Introduction to NVIDIA vGPU Software Licensing

The following products are available as licensed products on NVIDIA GPUs that support NVIDIA vGPU software:

• NVIDIA® RTX Virtual Workstation (vWS)

• NVIDIA Virtual PC (vPC)

• NVIDIA Virtual Applications (vApps)

This guide describes these licensed products and how to enable and use them on supported hardware.

NVIDIA vGPU Software Licensed Products

The available NVIDIA vGPU software licensed products support different classes of NVIDIA vGPU software deployments.

Table 2 NVIDIA vGPU Software Licensed Products

NVIDIA vGPU Software Licensed Product	Target Users	Supported NVIDIA vGPU Software Deployments
vApps	Users of PC-level applications and server-based desktops that use Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, VMware Horizon, RDSH, or other app streaming or session-based solutions	A-series NVIDIA vGPUs GPU pass through Microsoft DDA VMware vDGA Bare metal
vPC	Users of business virtual desktops who require a great user experience with PC applications for Windows, web browsers, and high-definition video	B-series NVIDIA vGPUs Microsoft RemoteFX vGPU
vWS	Users of mid-range and high-end workstations who require access to remote professional graphics applications with full performance on any device anywhere	Q-series NVIDIA vGPUs B-series NVIDIA vGPUs GPU pass through Microsoft DDA VMware vDGA Bare metal

Note

• Microsoft DDA and VMware vDGA are functionally equivalent to GPU pass through.

• Microsoft RemoteFX vGPU is a graphics virtualization technology.

• Microsoft DDA requires Windows Server 2016 with the Hyper-V role.

How NVIDIA vGPU Software Licensing Is Enforced

Depending on the NVIDIA vGPU software deployment, licensing is enforced either through software or only through the end-user license agreement (EULA).

Table 3 NVIDIA vGPU Software License Enforcement by Deployment Type

NVIDIA vGPU Software Deployment	Required NVIDIA vGPU Software License	Enforcement
A-series NVIDIA vGPU	vApps	Software[1]
B-series NVIDIA vGPU	vPC or vWS	Software[2]
Q-series NVIDIA vGPU	vWS	Software[3]
GPU pass through for workstation or professional 3D graphics	vWS	Software
GPU pass through for PC-level applications	vApps	EULA only
Microsoft DDA for workstation or professional 3D graphics	vWS	Software
Microsoft DDA for PC-level applications	vApps	EULA only
VMware vDGA for workstation or professional 3D graphics	vWS	Software
VMware vDGA for PC-level applications	vApps	EULA only
Bare metal for workstation or professional 3D graphics	vWS	Software
Bare metal for PC-level applications	vApps	EULA only
Microsoft RemoteFX vGPU	vPC	EULA only

Software Enforcement of NVIDIA vGPU Software Licensing

When a Virtual Machine (VM) that is running NVIDIA vGPU software is first booted, the virtual GPU or physical GPU assigned to the VM operates at full capability. When licensing is enforced through software, the performance of the virtual GPU or physical GPU is degraded if the VM fails to obtain a license within 20 minutes and is further degraded if the VM still hasn’t obtained a license after 24 hours.

If users report that the performance of a virtual GPU or physical GPU is degraded, determine whether the associated VM has obtained a license as explained in Troubleshooting.

A VM obtains a license over the network from a service instance of the NVIDIA License System. When a VM obtains a license, the license is “checked out” or “borrowed.” The VM releases the license back to the service instance when the license is no longer required. You can control when a license is checked out and released back to the service instance through the setting of a Windows registry key value or Linux configuration parameter.

• By default, the license is checked out when the VM is booted and released when the VM is shut down.

• If the Windows registry key value or Linux configuration parameter is set, the license is checked out when a user logs in to the VM and released when the user logs out of the VM.

For information about the Windows registry key value for controlling this behavior, refer to Windows Registry Settings for NVIDIA vGPU Software Licensing.

Note

For information about setting up and running NVIDIA License System, refer to NVIDIA License System User Guide.

Figure 37 illustrates how NVIDIA vGPU software licensing is enforced through software.

Figure 37 Software Enforcement of NVIDIA vGPU Software Licensing

Additional Considerations for NVIDIA vGPU Deployments

For NVIDIA vGPU deployments, the NVIDIA vGPU software automatically selects the correct type of license based on the vGPU type.

After you license NVIDIA vGPU, the VM that is set up to use NVIDIA vGPU is capable of running the full range of DirectX and OpenGL graphics applications.

Licensing settings persist across reboots and need only be modified if the license server address changes, or the VM is switched to running GPU pass through.

Additional Considerations for Physical GPU Deployments

The type of license required depends on how the physical GPU is deployed.

• In GPU pass-through mode on Windows, or in a bare-metal deployment on Windows or Linux, a physical GPU requires a vWS license.

• In GPU pass-through mode on Linux, a physical GPU requires a vWS license.

You can also operate a physical GPU in pass-through mode or a bare-metal deployment at reduced capability with a vApps license. vPC is not available on GPUs running in pass-through mode or bare-metal deployments.

EULA-Only Enforcement of NVIDIA vGPU Software Licensing

When licensing is enforced only through the EULA, no licenses are checked out from the license server. You must comply with the terms of the EULA by ensuring that all the licenses required for your NVIDIA vGPU software deployment have been purchased.

The nvidia-smi -q command indicates that the product is licensed even when no license is checked out from the license server.

If licensing for all your NVIDIA vGPU software deployments is enforced only through the EULA, you do not need to set up and run the NVIDIA vGPU software license server.

Display Resolutions for Physical GPUs

The display resolutions supported by a physical GPU depend on the NVIDIA vGPU software license that is applied to the GPU.

NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation Physical GPU Resolutions

GPUs that are licensed with an NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation license support a maximum combined resolution based on the number of available pixels. You can choose between using a small number of high resolution displays or a larger number of lower resolution displays with these GPUs.

The following table lists the maximum number of displays per GPU at each supported display resolution for configurations in which all displays have the same resolution.

Available Pixels	Display Resolution	Displays per GPU
66355200	7680×4320	2
	5120×2880 or lower	4

The following table provides examples of configurations with a mixture of display resolutions.

Available Pixels	Available Pixel Basis	Maximum Displays	Sample Mixed Display Configurations
66355200	2 7680×4320 displays	4	1 7680×4320 display plus 2 5120×2880 displays
			1 7680×4320 display plus 3 4096×2160 displays

Note

You cannot use more than four displays even if the combined resolution of the displays is less than the number of available pixels from the GPU. For example, you cannot use five 4096×2160 displays even though the combined resolution of the displays (44236800) is less than the number of available pixels from the GPU (66355200).

NVIDIA Virtual Applications or NVIDIA vGPU for Compute Physical GPU Resolutions

GPUs that are licensed with an NVIDIA Virtual Applications or an NVIDIA vGPU for Compute license support a single display with a fixed maximum resolution. The maximum resolution depends on the following factors:

• The NVIDIA vGPU software license that is applied to the GPU

• The operating system that is running on the system to which the GPU is assigned

License	Operating System	Maximum Display Resolution	Displays per GPU
NVIDIA Virtual Applications	Linux	2560×1600	1
	Windows	1280×1024	1

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[1]

For A-series NVIDIA vGPU deployments, one vApps license is required for each concurrent user, but licensing for only one of these users is enforced through software. Licensing for the remaining users is enforced through the EULA.

[2]

The vWS license edition includes the vPC license edition: virtual GPUs that require a vPC license can also be used with a vWS license.

[3]

When multiple Q-series vGPUs are assigned to a single VM, only one license for the VM is required, not one license for each vGPU assigned to the VM.