The Esri Performance Engineering team has been benchmarking ArcGIS Pro in the virtualized environments using shareable GPU’s for a number of years. We have published a series of articles in order to assist our users in understanding the technology as well as how to configure the environment for optimal performance. A consolidated list of resources is listed at the end of this blog for your reference. Thus far, our testing and list of resources have featured the Nvidia GRID K2 card. Recently, Nvidia has released a new version of their shareable GPU. This new offering features the Tesla M6 and M60 cards, as well as the newly released M10. These new cards are not only more powerful but also they also feature newly enhanced support and license models, as well as monitoring. For more information please refer to the following data sheet.
The Esri Performance Engineering team began testing the GRID Tesla cards a few months back. Recent testing has shown that just like the K2, the M60 card can also support the rich graphical experience in ArcGIS Pro. However, the M60 card has more graphics memory than the K2 (16GB vs 8GB) and more CUDA Cores (4096 vs 3272) for processing ArcGIS Pro rendering requests. Therefore users can expect greater amount of user density per server using the new M60 card. With these additional resources, the amount of VM’s hosted on a single server is expected to significantly increase with 2 cards inserted. In our testing, the amount of VM’s increased from 12 to 24 VM’s, using the M60-1Q vGPU (1GB) profile. Users are advised to test using their own data and workflows for appropriate sizing. The following table describes the new Tesla M60 card:
It important to note, not all servers which accepted the K2’s can also accept the M60’s. A list of certified servers can be found here. The Esri VMware Dell Virtualization appliance, which is on the market today, is an example of an server which will not accept the M60 card. Therefore we will be releasing new virtualization appliances to the support the M60 in the near future.
The Esri Performance Engineering Team is excited about the latest Nvidia GRID technology. This technology will help our users successfully virtualize ArcGIS Pro as well as provide the enhanced user experience. A follow-up blog will be published soon, unveiling our M60 performance test results. We will also feature this technology hands-on at the UC in San Diego. Please stop by the Desktop Island within the Expo Hall, where the entire island will feature ArcPro virtualized on the new Virtualization Appliance using Nvidia GRID, Telsa M60.
Lastly, as promised here is a consolidated list of references for Virtualizing ArcGIS Pro using Nvidia GRID K2 technology:
High Level Look At Virtualizing ArcGIS Pro
Virtualizing ArcGIS Pro: CPU’s and GPU’s
Virtualizing ArcGIS Pro using Nvidia GRID vGPU Profiles
ArcGIS Desktop Virtualization Appliance
ArcGIS Pro System Requirements
Esri ArcGIS and Nvidia GRID: An awesome list of blogs to find out more
