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Dedicated video cards for each vm & Software required/capable for Intel VT-d.

idata
Employee
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If i have a video card for each VM located in my server, would this bring near-true performance? What software is also required to enable VT-D technology? I'm thinking of using windows server 2008 r2 and wondering if i need to use a certain hypervisor or VM managing software. All thin and zero clients seem to come with the managers bundled with them, ncomputing, wyse, etc. I think using Windows multi-point server would be ideal, but it seems that Microsoft isn't selling this to the public...ie"OEMs and their resellers offer options for both Academic and Commercial customers."

Also, is there a vt-d compatible program that will update thin client codecs or is it hard/impossible to update the codecs? I think the easiest way to do this would be to have zero clients and do all the processing host side, but i'd like to have SOCs and some RAM to do some of the work client side for performance's sake, not to mention lightening network load, but i wonder if NUMO2 and the various other products are in-compatible with vt-d technology. I'm thinking of using the L300, Plugable DC-125, or the E01 Multipoint workstation 1x US by Wyse. Choosing the right combination seems like a chore, but if I do it right, i think it will be worth it. Thanks for your help.

Avery

Update: Is there anything stopping me from using VMware Vsphere Hypervisor, VMware server, and VMware Player all in tandum and not have to liscense any Windows server program to do the same job?

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idata
Employee
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1. Microsoft Remote FX (Windows 2008R2, Windows Multipoint Server 2011 etc.) give to the remote users rich multimedia. Rich multimedia means that users can use Windows Aero and for e.g. watch HD video. Each user will use approximately 320 MB video memory. To take advantage of it, however, your WMS station needs to be running RDP version 7.1, which means your client, needs to be running Windows 7 SP1, Windows ThinPC, or Windows 7 Embedded. Only AMD FirePro and NVidia Quadro/Tesla officially supported. You can't give to the station exclusive control of video card. 3D applications work with a significant loss of performance. Some application will not work. You will see the error like: "This application can't work in remote desktop session".

2. PCoIP protocol is used by zero clients. Zero clients can be software (VMware only) or hardware. Hardware client have Teradici chip inside. I am using twelve Fujitsu Zero Client DZ22-2 at work. http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/products/computing/pc/zero-clients/advanced/DZ22-2/index.html http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/products/computing/pc/zero-clients/advanced/DZ22-2/index.html this is really great device, no VGA/DVI, even no power cable (using PoE). Users see the monitor with Ethernet cable, keyboard and mouse. Each user have own VM in our datacenter. With Parallels Workstation Extreme or Citrix HDX 3D Professional Graphics, or VMware View you can assign video card exclusively to VM (if you have VT-d compatible hardware). Unfortunately only AMD FirePro and NVidia Quadro officially supported.

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