Nvidia Supported GPU with vGPU and Licensing

[laxarus]

I am so confused about this.
I have read these
https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/NVIDIA_vGPU_on_Proxmox_VE
https://gitlab.com/polloloco/vgpu-proxmox
https://git.collinwebdesigns.de/oscar.krause/fastapi-dls

I have found a good deal for an RTX 6000 Ada 48GB and want to use it on my proxmox system but I am not sure how to go about the licensing and enabling vgpu. Before I spend some $$$ (It is still expensive even with a deal), I want to make sure that I can enable vgpu.

The proxmox docs refer to the nvidia pages for licensing and stuff but did they write these pages to confuse people more?

From what I understand,
- This card supports vGPU 17. https://docs.nvidia.com/vgpu/gpus-supported-by-vgpu.html
- My host system (SYS-221H-TNR) is also supported. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-c...count=50&pageNumber=1&searchTerm=SYS-221H-TNR
- I have kernel 6.8.12-4-pve and Proxmox 8.3.0
- I need to use the NVIDIA Display Mode Selector Tool to change the mod of this card
- I need to use NVIDIA Linux Driver Version 550.127.05 and NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager Version 550.127.06 https://docs.nvidia.com/vgpu/17.0/grid-vgpu-release-notes-generic-linux-kvm/index.html. Here starts the confusion

After this everything becomes confusing,
Polloloco has a note about following nvidia docs if the card is Ada generation.

If you have GPUs from the Ampere and Ada Lovelace generation, you are out of luck, unless you have a vGPU qualified card from this list like the A5000 or RTX 6000 Ada. If you have one of those cards, please consult the NVIDIA documentation for help with setting it up.

and when referring to nvidia docs, it becomes more confusing.

From all the reading I did,

1. I need to create an evaluation account on nvidia to access the drivers.
   • But what about the GPU Manager?
   • which hypervisor? Linux with KVM or Ubuntu? Proxmox docs refer Ubuntu debian. are they the same
2. Install these drivers on proxmox host
3. Create a licensing server with fastapi-dls (But where? on another VM? Proxmox does not have docker?)
4. Install guest drivers on the VM
   • Are they the same as the host drivers?
   • Do I still need to use vgpu_unlock-rs even though I have a supported card.

Anyway, there are multiple questions and the more I read the more confused I am. Any help at this point is appreciated.

 

[kesawi]

In order to use vGPU with nVidia you need to pay a licence fee. Using fastapi-dls circumvents the licence server. So understand that if you use it you will be breaching their licencing conditions and be comfortable with what that means.

which hypervisor? Linux with KVM or Ubuntu?

Linux with KVM

Create a licensing server with fastapi-dls (But where? on another VM? Proxmox does not have docker?)

You can create an LXC running Ubuntu or Debian and install fastapi-dls on it

Install guest drivers on the VM

• Are they the same as the host drivers?

No there are separate guest drivers depending on the guest OS. These are included in the vGPU driver package which you download from nVidia.

Do I still need to use vgpu_unlock-rs even though I have a supported card.

No, the polloloco instructions are for pre Ampere cards.


Once you have the guest drivers installed you will then need to register it on the guest with your fastapi-dls server

 

[relink]

I've setup a license serve on nvidias cloud platform - how to connect the host / guest to the license server and how to split the vgpus?

Sorry, im totally confused, and Nvidia is rejecting support for especially "proxmox" since this is not "officially supported"

 

[kesawi]

Follow the steps in https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/NVIDIA_vGPU_on_Proxmox_VE to get the drivers installed on your Proxmox host. Read them carefully.

You have an Ampere based card so will need to enable SR-IOV both in the BIOS and on Proxmox.

Have you done this, and do you get a list of virtual functions with the command lspci -d 10de:?

Assign a VFS to your guest and install the grid drivers as per https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/NVIDIA_vGPU_on_Proxmox_VE#Guest_Configuration. You only need to install lightdm an x11vnc on Ubuntu if you plan on using a GUI. If it will just be the CLI then you don't need them.

If you've set up a licence on nVidia's cloud server then follow the steps at https://git.collinwebdesigns.de/oscar.krause/fastapi-dls#setup-client, but substitute the nVidia cloud licensing server's URL for <dls-hostname-or-ip> in the step to download the client token.