# How to configure Paraview Client/Server configuration with native GPU rendering over SSH
**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-configure-paraview-client-server-configuration-with-native-gpu-rendering-over-ssh/2919
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [November 6, 2019, 1:51pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-configure-paraview-client-server-configuration-with-native-gpu-rendering-over-ssh/2919 "2019-11-06T13:51:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@rdbisme](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/rdbisme)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2019, 1:51pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-configure-paraview-client-server-configuration-with-native-gpu-rendering-over-ssh/2919/1 "2019-11-06T13:51:49Z")
Hello,
I’m having some troubles compiling/configuring ParaView in order to be able to render on a remote server on its GPU and visualizing the results on a client, on another machine.
My server setup is an Ubuntu 18.04 machine with full desktop. I compiled `paraview` linking against (I hope) the system openGL library (and not `mesa + llvmpipe`). I also enabled `iGLX`.
The problem is that when I do `glxinfo | grep OpenGL` on the server while connected using `ssh -Y`, I get
```auto
glxinfo | grep OpenGL
OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: llvmpipe (LLVM 8.0, 256 bits)
OpenGL core profile version string: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 19.0.8
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 3.30
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile
OpenGL core profile extensions:
OpenGL version string: 3.1 Mesa 19.0.8
```
so it uses the software rendering. My questions:
- OpenGL over SSH is always software rendered?
- Is it possible to achieve hardware rendering in a Client/Server configuration? If Yes, how?
Thanks in advance,
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2019, 9:00am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-configure-paraview-client-server-configuration-with-native-gpu-rendering-over-ssh/2919/2 "2019-11-07T09:00:39Z")
> [@rdbisme](#):
>
> - OpenGL over SSH is always software rendered?
SSH OpenGL version is not engouh and is not supported by ParaView.
**Do not use ssh -Y or ssh -X**
> [@rdbisme](#):
>
> - Is it possible to achieve hardware rendering in a Client/Server configuration? If Yes, how?
of course, see here :
[https://www.paraview.org/Wiki/Setting\_up\_a\_ParaView\_Server#X\_Connections](https://www.paraview.org/Wiki/Setting_up_a_ParaView_Server#X_Connections)
---
### Author:  [@rdbisme](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/rdbisme)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-configure-paraview-client-server-configuration-with-native-gpu-rendering-over-ssh/2919/3 "2019-11-07T16:43:50Z")
Hello, and thanks for the answer. Unfortunately the wiki you linked is not exhaustive: if I connect using `ssh` but without `-Y`, I get the _Display is not accessible on the server side_ because Paraview cannot connect to the underlying X Server display.
So, how do I achieve Client/Server connection with native hardware accelerated rendering over an SSH Tunnel? In particular, reading the wiki, I don’t have `xdm` on Ubuntu. Is it up to date? Do I need `xdm` on Ubuntu?
Moreover, quoting:
> If the clusters are not _headless_ , i.e if the nodes are operating with full-blown desktop environments (e.g if you are running pvserver on one node that has many graphics cards), then you don’t have to make any changes. Just spawn many processes using mpirun; since the desktop manager is already running, the X windows should not have any trouble in getting created. If Paraview shows errors when the client connects to the pvserver(s), then you will have to follow the **instructions below** and create **one** another display where all the rendering will be done by the pvservers
Which are the **instructions below** to create the other display?
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2019, 4:45pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-configure-paraview-client-server-configuration-with-native-gpu-rendering-over-ssh/2919/4 "2019-11-07T16:45:25Z")
just access your X server.
can you run this over ssh ?
`DISPLAY=:0 glxinfo`
---
### Author:  [@rdbisme](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/rdbisme)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-configure-paraview-client-server-configuration-with-native-gpu-rendering-over-ssh/2919/5 "2019-11-07T16:50:14Z")
No, if I don’t forward the X11 connection (i.e. `ssh -Y` or `ssh -X`). But if I do, then I get software rendering.
Just to be clear, the server and the client are on different machines. The server machine is accessible to the client machine via an SSH tunnel
`ssh -L 11111::11111 @`
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2019, 5:02pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-configure-paraview-client-server-configuration-with-native-gpu-rendering-over-ssh/2919/6 "2019-11-07T17:02:36Z")
is an Xorg server running on the server machine ?
---
### Author:  [@rdbisme](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/rdbisme)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-configure-paraview-client-server-configuration-with-native-gpu-rendering-over-ssh/2919/7 "2019-11-10T20:43:27Z")
Well, I’m quite embarrassed, but no. The X server was not running. 🙂
So what I did was to `startx` Xorg
```auto
1 # nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
2 # nvidia-xconfig: version 430.26
3
4
5 Section "ServerLayout"
6 Identifier "Layout0"
7 Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
8 InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
9 InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
10 EndSection
11
12 Section "Files"
13 EndSection
14
15 Section "ServerFlags"
16 Option "IndirectGLX" "on"
17 EndSection
18
19 Section "InputDevice"
20
21 # generated from default
22 Identifier "Mouse0"
23 Driver "mouse"
24 Option "Protocol" "auto"
25 Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
26 Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
27 Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
28 EndSection
29
30 Section "InputDevice"
31
32 # generated from default
33 Identifier "Keyboard0"
34 Driver "kbd"
35 EndSection
36
37 Section "Monitor"
38 Identifier "Monitor0"
39 VendorName "Unknown"
40 ModelName "Unknown"
41 HorizSync 28.0 - 33.0
42 VertRefresh 43.0 - 72.0
43 Option "DPMS"
44 EndSection
45
46 Section "Device"
47 Identifier "Device0"
48 Driver "nvidia"
49 VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
50 EndSection
51
52 Section "Screen"
53 Identifier "Screen0"
54 Device "Device0"
55 Monitor "Monitor0"
56 DefaultDepth 24
```
and this is its log:
```auto
[1494.409]
X.Org X Server 1.19.6
Release Date: 2017-12-20
[1494.409] X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
[1494.409] Build Operating System: Linux 4.4.0-148-generic x86_64 Ubuntu
[1494.409] Current Operating System: Linux ******* 4.15.0-66-generic #75-Ubuntu SMP Tue Oct 1 05:24:09 UTC 2019 x86_64
[1494.409] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-66-generic root=UUID=b9cf2308-c879-427b-838d-8fafce778567 ro
[1494.409] Build Date: 03 June 2019 08:10:35AM
[1494.409] xorg-server 2:1.19.6-1ubuntu4.3 (For technical support please see http://www.ubuntu.com/support)
[1494.409] Current version of pixman: 0.34.0
[1494.409] Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
to make sure that you have the latest version.
[1494.409] Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
[1494.409] (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Sun Nov 10 15:43:46 2019
[1494.409] (==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
[1494.409] (==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
[1494.409] (==) ServerLayout "Layout0"
[1494.410] (**) |-->Screen "Screen0" (0)
[1494.410] (**) | |-->Monitor "Monitor0"
[1494.410] (**) | |-->Device "Device0"
[1494.410] (**) |-->Input Device "Keyboard0"
[1494.410] (**) |-->Input Device "Mouse0"
[1494.410] (**) Option "IndirectGLX" "on"
[1494.410] (==) Automatically adding devices
[1494.410] (==) Automatically enabling devices
[1494.410] (==) Automatically adding GPU devices
[1494.410] (==) Automatically binding GPU devices
[1494.410] (==) Max clients allowed: 256, resource mask: 0x1fffff
[1494.410] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic" does not exist.
[1494.410] Entry deleted from font path.
[1494.410] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/" does not exist.
[1494.410] Entry deleted from font path.
[1494.410] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/" does not exist.
[1494.410] Entry deleted from font path.
[1494.410] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi" does not exist.
[1494.410] Entry deleted from font path.
[1494.410] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi" does not exist.
[1494.410] Entry deleted from font path.
[1494.410] (==) FontPath set to:
/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc,
/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1,
built-ins
[1494.410] (==) ModulePath set to "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
[1494.410] (WW) Hotplugging is on, devices using drivers 'kbd', 'mouse' or 'vmmouse' will be disabled.
[1494.410] (WW) Disabling Keyboard0
[1494.410] (WW) Disabling Mouse0
[1494.410] (II) Loader magic: 0x556297cc9020
[1494.410] (II) Module ABI versions:
[1494.410] X.Org ANSI C Emulation: 0.4
[1494.410] X.Org Video Driver: 23.0
[1494.410] X.Org XInput driver : 24.1
[1494.410] X.Org Server Extension : 10.0
[1494.411] (--) using VT number 2
[1494.411] (II) systemd-logind: logind integration requires -keeptty and -keeptty was not provided, disabling logind integration
```
and then tried to run `glxinfo`. If I use `startx` , `DISPLAY=:0 glxinfo` is not able to find the DISPLAY (I’m on SSH without X Forwarding). If I use `xinit` , after that I copied the `/etc/xinirc` to my home, `glxinfo` finds the DISPLAY but it runs on software rendering
```auto
DISPLAY=:0 glxinfo | grep OpenGL
OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: llvmpipe (LLVM 8.0, 256 bits)
OpenGL core profile version string: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 19.0.8
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 3.30
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile
OpenGL core profile extensions:
OpenGL version string: 3.1 Mesa 19.0.8
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.40
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL extensions:
OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.0 Mesa 19.0.8
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.00
OpenGL ES profile extensions:
```
---
### Author:  [@rdbisme](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/rdbisme)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2019, 12:47am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-configure-paraview-client-server-configuration-with-native-gpu-rendering-over-ssh/2919/8 "2019-11-11T00:47:32Z")
I made finally some progress, since on Ubuntu `libglvnd` is used, I needed to force `nvidia` vendor.
```auto
DISPLAY=:0 _GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia glxgears
name of display: :0
display: :0 screen: 0
direct rendering: No (If you want to find out why, try setting LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose)
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.4
server glx extensions:
GLX_ARB_context_flush_control, GLX_ARB_create_context,
GLX_ARB_create_context_profile, GLX_ARB_fbconfig_float,
GLX_ARB_framebuffer_sRGB, GLX_ARB_multisample,
GLX_EXT_create_context_es2_profile, GLX_EXT_create_context_es_profile,
GLX_EXT_fbconfig_packed_float, GLX_EXT_framebuffer_sRGB,
GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_libglvnd, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap,
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer,
GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig,
GLX_SGIX_pbuffer, GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group, GLX_SGI_make_current_read
client glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
client glx version string: 1.4
client glx extensions:
GLX_ARB_context_flush_control, GLX_ARB_create_context,
GLX_ARB_create_context_no_error, GLX_ARB_create_context_profile,
GLX_ARB_create_context_robustness, GLX_ARB_fbconfig_float,
GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_buffer_age,
GLX_EXT_create_context_es2_profile, GLX_EXT_create_context_es_profile,
GLX_EXT_fbconfig_packed_float, GLX_EXT_framebuffer_sRGB,
GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_stereo_tree, GLX_EXT_swap_control,
GLX_EXT_swap_control_tear, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap,
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_NV_copy_buffer,
GLX_NV_copy_image, GLX_NV_delay_before_swap, GLX_NV_float_buffer,
GLX_NV_multisample_coverage, GLX_NV_present_video,
GLX_NV_robustness_video_memory_purge, GLX_NV_swap_group,
GLX_NV_video_capture, GLX_NV_video_out, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig,
GLX_SGIX_pbuffer, GLX_SGI_swap_control, GLX_SGI_video_sync
GLX version: 1.4
GLX extensions:
GLX_ARB_context_flush_control, GLX_ARB_create_context,
GLX_ARB_create_context_profile, GLX_ARB_fbconfig_float,
GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample,
GLX_EXT_create_context_es2_profile, GLX_EXT_create_context_es_profile,
GLX_EXT_fbconfig_packed_float, GLX_EXT_framebuffer_sRGB,
GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, GLX_EXT_visual_info,
GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig, GLX_SGIX_pbuffer
OpenGL vendor string:
OpenGL renderer string:
OpenGL version string:
OpenGL extensions:
```
The problem is now that, when I run `pvserver`, I get:
```auto
DISPLAY=:0 __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia pvserver
Waiting for client...
Connection URL: cs://hostname:11111
Accepting connection(s): hostname:11111
Client connected.
ERROR: In /dev/shm/ruben/spack-stage-paraview-5.6.3-gwc3rrsjqd2koa4rtl3gjiaqzprgr4vq/spack-src/VTK/Rendering/OpenGL2/vtkOpenGLRenderWindow.cxx, line 736
vtkXOpenGLRenderWindow (0x5613694ab070): GLEW could not be initialized.
ERROR: In /dev/shm/ruben/spack-stage-paraview-5.6.3-gwc3rrsjqd2koa4rtl3gjiaqzprgr4vq/spack-src/VTK/Rendering/OpenGL2/vtkXOpenGLRenderWindow.cxx, line 796
vtkXOpenGLRenderWindow (0x5613694ab070): failed to create offscreen window
ERROR: In /dev/shm/ruben/spack-stage-paraview-5.6.3-gwc3rrsjqd2koa4rtl3gjiaqzprgr4vq/spack-src/VTK/Rendering/OpenGL2/vtkOpenGLRenderWindow.cxx, line 736
vtkXOpenGLRenderWindow (0x5613694ab070): GLEW could not be initialized.
```
Any idea why?
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2019, 9:25am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-configure-paraview-client-server-configuration-with-native-gpu-rendering-over-ssh/2919/9 "2019-11-12T09:25:53Z")
> [@rdbisme](#):
>
> I made finally some progress, since on Ubuntu `libglvnd` is used, I needed to force `nvidia` vendor.
This glxinfo is still incorrect. You need to fix that first.
Here is how it should look, even over ssh :
```auto
DISPLAY=:0 glxinfo
OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: Quadro K620/PCIe/SSE2
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 390.116
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.60 NVIDIA
```