Multipoint Server 2012 Graphics Cards

[logicwrath]

I have deployed 3 matching Windows Multipoint 2012 servers and I have had a really hard time keeping them in station mode. We first set them up with onboard Intel HD 4000 graphics and had issues maintaining station mode reliably. Next we purchased nVidia Quadro 410 video cards and installed those. We are still having issues maintaining station mode reliably. Sometimes the 2 of the 3 units will stay in station mode for weeks and then something changes and it will stay in console mode. The only way to get back into station mode on the systems when they are reliably going into console mode is to delete the video card from device manager and reboot. It will then go into station mode until it is restarted again.

 

It seems that at times moving the VGA cable between the disabled onboard video and the Quadro discrete graphics cards and/or adding a USB hub to the server with a keyboard and mouse will after some reboots bring the station back into a reliable console mode.

 

We are using T200 zero clients with usb over ethernet connections.

 

Does WMS 2012 work better having a USB hub with keyboard, mouse connected even though all the stations are using USB over ethernet? It seems that when I have a directly attached keyboard and mouse on a USB hub I get different results with the station mode/console mode issue.

 

Finally, is anyone using a large deployment with WMPS 2012? Can you share with use reliable hardware recommendations. This is really frustrating for me. The teaching staff love the features of MPS but the reliability issues will keep me from setting this solution up at other schools.

 

These servers are using HP SFF desktops with core i7 gen 3 CPUs.

[Axel]

Most of the "problems" associated with Multipoint are due to the USB drivers. In many cases, even when using Ethernet connected devices, the actual technology is "USB over Ethernet" which is different to a generic Ethernet connection, in that the server "sees" a USB interface, and the driver packetizes this USB data into TCP/IP.

 

HP acknowledged these problems and killed off their T200 product (USB over Ethernet) before is really even hit the ground...

 

The other "issue" is that for USB connected devices, (and USB over Ethernet) - almost all the work is done on the server, so the servers have to work harder, especially if you scale up the number of clients. This is why there is a maximum limit to connected USB device well below the Microsoft imposed limit.

 

The solution to both the issues above is to use RDP clients. You will need to qualify multimedia performance meets your expectations and the clients may cost a bit more, but you won't get the application conflict issues and connection problems....

 

Ultimately if connecting via RDP, Windows Multipoint is extremely similar to the corresponding full server version of Windows where RDP has been successfully used for years.

 

Thin Client on Windows Multipoint Server - YouTube

[logicwrath]

I agree that there are issues related to USB devices and USB over Ethernet thin clients. However, I am not sure how these are related to the station mode / console mode issue I am speaking to specifically. The WMS hosts are intermittently not starting in station mode and the error I get is related to the graphics driver. Additionally, after a working a very long case with Microsoft on these issues MS is blaming the graphics driver and told me contact nVidia.

 

nVidia did not respond to my queries.

 

I need a known reliable graphics card for WMS 2012. I am hopeful this will solve the problem and the school can use the existing zero clients they purchased for this project. I have a WMS server where no USB clients and no USB over Ethernet clients are connected too and it still has the station mode / console mode issue.

[Axel]

I'm sorry, I can't help with that - for RDP connections you don't need any graphics card at all in the server

[robjduk]

I use Multipoint 2012 along with T200's and can confirm there is no need for a graphics card.

[SYNACK]

The station mode thing is common, I ditched my usage of 2012 and went back to 2011 because I could not fix them without a full reinstall. 2011 you could at least force ctrl-alt-del then force station mode.

 

MPS is unstable and MS does not seem to care.

[robjduk]

First up just for the record I used an AMD 7870 I believe but then found out there is no real software acceleration unless you are going to use better clients. Anyway not had an issue and found 2012 head and shoulders over 2011 in its speed and reliability.

The only difference I did was install the barebones Hyper-V on the host and then run two Multipoints off that rather than one. Fixed any issues I had instantly and so much faster.

[SYNACK]

First up just for the record I used an AMD 7870 I believe but then found out there is no real software acceleration unless you are going to use better clients. Anyway not had an issue and found 2012 head and shoulders over 2011 in its speed and reliability.

The only difference I did was install the barebones Hyper-V on the host and then run two Multipoints off that rather than one. Fixed any issues I had instantly and so much faster.

 

Stable Multipoint, can I ask:

What Motherboard

USB Hubs

USB audio

GPU driver version and number of GPUs

 

The only way I have ever managed to get a multipoint stable is to use it as a terminal server at which point it is not really a multipoint, just a TS.