Where are the GPU VM's?

Carl KADIE 1 Reputation point
2020-10-19T20:44:03.177+00:00

How do I rent a VM with a GPU(s)?

I see GPU's mentioned in the Azure documentation, but there are no links to creating one. Are such VMs only available for some regions and some OS's? If so, how do I figure out which regions and OS?

I'm a volunteer on an Open Source ML/genomics project, https://fastlmm.github.io/. I need to test new support for GPUs.

Carl Kadie, Ph.D.
FaST-LMM & PySnpTools Team
(Microsoft Research, retired)

Azure Virtual Machines
Azure Virtual Machines
An Azure service that is used to provision Windows and Linux virtual machines.
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  1. KarishmaTiwari-MSFT 18,442 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2020-10-19T20:50:19.357+00:00

    Please check this documentation on GPU optimized VMs in Azure.

    These are the GPU optimized virtual machines sizes:

    -The NCv3-series and NC T4_v3-series sizes are optimized for compute-intensive GPU-accelerated applications. Some examples are CUDA and OpenCL-based applications and simulations, AI, and Deep Learning. The NC T4 v3-series is focused on inference workloads featuring NVIDIA's Tesla T4 GPU and AMD EPYC2 Rome processor. The NCv3-series is focused on high-performance computing and AI workloads featuring NVIDIA’s Tesla V100 GPU.

    -The NDv2-series size is focused on scale-up and scale-out deep learning training applications. The NDv2-series uses the Nvidia Volta V100 and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8168 (Skylake) processor.

    -NV-series and NVv3-series sizes are optimized and designed for remote visualization, streaming, gaming, encoding, and VDI scenarios using frameworks such as OpenGL and DirectX. These VMs are backed by the NVIDIA Tesla M60 GPU.

    -NVv4-series VM sizes optimized and designed for VDI and remote visualization. With partitioned GPUs, NVv4 offers the right size for workloads requiring smaller GPU resources. These VMs are backed by the AMD Radeon Instinct MI25 GPU. NVv4 VMs currently support only Windows guest operating system.

    Supported operating systems and drivers
    To take advantage of the GPU capabilities of Azure N-series VMs, NVIDIA or AMD GPU drivers must be installed.

    For VMs backed by NVIDIA GPUs, the NVIDIA GPU Driver Extension installs appropriate NVIDIA CUDA or GRID drivers. Install or manage the extension using the Azure portal or tools such as Azure PowerShell or Azure Resource Manager templates. See the NVIDIA GPU Driver Extension documentation for supported operating systems and deployment steps. For general information about VM extensions, see Azure virtual machine extensions and features.

    Alternatively, you may install NVIDIA GPU drivers manually. See Install NVIDIA GPU drivers on N-series VMs running Windows or Install NVIDIA GPU drivers on N-series VMs running Linux for supported operating systems, drivers, installation, and verification steps.

    For VMs backed by AMD GPUs, see Install AMD GPU drivers on N-series VMs running Windows for supported operating systems, drivers, installation, and verification steps.

    Deployment considerations
    For availability of N-series VMs, see Products available by region.

    N-series VMs can only be deployed in the Resource Manager deployment model.

    N-series VMs differ in the type of Azure Storage they support for their disks. NC and NV VMs only support VM disks that are backed by Standard Disk Storage (HDD). NCv2, NCv3, ND, NDv2, and NVv2 VMs only support VM disks that are backed by Premium Disk Storage (SSD).

    If you want to deploy more than a few N-series VMs, consider a pay-as-you-go subscription or other purchase options. If you're using an Azure free account, you can use only a limited number of Azure compute cores.

    You might need to increase the cores quota (per region) in your Azure subscription, and increase the separate quota for NC, NCv2, NCv3, ND, NDv2, NV, or NVv2 cores. To request a quota increase, open an online customer support request at no charge. Default limits may vary depending on your subscription category.

    Let me know if you have further questions.

    Reference document: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/sizes-gpu

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  2. Carl KADIE 1 Reputation point
    2020-10-19T21:47:08.227+00:00

    Thanks to karishmatiwari-msft for trying to help. Your information helped, but was not enough.

    I eventually found this: https://portal.azure.com/#create/microsoft-dsvm.ubuntu-18041804 and tried creating a VM on US West 2 and it worked.
    (It may have worked for me only because I asked for access the GPU VM's yesterday; I'm not sure).

    The good news is once I got the VM, it included just what I needed (namely, Anaconda Python 3.7 and CUDA 10.1).

    I'm still not sure how much I'm paying, but I'll try to figure that out next.

    Yours,
    Carl