Confused about best deployment of RDSH for CAD

Hi all,

We want to deploy a new Windows remote desktop session host on which the users will be able to use CAD software.
I have quite some experience with RDSH but not in combination with CAD software and after doing heaps of research I am really confused about which is the best way and how to license it.

Our future scenario would look like:
2-5 concurrent users working on the RDSH and they will be using 3D CAD software.

Regarding the server hardware we are planning on an HPE DL380 Gen 10, 128GB RAM, Xeon Gold 6226R and Nvidia RTX 6000 graphic card.

Our aim is to get the most performance out of the system so the users can work smoothly with their CAD software.
If we install the the RDSH (session based) on bare metal would the users be able to fully utilize the graphic card? Are Nvidia licenses needed? If yes, which one?
Woud it maybe be better to virtualize the RDSH?

Any help here would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

Kind regards,
Aktuatro1980

Hi,

No matter if you virtualize or install baremetal you would need vWS or vApps licenses depending on what you want to achieve. Only vWS licenses support CUDA so if you need CUDA, vWS is the route to go otherwise you should be OK with vApps licenses.
If RDSH is the right way to go with 3D apps is another topic. I wouldn’t do so but for some use cases it might be OK.

regards
Simon

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@sschaber Thank you very much for your answer which already helped me a lot!!

Are vApps licenses the correct choice when users are working with CAD software or do I need vDWS licenses? I have read conflicting information about this topic.

If you think RDSH is not the right way to go, what else would you recommend? Maybe Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop?

Regards,
Aktuator1980

As I said, the licensing mainly depends on the use case (3D app). Most 3D apps are not certified for RDSH and therefore the besser choice is to use Win10 VDI and Citrix XenDesktop as example. Which app do you have in mind? If you do not require CUDA you can use vApps licensing for most scenarios as you don’t benefit from ISV certifications on RDSH anyways.

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The CAD software that would be used on the server is “DDS-CAD”. However, I can’t find information if this software requires CUDA.
According to the vendor OpenGL support is needed.
As far as I understood, vApps would provide this feature, am I right?

According to a PDF document from nvidia it says that vApps support a maximum resolution of only 1280 x 1024…really? can that be true? If yes then I think vApps is useless because today most users have a display with at least Full HD resolution… Or am I getting sometime wrong? Really starting to get desperate on that topic

OK, just to make sure we won’t miss any features we have now decided to buy the vWS licenses.
Thank you very much for your support sschaber!

However, I have one more (annyoing) questions ;)
There will also be “normal” users who log in on the mentioned terminal server (RDSH). These users won’t use CAD software but just normal office applications like Word, Outlook, ERP software etc. This software is not graphic intensive, therefore it would be kind of a waste if they grab an expensive vWS license. Is there a way to assign the vWS only to specific users?

Thanks again!

Hi,
in general the licensing on vApps is not enforced (just EULA based). Therefore the users won’t aquire a license. But there is no way to restrict the licensing to just a few specific users. All users on the RDSH host are able to use the GPU and therefore all users are required to have a license :(

regards
Simon

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Thanks a lot Simon! You really helped me out here!!
:-)