Bumblebee or no Bumblebee? NVIDIA on Centos 7 *destops* with 2 video cards

Issues related to hardware problems
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KPart
Posts: 8
Joined: 2016/07/27 17:36:50

Bumblebee or no Bumblebee? NVIDIA on Centos 7 *destops* with 2 video cards

Post by KPart » 2017/11/21 17:02:29

I've been working with a set of HPC rigs manufactured by Xi and HP (they are expected to run MPI parallel forecast models and also serve graphics resources such as NOAA/UNIDATA's AWIPS2). Both have two sets of VGA cards which makes the normal recommended kmod approach from elrepo problematic. The rigs pretty much freeze at the console while still letting me use them remotely.

While JFGI-ing the solution most of the comments on this appear to directed towards laptop solutions and pointing me to Bumblebee.

Is this the proper option for Desktops destined for HPC activity.

If not, specific guidance would be appreciated.

For my Xi's here is the VGA list from lspci.

Code: Select all

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ASPEED Technology, Inc. ASPEED Graphics Family (rev 10) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: ASPEED Technology, Inc. ASPEED Graphics Family
	Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 16
	Memory at f7000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8M]
	Memory at f6fe0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
	I/O ports at bc00 [size=128]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: ast
	Kernel modules: ast

08:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation G92 [GeForce 9800 GT] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: eVga.com. Corp. Device c987
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 10
	Memory at fa000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	Memory at f8000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32M]
	I/O ports at ec00 [size=128]
	Expansion ROM at f7fe0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidia_drm, nvidia
And for the HPs...

Code: Select all

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 530 (rev 06) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8053
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 128
	Memory at da000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	I/O ports at 4000 [size=64]
	Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: i915
	Kernel modules: i915

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK208 [GeForce GT 730] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2b4e
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 126
	Memory at db000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
	Memory at d8000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M]
	I/O ports at 3000 [size=128]
	Expansion ROM at dc080000 [disabled] [size=512K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: nouveau
	Kernel modules: nouveau
Cheers and Thanks
Bill Capehart
Atmos Sci.
SD Mines

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TrevorH
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Location: Brighton, UK

Re: Bumblebee or no Bumblebee? NVIDIA on Centos 7 *destops* with 2 video cards

Post by TrevorH » 2017/11/21 17:14:28

Watch out for the machines with the Aspeed controllers. If you disable that and use a different card for your graphics it's likely to affect your ability to use the Aspeed IPMI remote console.
The future appears to be RHEL or Debian. I think I'm going Debian.
Info for USB installs on http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey
CentOS 5 and 6 are deadest, do not use them.
Use the FAQ Luke

KPart
Posts: 8
Joined: 2016/07/27 17:36:50

Re: Bumblebee or no Bumblebee? NVIDIA on Centos 7 *destops* with 2 video cards

Post by KPart » 2017/11/22 18:46:25

TrevorH wrote:Watch out for the machines with the Aspeed controllers. If you disable that and use a different card for your graphics it's likely to affect your ability to use the Aspeed IPMI remote console.
Good to know there (and those Xi rigs with the ASpeed machines are out range of students fingers and mine most of the time since they run our operational forecast models).

Still seeking a solution for the HPs. Is Bumblebee an appropriate fix or is that a laptop-only solution? I don't have the re$ource$ to keep reinstalling Centos even on a test machine and would like this easily resolved.

desertcat
Posts: 843
Joined: 2014/08/07 02:17:29
Location: Tucson, AZ

Re: Bumblebee or no Bumblebee? NVIDIA on Centos 7 *destops* with 2 video cards

Post by desertcat » 2017/11/26 06:25:39

Is it correct to say, "To bee or not to bee?"That is indeed the question!

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