPUs and, as a result, the NVLink bridge between the GPUs is unusable.

Workaround

Restore the NVLink state on the physical GPUs by resetting the GPUs or rebooting the hypervisor host.

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.

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.

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 Virtual Apps and Desktops is used with a Windows 7 guest OS, a blue screen crash may occur. However, support for vDGA is not affected by this limitation.

2016-10-27T04:36:21.128Z cpu74:70210)DMA: 1935: Unable to perform element mapping: DMA mapping could not be completed
2016-10-27T04:36:21.128Z cpu74:70210)Failed to DMA map address 0x118d296c000 (0x4000): Can't meet address mask of the device..
2016-10-27T04:36:21.128Z cpu74:70210)NVRM: VM: nv_alloc_contig_pages: failed to allocate memory

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.

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.

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.

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.

   

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.

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

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.

Description

If NVIDIA licensing information is not configured on the system, any attempt to start NVIDIA Control Panel by right-clicking on the desktop within 30 seconds of the VM being started fails.

Workaround

Wait at least 30 seconds before trying to launch NVIDIA Control Panel.

Status

Open

Ref. #

200623179

Description

If VMware Horizon is used to connect to a VM after the VM is restarted or shut down and started again, displays are not driven by NVIDIA vGPU and only the Manage License page is available in NVIDIA Control Panel.

Workaround

Disconnect and reconnect or log off and log on again.

Status

Open

Ref. #

200617537

Description

On a Linux VM configured with a -1Q vGPU, one 4K display, and VMware Horizon 7.12, the VMware Horizon session might become unresponsive after a switch from large screen (windowed) to full screen. When this issue occurs, the VMware vSphere VM’s log file contains the error message Unable to set requested topology.

Version

This issue affects deployments that use VMware Horizon 7.12.

Workaround

Use VMware Horizon 7.11.

Status

Open

Ref. #

200617112

Description

On a Linux VM configured with a -1Q vGPU, two 4K displays, and VMware Horizon 7.12, the VMware Horizon session might become unresponsive. When this issue occurs, the VMware vSphere VM’s log file contains the error message Failed to setup capture session (error 8). Unable to allocate video memory.

Version

This issue affects deployments that use VMware Horizon 7.12.

Workaround

Use VMware Horizon 7.11 or a vGPU with more frame buffer.

Status

Open

Ref. #

200617081

Description

Windows or Linux VMs might hang while users are performing multiple resize operations. This issue occurs with VMware Horizon 7.10 or later versions. This issue is caused by a race condition, which leads to deadlock that causes the VM to hang.

Version

This issue affects deployments that use VMware Horizon 7.10 or later versions.

Workaround

Use VMware Horizon 7.9 or an earlier supported version.

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software 9.4

Ref. #

2852349

Description

Desktop Windows Manager (DWM) crashes randomly occur in Windows VMs, causing a blue-screen crash and the bug check CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED. Computer Management shows problems with the primary display device.

Version

This issue affects Windows 10 1809, 1903 and 1909 VMs.

Status

Not an NVIDIA bug

Ref. #

2730037

Description

When a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops session that is locked is unlocked by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del, the session freezes. This issue affects only VMs that are running Microsoft Windows 10 1809 as a guest OS.

Version

Microsoft Windows 10 1809 guest OS

Workaround

Restart the VM.

Status

Not an NVIDIA bug

Ref. #

2767012

Description

After the Linux kernel is upgraded (for example by running sudo apt full-upgrade) with Dynamic Kernel Module Support (DKMS) enabled, the nvidia-smi command fails to run. If DKMS is enabled, an upgrade to the Linux kernel triggers a rebuild of the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver. The rebuild of the driver fails because the compiler version is incorrect. Any attempt to reinstall the driver fails because the kernel fails to build.

When the failure occurs, the following messages are displayed:

-> Installing DKMS kernel module:
        ERROR: Failed to run `/usr/sbin/dkms build -m nvidia -v  430.30 -k 5.3.0-28-generic`: 
        Kernel preparation unnecessary for this kernel. Skipping...
        Building module:
        cleaning build area...
        'make' -j8 NV_EXCLUDE_BUILD_MODULES='' KERNEL_UNAME=5.3.0-28-generic IGNORE_CC_MISMATCH='' modules...(bad exit status: 2)
        ERROR (dkms apport): binary package for nvidia:  430.30 not found
        Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 5.3.0-28-generic (x86_64)
        Consult /var/lib/dkms/nvidia/ 430.30/build/make.log for more information.
        -> error.
        ERROR: Failed to install the kernel module through DKMS. No kernel module was installed;
        please try installing again without DKMS, or check the DKMS logs for more information.
        ERROR: Installation has failed. Please see the file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log' for details.
        You may find suggestions on fixing installation problems in the README available on the Linux driver download page at www.nvidia.com.

Workaround

When installing the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver with DKMS enabled, specify the --no-cc-version-check option.

Status

Not a bug.

Ref. #

2836271

Description

During installation of the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux or CentOS 6 guest VM, a kernel panic occurs, and the VM hangs and cannot be rebooted. This issue is observed on older Linux kernels when the NVIDIA device is using message-signaled interrupts (MSIs).

Version

This issue affects the following guest OS releases:

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

Workaround

1. Disable MSI in the guest VM to fall back to INTx interrupts by adding the following line to the file /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf:

   options nvidia NVreg_EnableMSI=0

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

2. Install the NVIDIA vGPU Software graphics driver in the guest VM.

Status

Closed

Ref. #

200556896

Description

If a VM is migrated while the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver is being installed in the VM and the driver is not yet loaded in the VM, a subsequent reboot after VM migration causes a purple screen crash on the ESXi server.

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software 9.2.

Ref. #

200552268

Description

In some scenarios with heavy workloads running on multiple VMs configured with NVIDIA vGPUs on a single pysical GPU, additional VMs configured with NVIDIA vGPU on the same GPU fail to boot. The failure of the VM to boot is followed by failed assertions. This issue affects GPUs based on the NVIDIA Volta GPU architecture and later architectures.

When this error occurs, error messages similar to the following examples are logged to the VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) log file:

nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: NVOS status 0x1e
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: Assertion Failed at 0xb2d3e4d7:96
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: 12 frames returned by backtrace
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: /usr/lib64/libnvidia-vgpu.so(_nv003956vgpu+0x18) [0x7f4bb2cfb338]  vmiop_dump_stack
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: /usr/lib64/libnvidia-vgpu.so(_nv004018vgpu+0xd4) [0x7f4bb2d09ce4]  vmiopd_alloc_pb_channel 
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: /usr/lib64/libnvidia-vgpu.so(_nv002878vgpu+0x137) [0x7f4bb2d3e4d7] vgpufceInitCopyEngine_GK104
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: /usr/lib64/libnvidia-vgpu.so(+0x80e27) [0x7f4bb2cd0e27]
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: /usr/lib64/libnvidia-vgpu.so(+0x816a7) [0x7f4bb2cd16a7]
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: vgpu() [0x413820]
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: vgpu() [0x413a8d]
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: vgpu() [0x40e11f]
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: vgpu() [0x40bb69]
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: vgpu() [0x40b51c]
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: /lib64/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0x100) [0x7f4bb2feed20]
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: vgpu() [0x4033ea]
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: (0x0): Alloc Channel(Gpfifo) for device failed error: 0x1e
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: (0x0): Failed to allocate FCE channel
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: (0x0): init_device_instance failed for inst 0 with error 2 (init frame copy engine)
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: (0x0): Initialization: init_device_instance failed error 2
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_log: display_init failed for inst: 0
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_env_log: (0x0): vmiope_process_configuration: plugin registration error
nvidia-vgpu-mgr[31526]: error: vmiop_env_log: (0x0): vmiope_process_configuration failed with 0x1a
kernel: [858113.083773] [nvidia-vgpu-vfio] ace3f3bb-17d8-4587-920e-199b8fed532d: start failed. status: 0x1

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software 9.2.

Ref. #

2644858

Description

If a VM configured with NVIDIA vGPU software 9.2 is migrated to a host running any other release, such as 9.1 or 9.0, the migration fails and the VM crashes.

This issue does not occur if both source and destination host are running NVIDIA vGPU software 9.2.

When the failure occurs, the following errors messages are written to the log files on the destination host:

Encountered a migration data block of unsupported version. Failing.
Migration Ended

Workaround

If you are migrating a VM configured with NVIDIA vGPU software release 9.2, ensure that the destination host is also running NVIDIA vGPU software release 9.2.

Status

Open

Ref. #

200564917

Description

Users' Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops sessions can sometimes freeze randomly with error XID 31.

This issue is accompanied by error messages similar to the following examples (in which line breaks are added for readability):

Sep  4 22:55:22 localhost kernel: [14684.571644] 
NVRM: Xid (PCI:0000:84:00): 31, Ch 000000f0, engmask 00000111, intr 10000000. 
MMU Fault: ENGINE GRAPHICS HUBCLIENT_SKED faulted @ 0x2_1e4a0000. 
Fault is of type FAULT_PDE ACCESS_TYPE_WRITE

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software 9.2

Ref. #

2678149

Description

Some servers, for example, the Dell R740, do not configure SR-IOV capability if the SR-IOV SBIOS setting is disabled on the server. If the SR-IOV SBIOS setting is disabled on such a server that is being used with the Tesla T4 GPU, VMware vSphere ESXi enumerates the Tesla T4 as 32 separate GPUs. In this state, you cannot use the GPU to configure a VM with NVIDIA vGPU or for GPU pass through.

Workaround

Ensure that the SR-IOV SBIOS setting is enabled on the server.

Status

Open

Ref. #

2697051

Description

This issue occurs only with the following combination of releases of guest VM graphics driver, vGPU manager on the source host, and vGPU manager on the destination host:

Workaround

Unexpected migration data block encountered.

1. On the host that is running vGPU Manager 9.1, set the registry key RMSetVGPUVersionMax to 0x30001.
2. Start the VM.
3. Confirm that the vGPU version in the log files is 0x30001.

   2020-06-12T10:19:05.420Z| vthread-2142280| I125: vmiop_log: vGPU version: 0x30001

The VM can now be migrated.

Status

Not a bug

Ref. #

200533827

Description

Workaround

Ensure that ECC memory is disabled on Tesla M60 and Tesla M6 GPUs. For more information, see 9.0, 9.1 Only: Virtual GPU fails to start if ECC is enabled.

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software 9.2

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.

If ECC memory is enabled and your GPU does not support ECC, 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.

Workaround

If you are using Tesla M60 or Tesla M6 GPUs, 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.

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software 9.2

Description

When VMware vSphere VMs are configured with vSGA, a purple screen crash occurs when the ESXi hypervisor host is booted. This issue occurs only if VMs are configured with vSGA, 3D settings are enabled on the VMs, and the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver is installed in the VMs. If VMs are configured with NVIDIA vGPU, 3D settings are disabled on the VMs, or the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver is not installed in the VMs, this issue does not occur.

When the purple screen crash occurs, the hypervisor host displays a stack trace similar to the following example.

VMware ESXi 6.7.0 [Releasebuild-13981272 x86_641
IOMMU Fault detected for 0000:07:00.0 (vmgfx2/nvidia) IOaddr: 0x6675847000 Mask: 0x5 Domain: 0x43066aebd1d0.
NOTE: Backtrace likely does not yield the culprit.
cr0=0x8001003d cr2=0x21icff9ffe0 cr3=00x7bab9000 cr4=0x10216c
*PCPU15:2097347/HELPER_MISC_QUEUE
PCPU  0: VSVVVVVVVSUUSVVSSSSUVVVVVVVUVSVSVSUUVVVSVSUSSVUVVSVSVVSSV
Code start: 0x416803ae00000 VMK uptime: 37:23:27:11.564
0x451a8619bd56: (0x41803af0ba15]PanicvPanicInt@vmkernel#tnover+0x439 stack: 0x0
0x451a8619bdf6: (0x41803af0bc48]Panic_NoSave@vmkernelfnover+00x4d stack: 0x451a8619be50
0x451a8619be56: (0x41803aef38d5]IOMMUProcessF au 1ts@vmkernel#tnover +0x38e stack: 0x5
0x451a8619bf30: (0x41803aeeb03a]HelperQueveFunc@vmkerne1#nover+0x157 stack: 0x4306fc6600b8
0x451a8619bfeD: (0x41803b10e322]CpuSched_StartWorld@vmkernel#nover+0x77 stack: 0x0
base fs=0x@ gs=0x418043c00000 Kgs=0x0
Coredump to disk. Slot 1 of 1 on device mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0:9.
VASpace (08/14)

Version

NVIDIA vGPU software 9.0 only

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software 9.1

Ref. #

200538428

Description

VMware vCenter shows some physical GPUs as having 0.0 B of available GPU memory. VMs that have been assigned vGPUs on the affected physical GPUs cannot be booted. The nvidia-smi command shows the same physical GPUs as having some GPU memory available.

Workaround

Stop and restart the Xorg service and nv-hostengine on the ESXi host.

1. Stop all running VM instances on the host.

2. Stop the Xorg service.

   [root@esxi:~] /etc/init.d/xorg stop

3. Stop nv-hostengine.

   [root@esxi:~] nv-hostengine -t

4. Wait for 1 second to allow nv-hostengine to stop.

5. Start nv-hostengine.

   [root@esxi:~] nv-hostengine -d

6. Start the Xorg service.

   [root@esxi:~] /etc/init.d/xorg start

Status

Not an NVIDIA bug

A fix is available from VMware in VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7 U3. For information about the availability of fixes for other releases of VMware vSphere ESXi, contact VMware.

Ref. #

2644794

Description

The merge function of the RAPIDS cuDF GPU data frame library fails on NVIDIA vGPU. This function fails because RAPIDS uses the Unified Memory feature of CUDA, which NVIDIA vGPU does not support.

Status

Open

Ref. #

2642134

Description

When a VM configured with vGPU under heavy load is migrated to another host, users' view sessions may become corrupted after the migration.

Workaround

Restart the VM.

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software 9.1

Ref. #

200434909

Description

When vMotion is used to migrate a VM configured with vGPU to another host, users' sessions may freeze for up to several seconds during the migration.

These factors may increase the length of time for which a session freezes:

• Continuous use of the frame buffer by the workload, which typically occurs with workloads such as video streaming
• A large amount of vGPU frame buffer
• A large amount of system memory
• Limited network bandwidth

Workaround

Administrators can mitigate the effects on end users by avoiding migration of VMs configured with vGPU during business hours or warning end users that migration is about to start and that they may experience session freezes.

End users experiencing this issue must wait for their sessions to resume when the migration is complete.

Status

Open

Ref. #

2569578

Description

When a VM configured with vGPU is migrated to another host, the migration stops before it is complete. After the migration stops, the VM is no longer accessible.

This issue occurs if the ECC memory configuration (enabled or disabled) on the source and destination hosts are different. The ECC memory configuration on both the source and destination hosts must be identical.

Workaround

Reboot the hypervisor host to recover the VM. Before attempting to migrate the VM again, ensure that the ECC memory configuration on both the source and destination hosts are identical.

Status

Not an NVIDIA bug

Ref. #

200520027

Description

nvidia-smi vgpu -q shows the incorrect ECC state of a vGPU when ECC is enabled on the physical GPU but disabled on the vGPU from the vGPU VM. This issue occurs because data for the physical GPU host is not being reset and is being reused even after reboot.

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software 9.1

Ref. #

200524348

Description

Incorrect ECC error counts are reported for vGPUs on some GPUs when the command nvidia-smi -q is run from a guest VM.

This issue affects only vGPUs that reside on physical GPUs based on the NVIDIA Volta GPU architecture. For vGPUs on GPUs based on other architectures, the ECC error count is correct.

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software 9.1

Ref. #

200525006

Description

The ECC memory settings for a vGPU cannot be changed from a Linux guest VM by using NVIDIA X Server Settings. After the ECC memory state has been changed on the ECC Settings page and the VM has been rebooted, the ECC memory state remains unchanged.

Workaround

Use the nvidia-smi command in the guest VM to enable or disable ECC memory for the vGPU as explained in Virtual GPU Software User Guide.

If the ECC memory state remains unchanged even after you use the nvidia-smi command to change it, use the workaround in Changes to ECC memory settings for a Linux vGPU VM by nvidia-smi might be ignored.

Status

Open

Ref. #

200523086

Description

After the ECC memory state for a Linux vGPU VM has been changed by using the nvidia-smi command and the VM has been rebooted, the ECC memory state might remain unchanged.

This issue occurs when multiple NVIDIA configuration files in the system cause the kernel module option for setting the ECC memory state RMGuestECCState in /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf to be ignored.

When the nvidia-smi command is used to enable ECC memory, the file /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf is created or updated to set the kernel module option RMGuestECCState. Another configuration file in /etc/modprobe.d/ that contains the keyword NVreg_RegistryDwordsPerDevice might cause the kernel module option RMGuestECCState to be ignored.

Workaround

This workaround requires administrator privileges.

1. Move the entry containing the keyword NVreg_RegistryDwordsPerDevice from the other configuration file to /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf.
2. Reboot the VM.

Status

Open

Ref. #

200505777

Description

After the command nvidia-smi -p 0 is run from a guest VM to reset the volatile ECC error count, the VM crashes.

This issue does not occur if the EEC state in the VM is set to off.

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software 9.1

Ref. #

200526633

Description

The vCS option is missing from the Manage License section in the NVIDIA X Server Settings window.

As a result of this missing option, the NVIDIA X Server Settings window incorrectly states that the system is licensed for Quadro vDWS when, in fact, the system is licensed for vCS.

Workaround

If you are licensing a physical GPU for vCS, you must use the configuration file /etc/nvidia/gridd.conf. See Virtual GPU Client Licensing User Guide.

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software 9.1

Ref. #

200522255

Description

On Linux guest VMs, the license directory /etc/nvidia/license is not deleted when the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver is uninstalled.

The following error message is written to the nvidia-uninstaller log file:

Failed to delete the directory '/etc/nvidia' (Directory not empty).

Workaround

As root, remove the /etc/nvidia/license directory after the NVIDIA vGPU software graphics driver is uninstalled.

Status

Resolved in NVIDIA vGPU software 9.1

Ref. #

200524555

Description

When a VMware Horizon session with Windows 7 is connected to four displays, a black screen is observed on one or more displays.

This issue occurs because a VMware Horizon session does not support connections to four 4K displays with Windows 7.

Status

Not an NVIDIA bug

Ref. #

200503538

Description

Quadro RTX 8000 and Quadro RTX 6000 GPUs can't be used with VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5. If you attempt to use the Quadro RTX 8000 or Quadro RTX 6000 GPU with VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5, a purple-screen crash occurs after you install the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager.

Version

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5

Workaround

Upgrade VMware vSphere ESXi to patch level ESXi 6.5 P04 (ESXi650-201912002, build 15256549) or later.

VMware resolved this issue in this patch for VMware vSphere ESXi.

Status

Not an NVIDIA bug

Ref. #

200491080

Description

In Windows 7 guest VMs configured with NVIDIA vGPU, applications developed with Vulkan APIs crash or throw errors when they are launched. Vulkan APIs require sparse texture support, but in Windows 7 guest VMs configured with NVIDIA vGPU, sparse textures are not enabled.

In Windows 10 guest VMs configured with NVIDIA vGPU, sparse textures are enabled and applications developed with Vulkan APIs run correctly in these VMs.

Status

Open

Ref. #

200381348

Description

When GPU performance is being monitored, host core CPU utilization is higher than expected for moderate workloads. For example, host CPU utilization when only a small number of VMs are running is as high as when several times as many VMs are running.

Workaround

Disable monitoring of the following GPU performance statistics:

• vGPU engine usage by applications across multiple vGPUs
• Encoder session statistics
• Frame buffer capture (FBC) session statistics
• Statistics gathered by performance counters in guest VMs

Status

Open

Ref. #

2414897

Description

On 1Q vGPUs with a 4K display, a shortage of frame buffer causes the H.264 encoder to fall back to software encoding.

Workaround

Use a 2Q or larger virtual GPU type to provide more frame buffer for each vGPU.

Status

Open

Ref. #

2422580

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

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

Description

When some releases of Windows Server are used as a guest OS, Remote Desktop Services (RDS) sessions do not use the GPU. With these releases, the RDS sessions by default use the Microsoft Basic Render Driver instead of the GPU. This default setting enables 2D DirectX applications such as Microsoft Office to use software rendering, which can be more efficient than using the GPU for rendering. However, as a result, 3D applications that use DirectX are prevented from using the GPU.

Version

• Windows Server 2016
• Windows Server 2012

Solution

Change the local computer policy to use the hardware graphics adapter for all RDS sessions.

1. Choose Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Remote Session Environment.

2. Set the Use the hardware default graphics adapter for all Remote Desktop Services sessions option.

Description

Migrating a VM configured with vGPU fails gracefully if the VM is running an intensive workload.

The error stack in the task details on the vSphere web client contains the following error message:

The migration has exceeded the maximum switchover time of 100 second(s). 
ESX has preemptively failed the migration to allow the VM to continue running on the source. 
To avoid this failure, either increase the maximum allowable switchover time or wait until
the VM is performing a less intensive workload.

Workaround

Increase the maximum switchover time by increasing the vmotion.maxSwitchoverSeconds option from the default value of 100 seconds.

For more information, see VMware Knowledge Base Article: vMotion or Storage vMotion of a VM fails with the error: The migration has exceeded the maximum switchover time of 100 second(s) (2141355).

Status

Not an NVIDIA bug

Ref. #

200416700

Description

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

Workaround

Resize the view session.

Status

Open

Ref. #

200426961

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Requiring Large MMIO Space in Pass-Through Mode

Status

Not a bug

Ref. #

1944539

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

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

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.

If you are licensing a physical GPU for vCS, you must use the configuration file /etc/nvidia/gridd.conf.

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

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

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 Virtual Apps and Desktops 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:

  • Use a profile that has 1 Gbyte of frame buffer.

  • Optimize your Windows 10 resource usage.

    To obtain information about best practices for improved user experience using Windows 10 in virtual environments, complete the NVIDIA GRID vGPU Profile Sizing Guide for Windows 10 download request form.

    Additionally, you can use the VMware OS Optimization Tool to make and apply optimization recommendations for Windows 10 and other operating systems.

Status

Open

Ref. #

• 200130864
• 1803861

Description

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

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

Description

For VMware vSphere releases before 6.7 Update 1, the ESXi host on which VMs configured with NVIDIA vGPU reside must not be a member of an automated 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 an automated VMware DRS Cluster. Any attempt to install the driver on a VM on a host in an automated DRS cluster fails with the following error:

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

Version

VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) releases before 6.7 Update 1.

Workaround

Ensure that the automation level of the DRS cluster is set to Manual.

For more information about this setting, see Edit Cluster Settings in the VMware documentation.

Status

Open

Ref. #

1933449

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

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.

Status

Open

Ref. #

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. #

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

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

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

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

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

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