Re: Does the video card play any role in RDP/Citrix sessions?

Terminal Services both on Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP include a
driver that acts as the video driver within the TS user sessions. This means
that the local video hardware on the server is not used. All graphical
output created inside the TS user sessions is directed through the RDP video
driver, which converts the GDI calls into an RDP video stream being
forwarded to the network driver. As a result the quality of video hardware
on the Win2003-based or XP-based Terminal Server does not directly affect
graphics performance of TS user sessions. This is why the video driver of
Virtual Server that is being used by Windows XP as a guest system will not
directly affect graphics performance of the remote connections via RDP.
Performance will only be degraded by multiple instances of Windows XP
running in their VMs when they all try to access the resources on your host
server--such as RAM and CPU.

Things look differently on the client side. Here good graphics hardware can
make quite some difference compared to poor performing video cards. Again
the reason is obvious: The RDP data stream reaches the network protocol
stack on the client. It's forwarded to the RDP client application, which
converts the included video information into graphics commands displayed by
the local video driver + video card. Fast video card in conjunction with
enough CPU power (used for RDP decompression and decryption) on the client
side means better graphics performance.

As you can imagine, graphics performance is also affected by the network
bandwidth available for the RDP data stream. A high-end server on one side
and superior graphics hardware on the other side of the network won't help
you if the transport of RDP video data sucks.

BUT there is a big problem regarding AutoCAD. I think AutoCAD uses OpenGL or
some other 3D graphics standard, which is accelerated by good local graphics
hardware. This hardware acceleration will not work using RDP. If you run
AutoCAD in a TS environment, the OpenGL graphics will be converted into
pixels on the server side only using the capabilities of the RDP driver.
Those pixels will be transmitted to the client within the RDP data stream
and displayed on the client side. As you can imagine, this is not the most
effective way.

For AutoCAD users, in your Virtual Server scenario you are making things
even worse: You are running Windows XP within Virtual Server, the system
driver settings are not optimized for high-end graphics. Additionally you
the RDP protocol stack described sooner, which is not optimized for high-end
graphics applications as well. I doubt that AutoCAD will run smoothly in
such an environment. For all the other standard applications, however, your
scenario looks good.

Currently Citrix is working on Project Ocelot, which will be able to take
advantage of OpenGL graphics accelerators in SBC scenarios. This may change
the landscape of using high-end graphics in TS environments. But today, your
users will not be very happy with the performance of their AutoCAD if they
were used to running it on their local high-end workstations.

Benny


--
Bernhard Tritsch
MVP Windows Server - Terminal Server
Author of "Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services", MS Press
http://www.wtstek.com

---
<doug.masters@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1157809577.621251.215250@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm inclined to say "not really" but that's based on nothing, just a
hunch.

To make a long story shorter.... We're looking at buying a very well
equipped Dell 9-series server to run 7 virtual XP Pro systems via MS
Virtual Server. Server & Virtual Server will be the 64-bit edition,
the XP's guests will be 32-bit and the users will access the XP guests
via RDC. The XP boxes will be running a few minor in-house developed
apps, nothing exciting or demanding really except.....they will also be
running AutoCAD 2006 on occasion.

The boss is concerned that the lack of video power on the server will
cause issues with the XP systems, but I say that it all looks like host
processor use since the XP systems aren't real.

Anyone able to shed any light on this?



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Does the video card play any role in RDP/Citrix sessions?
    ... Windows Server - Terminal Services ... driver that acts as the video driver within the TS user sessions. ... the RDP video driver, which converts the GDI calls into an RDP video ... directly affect graphics performance of TS user sessions. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.terminal_services)
  • Re: Does the video card play any role in RDP/Citrix sessions?
    ... all I know about AutoCAD is how to launch it :-) These ... driver that acts as the video driver within the TS user sessions. ... that the local video hardware on the server is not used. ... directly affect graphics performance of the remote connections via RDP. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.terminal_services)
  • Re: stop powerpoint graphics from constantly flashing
    ... I'd definitely check the IBM/Lenovo site to see if a video ... We can't fix anything that's wrong with PPT. ... features itself rather than letting the video driver handle them. ... have complicated graphics? ...
    (microsoft.public.powerpoint)
  • Re: Does the video card play any role in RDP/Citrix sessions?
    ... I believe AutoCad has a hard set limit in it that only allows itself to run ... Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server ... driver that acts as the video driver within the TS user sessions. ... directly affect graphics performance of the remote connections via RDP. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.terminal_services)
  • Re: WMP11 playback blocky and colours wrong
    ... AGP requires a chipset with a graphics address relocation ... PCIe, however, requires that the memory linearization ... the video driver, instead of as an AGP-style separate GART miniport driver. ...
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