Basic XenApp HDX 3D Pro Proof of Concept – What I missed

To proof the capability of XenApp to deliver 3D rendered applications, we build a very basic PoC. We took a used Lenovo ThinkCentre Tower PC with an Intel Core i5 and 4GB RAM and bought a used Nvidia Quadro 2000 for it. It is important to use a Quadro card, because this makes the driver installation much easier. We tried other cards in the first place, but it was just way too much work to get drivers for a Windows Server installation to work properly.

After we got the Nvidia Quadro 2000, I installed Windows Server 2012 R2 and the the XenApp VDA 7.11. Onto the RDSH Host I installed Siemens Solid Edge Viewer ST8 and the Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0. There is a very good list for Free 3D Test Tools over at Citrix Blogs. Then I created a new Machine Catalog and a Delivery Group with a published Desktop.

When I first connected to the published Desktop, there wasn’t any difference in the displayed performance, compared to my previous tests with a XenApp 7.11 VMware virtual machine. The desktop worked just fine, but 3D objects in Solid Edge didn’t rotate, and the Benchmark didn’t have more than 1 FPS.

What I didn’t know from the start was, that I had to set a GPO Computer Policy, to allow the use of a GPU in Session Host mode:

After I enabled the setting via gpedit.msc a reboot, the FPS increased dramatically!

After that I made my first live demo meeting with a customer from our company, and the audience was very impressed by the results.

Ps.: I wrote this blog post months ago, but totally forgot to publish it. Maybe it still helps someone 😉

Author: Marco

Marco is an IT-System administrator and IT-Consultant with 10+ years experience. He is specialized in the delivery of virtual Apps and Desktops with Citrix solutions. In 2017 he has been awarded Citrix Technology Advocate by Citrix for his community work (#CTA). His second core area is availability & performance monitoring with Zabbix, a leading open-source solution. His employer is the German IT-Company ANAXCO, which is developing a Transport Management Software (TMS) based on Microsoft Dynamics AX. More about Marco View all posts by Marco