Cloud GPUs – What is it, When to and when not to use it

For organisations dealing with heavy computing technologies such as Artificial Intelligence(AI), Machine Learning (ML), and 3D visualisation, Graphics Units (GPU) computing plays a major role. Modern GPUs are designed to overcome the issues faced in the deep learning models in the organisations such as longer times, hefty costs, storage issues, and lesser productivity by offering high efficiency for computations and training AI models faster.

The recent Cloud computing advancements have originated the cloud GPUs which are transforming the data world and other emerging technologies.

What Is A Cloud GPU?

While the GPUs refer to special electronic circuits for manipulating memory to create graphics or images efficiently because of their parallel structure, cloud GPUs are heavier applications-oriented. Cloud Graphics Units (GPUs) are computer instances with robust hardware for running applications to handle massive AI and deep learning workloads in the cloud. A cloud GPU does not demand deploying a GPU on your device.

Here are some of the common examples where a cloud GPU is used:

• Analytics, Deep learning, and Mathematical modelling
• CAD applications such as video encoding, rendering, and streaming
• Embedded systems
• Gaming consoles
• Cloud Gaming
• Mobile phones
• Personal Computers (PCs)
• Workstations
• Image recognition
• 3D computer graphics Calculations
• Texture mapping
• Geometric calculations
• Video decoding, encoding, and streaming
• Graphic designing
• Content creation

When Should You Use a Cloud GPU?

Using a cloud GPU depends on the typical applications in an industry where heavy computing is required. Cost being one of the prominent factors among the organisations, it is advisable to use this system for those applications where parallelized computing is required such as data processing and a lot more.

Although some GPUs can be equally priced as CPUs, currently there are some reasons which make GPUs more cost-intensive:

• Global chip shortage
• COVID-19 Pandemic
• Heavy tariffs on GPU imports
• For better performance and specifications

When you should not use a Cloud GPU?

For applications where sequential computing is sufficient, cloud GPU is not needed as it will also save intensive costs up to 100 times.

One such instance is SIMD or Single Instruction/Multiple Data, which is a computing method with which multiple data is processed with a single instruction that can be handled with a CPU and a cloud GPU is not required.

Typically, the 3D graphics and processing audio and video in multimedia applications are one such use case where a single CPU is sufficient.

Another reason why CPUs are still preferred is that GPUs are parallel processors which do limited operations on an independent dataset and divide that among the processors for faster execution and are performed easily on multiple processors such as in graphic computing.

CPUs are useful for applications that are not heavily parallelized. The speed in this case is because of the hardware offering solutions for specific applications. For minor Excel calculations, using GPUs is not necessary as even the slowest CPUs can outperform it as that work is not easily split and managed.

What is a vCPU?

A shared vCPU (or Shared Virtual Processing Unit) is a system where the physical central processing unit of a device is assigned to a virtual machine, and it’s called a vCPU or Virtual Central Processing Unit. Shared vCPU is a time-dependent entity which can be assigned to many virtual machines in an organized time slot for individual or shared use.

In most cases, one virtual machine is allotted a one shared vCPU each if there are many vCPU cores present. Each core of a vCPU is monitored by a Hypervisor which is a kind of monitoring device.

Many users can access the allotted logical partitions on the shared virtual processing using according to the given time and volume of use.

Advantages of Using Shared vCPU:

● One vCPU can process the request quickly.

● These CPU units maximize resource utilization.

Shared vCPU machines provide one virtual CPU that is allowed to run for a portion of the time on a single hardware hyper-thread on the host CPU running on your behalf. Using Shared vCPU can be more cost-effective for running small, non-resource intensive applications better than for running standard, high-memory or high CPU intensive applications and tools.

Which Types of Functions can Shared vCPU Perform?

Let us have a quick analysis as to which functions can be carried out using Shared vCPU at present –

● Low traffic web servers

● Discussion forums

● Content Management Systems (CMS)

● Blogs

● Small databases

● Dev/test servers

● Microservices

Install Azure PowerShell with MSI

To use Azure PowerShell, you need to:

1. Update to Windows PowerShell 5.1 if needed. If you’re on Windows 10, you already have PowerShell 5.1 installed.
2. Install .NET Framework 4.7.2 or later.

The MSI package for Azure PowerShell is available from GitHub. If you have installed earlier versions of Azure PowerShell using the MSI, the installer automatically removes them. The MSI package installs modules in:

${env:ProgramFiles}\WindowsPowerShell\Modules.

To start working with Azure PowerShell, sign in with your Azure credentials.

# Connect to Azure with an interactive dialog for sign-in
Connect-AzAccount

Note:

If you’ve disabled module autoloading, you need to manually import the module with Import-Module Az. Because of the way the module is structured, this can take up to a minute.

When do you need to rent a server?

To be clear, you need to rent a server when the needs of your business demand it. The growth of an online business means more traffic (maybe international) needs to be handled. This and other vital tasks require more technical resources, and once you reach that point, renting a server is a good decision.

Pay only for the resources you use

When you rent a server, providers usually offer different plans with varying features. The price is set for the features included in every plan. Therefore, once you choose a plan, you can easily organize your budget. You will pay the same fee every month. With cloud services, you can add features for a limited time, for instance, the month of your biggest yearly sale, and after that month you can get back to your regular plan and fee.

Have modern hardware

Providers are constantly updating their technology to offer the best to their clients. When you rent a server, your provider will be the one investing in the newest and most modern equipment for you to enjoy in exchange for a monthly fee. Using top-notch hardware won’t be a burden for your budget.

Have a complete server even if your business isn’t that big yet

If your business is growing at a consistent pace and you want to get a server anticipating the increasing traffic, you can do it without affecting your budget. There are different plans and  there will be one that suits your needs and budget.

Have redundancy

Providers have entire data centers connected to the fastest and most robust networks to offer you redundancy. They, and not you, will do everything for your website to be constantly available.

Have DDoS protection

Servers are clear targets for criminals. DDoS protection is expensive, but it can be included in your plan when you rent a server. Your security will be strengthened for the monthly fee you are already paying.

Advantages of Dedicated Servers

Superior performance

Even if you chose one of the starter plans you will have a lot more capable computer than most of the shared or cloud solutions. A dedicated server can handle heavy e-commerce sites more easily. You will have the whole power of your device for yourself.

Less expensive than investing in hardware

You have probably thought about getting your own server and having it “in-house”. There are plenty of problems with that. To start, it is not easy to plan your future needs. If you choose the wrong dedicated server, you can still update to a better plan. If you pay for your hardware, it will be expensive and hard to sell in the future.

There are also a lot of worries about the environment in which the server will be. Cloud companies offer you controlled temperature and humidity, guaranteed uninterrupted power supply, and excellent internet connectivity.

Security

For those of you who manage extremely sensitive data like bank accounts, personal health data, ID numbers and more, excellent security is a must. When you have your dedicated server, you can secure it the way you want. Close the ports that you don’t use, install the protection software you like, add secured communication.

Control

Manage it the way you want. Install the OS of your choice, have root access, tweak the system down to the last detail. You can set the perfect environment for your applications and set secured restricted access. The limits are set just by the knowledge of your system administrator.

With our servers, you get full access via an IPMI controller with a separate IP address.

Independence

The cloud is great, but you must share it with other users. The worst part is that an attack on some of your “neighbors” on the cloud, can affect you negatively too. You will also have a network dependency with them too. If they have strong traffic it can slow your connectivity.