Dell Technologies VDI Solutions offer virtual workstation solutions for running the professional graphics applications that are used in the GIS sector. The solution configuration based on the VxRail HCI platform is recommended for running professional graphics applications such as Esri's ArcGIS Pro and Engineering CAD, as well as Revit, Inventor, and 3DS Max.
The compute layer uses VxRail V670F HCI, which is VDI-optimized and offers the highest processor speeds and graphics capability. VMware vSAN software-defined storage technology powers the storage layer. The network layer consists of Dell PowerSwitch S5248 (25 GbE ToR switches). Virtual workstations run on a VMware ESXi hypervisor. VMware Horizon 8 is the virtual desktop brokering software. NVIDIA vWS virtualizes the GPU hardware to provide virtual GPUs for each virtual workstation.
For graphics-intensive desktop deployments, Dell Technologies recommends the VDI-optimized 2U servers that support GPU hardware. We have designated common configurations as Management-optimized and Virtual Workstation. The following table describes these configurations:
Configuration | CPU | RAM | Disk | GPU | Description |
Management-optimized | 1 x Intel Xeon Gold 6330 (28 core @ 2.0 GHz) | 256 GB (16 x 16 GB @ 2933 MHz) | 4 TB + (Capacity) | None | Offers a scalable and value-targeted configuration that meets the required compute and I/O demands |
Virtual Workstation | 2 x Intel Xeon Gold 6354 (18 core @ 3.0 GHz) | 128 GB-768 GB @ 3200 MHz | 8 TB + (Capacity) | Up to 6 full length, single width (FLSW) GPUs(for example the T4) Up to 2 full height, full length (FHFL) double width GPUs (for example the A40) | Offers even higher performance at the tradeoff of user density. Typically used for high-end graphics workloads. |
For more information, see the VMware Horizon on VxRail and vSAN Ready Nodes Design Guide.
The following figure shows an overview of the solution architecture of the virtual workstation environment on a VxRail platform:
VMware vSAN software-defined storage
VMware vSAN is available in all-flash or hybrid configurations. After vSAN is enabled on a cluster, all disk devices presented to the hosts are pooled together to create a shared datastore that is accessible by all hosts in that vSAN cluster. You can then create VMs and assign storage policies to them. The storage policy dictates availability and performance. vSAN provides the following configuration options:
- All-flash configuration: Uses flash for both the cache tier and capacity tier to deliver enterprise performance and a resilient storage platform. In this configuration, the cache tier is fully dedicated to writes, allowing all reads to come directly from the capacity tier. The cache device protects the endurance of the capacity tier. All-flash configured solutions enable data reduction features to extend the capacity tier.
- Hybrid configuration: Uses flash-based devices for the cache tier and magnetic disks for the capacity tier. Hybrid configurations are ideal for clients looking for higher volume in the capacity tier. The performance of SSD and magnetic spinning disks is comparable in VDI applications if you use enough magnetic spinning disks.
The following table shows the hardware configuration that Dell Technologies recommends for the virtual workstation solution on the VxRail platform:
Component | Configuration |
Chassis | V670F |
CPU | Intel Xeon Gold 6354 |
Memory | 256 GB — 1024 GB |
Storage adapter | HBA 355i |
Network | 25 GbE |
Boot device | BOSS S2 + M.2 SATA SSDs |
Cache tier | 400 GB WI NVMe SSD |
Capacity tier | 1.92 TB or 3.84 TB RI SAS or vSAS SSD |
GPU | NVIDIA A40 x 2 |
The degree to which higher scalability is achieved depends on the typical day-to-day activities of the graphical-application users, and the concurrent nature or otherwise of their work. Several configuration attributes directly affect density scalability, such as virtual workstation parameters, GPU scheduling policy, and vGPU profile selection. It is recommended that you test and validate the appropriate configuration options to meet the needs of your users.
The following table shows virtual workstation VM profile configurations:
Workload | CPU | RAM | Reserved RAM | Desktop video resolution | Operating system |
nVector Knowledge Worker (1B vGPU profile) | 2 | 4 GB | 4 GB | 1920 x 1080 | Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit |
ESRI ArcGis (8Q vGPU profile) | 8 | 16 GB | 16 GB | 1920 x 1080 | Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit |
Engineering CAD (8Q vGPU profile) | 6 | 24 GB | 24 GB | 1920 x 1080 | Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit |
Frame buffer or vGPU profile size is a major factor to consider when you size the virtual workstations. Choosing a vGPU profile for the user depends on the type of workflow and the size of the model with which they work. Users with more advanced graphics requirements and larger datasets require a larger frame buffer. For these users, assign a larger vGPU profile that can cater to the frame buffer requirement of the application. To understand the frame buffer requirement, perform appropriate tests in the pilot phase with tools such as GPU Profiler.
You can configure a VxRail V670F with up to two NVIDIA A40 GPUs or six NVIDIA T4 GPUs, providing 96 GB of frame buffer per node. We recommend that you size the vGPU profiles based your users' workflows. In general, if an application’s use of the frame buffer nears 100 percent, you should assign the next profile size to that user.
For guidance, see the NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation Sizing Guide, the NVIDIA Quadro Virtual Data Center Workstation Application Sizing Guide for ArcGIS Pro and Dell Virtual Workstation Solutions for Automotive and Manufacturing. For our testing we based a typical user’s representative workload for graphics-intensive applications with virtual workstations on these two documents.