Overview
This guide provides step-by-step instructions to deploy NVIDIA vGPU software in a XenServer environment. It assumes familiarity with virtualization environments and NVIDIA vGPU technology. For a comprehensive overview of NVIDIA vGPU architecture, licensing, and sizing, refer to the following documentation:
Citrix has reverted the name of its hypervisor software for releases after Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 to XenServer. All XenServer updates are identified by the single product name and release number XenServer 8. For more information, visit the XenServer website.
Ensure your deployment uses NVIDIA GPUs compatible with vGPU software and supported on XenServer. For a complete list of supported NVIDIA GPUs and validated server platforms, please refer to our XenServer release notes.
Some GPUs support display-off and display-enabled modes. For vGPU software deployments, they must be used in display-off mode. For more information, see Switching the Mode of a GPU that Supports Multiple Display Modes.
Ensure your hardware is certified by NVIDIA and compatible with XenServer. Also, see the hardware requirements for XenServer.
Download valid vGPU licenses.
Refer to the XenServer release notes to find the appropriate vGPU software driver versions to use.
Refer to the XenServer release notes for supported Windows and Linux guest OS versions.
NVIDIA vGPU software supports only 64-bit guest operating systems. No 32-bit guest operating systems are supported.
NVIDIA vGPU software supports assigning multiple vGPUs to a single VM, but the maximum number is limited. For detailed information, see vGPUs that Support Multiple vGPUs Assigned to a VM.
Configure the BIOS as appropriate for your physical hosts, as described below:
Hyperthreading – Enabled
Power Setting or System Profile– High Performance
CPU Performance (if applicable) – Enterprise or High Throughput
Memory Mapped I/O above 4-GB - Enabled (if applicable)
VT-d or AMD IOMMU – Enabled