The 3D Renderer setting for full-clone virtual machine pools provides options that let you configure graphics rendering in different ways.

3D Renderer Options

The following table describes the differences between the various types of 3D rendering options available in VMware Horizon 8, but does not provide complete information for configuring virtual machines and ESXi hosts for NVIDIA GRID vGPU. These tasks must be done with vSphere Client before you attempt to create desktop pools in Horizon Console. For details on these tasks, see the NVIDIA vGPU Deployment Guide for VMware Horizon.

Option Description
Manage using vSphere Client This setting is not applicable to Linux desktops.
Automatic This setting is not applicable to Linux desktops.
Software This setting is not applicable to Linux desktops.
Hardware This setting is not applicable to Linux desktops.
NVIDIA GRID vGPU 3D rendering is enabled for NVIDIA GRID vGPU . The ESXi host reserves GPU hardware resources on a first-come, first-served basis as virtual machines are powered on. If a user tries to connect to a machine when all GPU hardware resources are being used by other virtual machines on the host, Connection Server will attempt to move the virtual machine to another ESXi host in the cluster before powering on.

Use this setting when configuring NVIDIA GRID vGPU.

When you select the NVIDIA GRID vGPU option, the Configure VRAM for 3D Guests, Max number of monitors, and Max resolution of any one monitor settings are inactive in Horizon Console. When you configure the golden image virtual machine or virtual machine template with vSphere Client, you are prompted to reserve all memory.

Important: If you configure the NVIDIA GRID vGPU option, consider these potential constraints:
  • The virtual machine cannot be suspended or resumed. Therefore the Remote Machine Power Policy option for suspending the virtual machine is not available.
  • If you use vMotion to move the machine to an ESXi host that does not have GPU hardware configured, the virtual machine will not power on. Live vMotion is not available.
  • All ESXi hosts in the cluster must be version 6.0 or later, and the virtual machines must be hardware version 11 or later.
  • If an ESXi cluster contains a host that is NVIDIA GRID vGPU enabled and a host that is not NVIDIA GRID vGPU enabled, the hosts display a yellow (warning) status in the Horizon Console Dashboard. If a user tries to connect to a machine when all GPU hardware resources are being used by other virtual machines on the host, Connection Server will attempt to move the virtual machine to another ESXi host in the cluster before powering on. In this case, hosts that are not NVIDIA GRID vGPU enabled cannot be used for this type of dynamic migration.
Disabled 3D rendering is turned off.

Configuring Desktop Settings to Manage GPU Resources

You can configure other desktop settings to ensure that GPU resources are not wasted when users are not actively using them.

For floating pools, set a session timeout so that GPU resources are freed up for other users when a user is not using the desktop.

For dedicated pools, you can configure the Automatically logoff after disconnect setting to Immediately and a Suspend power policy if these settings are appropriate for your users. For example, do not use these settings for a pool of researchers who execute long-running simulations. Note that the Suspend power policy is not available if you use the NVIDIA GRID vGPU option.