I installed VMware 8.0 on Dell 7920 rack server. The Nvidia gpu comes with this server is GA102GL [RTX A5000]. There is one VM on esxi server wihich is running ubuntu. I configure passthrough for GPU on esxi host which allows only this VM to access GPU. My question is do I need to install Nvidia driver on esxi host for allow it functions on VMware guest server? If yes, do I need to purchase any license for it? Thanks.
To pass through the GPU, the hypervisor does not need to manage the GPU, so no driver is needed on hypervisor level. In the VM you can install the ‘normal’ Linux driver…
Only if you want to share a GPU between multiple users, or use a datacenter GPU for Gfx in a VM, then you need the vGPU/GRID drivers, and the resourcemanager running in the hypervisor, for managing the sharing…