VMware Horizon View is an effective on-premises virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution for virtualizing ArcGIS Pro. View is a widely used VDI platform and supports one of the most important requirements for virtualizing ArcGIS Pro: to provide a shared or pass-through graphics processor unit (GPU) to the virtual machine (VM).
The VMware ESXi hypervisor GPU support enables the VM to service the DirectX or OpenGL calls generated by ArcGIS Pro. The VMware Horizon client provides the technology to deliver the graphics generated on server.
Hardware requirements and steps for the successful deployment of ArcGIS Pro using VMware VDI technology are described in the following sections.
Hardware Requirements
The server hardware required to virtualize ArcGIS Pro with VMware Horizon View shares a common architecture: 2U servers, with current processors, 256 GB of RAM or more, adequate storage, and shareable or pass-through GPUs. The GPU allows a virtualized copy of ArcGIS Pro to provide exceptional 3D rendering and an exceptional user experience. Currently tested GPUs that deliver this performance are the following NVIDIA GPUs designed for virtualization:
- NVIDIA T4
- NVIDIA A2, A10, A40
- NVIDIA L4, L40
1. Select the server hardware
ArcGIS Pro relies on GPU-enabled hardware to provide an acceptable user experience in a virtual environment. Selecting the correct server hardware that is compatible for delivering ArcGIS Pro is important. To be sure that the server you intend to purchase is compatible with an NVIDIA GPU, see NVIDIA GPU Certified Servers.
Below are examples of the required hardware specifications:
- Intel Xeon Gold 6458Q 3.1G, 32C/64T, 16GT/s, 60M Cache, Turbo, HT (350W) DDR5-4800
- Two (2) NVIDIA L40, PCIe, 300W, 48 GB Passive, Double Wide, Full Height GPU
- 256 GB RDIMM, 4800MT/s Octo Rank (8 RDIMMs)
- Five (5) x 960 GB SSD Read Intensive SATA Hard Drives with RAID 6
2. Select a GPU
Graphics processor units are essential for delivery of ArcGIS Pro. Selecting the correct GPU or GPUs is dependent on the type of server, the ArcGIS Pro workloads that need to be supported, and the VM or server density. To help determine what type of GPU is best for your VDI deployment, see NVIDIA Virtualization.
3. Install components for the hypervisor—ESXi
To successfully deploy ArcGIS Pro with VMware, you must also install the following components:
- The hypervisor (ESXi 7.x or greater).
- The vSphere Client or vCenter to manage the hypervisor as well as configure the vGPU.
- VMware Horizon client (4.x or greater) to connect with the VMs.
For additional information, see the VMware Knowledge Base.
4. Install NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager
The next step is to install the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Manager. This requires installing the NVIDIA VIB. From the NVIDIA website, download the appropriate archive with the needed VIB and drivers for your host and VMs. The basic steps to install the VIB are listed below with a link to detailed steps.
- Upload vGPU VIB to a desired datastore using the WinSCP or vSphere web client.
- Place the host in maintenance mode.
- Use PuTTY to install the VIB ( $ esxcli software vib install -v <path>/<name of vib>)
For additional information, see the VMware Knowledge Base.
5. Create and configure the virtual machines
VMware Tools is a suite of utilities that enhances the performance and management of the virtual machine's guest operating system. To initiate installation, open the VM console from vCenter or use RDP to access the VM.
VMware View Agent and VMware View Agent Direct Connection need to be installed on the VM through the vCenter remote or RDP. These installation files can be downloaded from the VMware Horizon View website. Once the View agents are installed, the VM can be accessed remotely using the Horizon View Client.
6. Connect the client
Horizon Clients are available for Windows and other operating systems. These clients provide a connection to VMs from your device of choice. Once the client has been installed, users connect to View Connection Server or through a direct connection to the VMs hosted in the data center. The Horizon Client can use RDP, PCoIP, or Blast Extreme for connection; however, PCoIP and Blast are recommended for ArcGIS Pro and 3D rendering.