[Geoserver-users] Does Geoserver need a video card ?

GeoServer GeoServer User
1

Hello,

We are considering using Geoserver on our projet and I need to
know if Geoserver needs a video card in production.

That may seem a silly question, but some GIS product uses graphic
libraries that require a GPU, and thus a video card built in the
production server (even a "emulated video card" - virtual framebuffer).

So, I need to know if this is the case for geoserver : can geoserver be
installed on a server without any GPU (emulated or not) ?
If it's possible, is there any consequence on the performance of
the map rendering ?

Cheers,
Bertrand.
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2

blega wrote:

Hello,

We are considering using Geoserver on our projet and I need to know if Geoserver needs a video card in production.

That may seem a silly question, but some GIS product uses graphic libraries that require a GPU, and thus a video card built in the production server (even a "emulated video card" - virtual framebuffer).

So, I need to know if this is the case for geoserver : can geoserver be installed on a server without any GPU (emulated or not) ? If it's possible, is there any consequence on the performance of the map rendering ?

Cheers,
Bertrand.
  
I'm not an authority on the issue, but I do not believe that the JVM makes use of the GPU anyway.

We certainly do not have graphics drivers loaded on our servers. So my answer is "no".

-Arne

--
Arne Kepp
OpenGeo - http://opengeo.org
Expert service straight from the developers

3

Arne Kepp wrote:

blega wrote:

Hello,

We are considering using Geoserver on our projet and I need to know if Geoserver needs a video card in production.

That may seem a silly question, but some GIS product uses graphic libraries that require a GPU, and thus a video card built in the production server (even a "emulated video card" - virtual framebuffer).

So, I need to know if this is the case for geoserver : can geoserver be installed on a server without any GPU (emulated or not) ? If it's possible, is there any consequence on the performance of the map rendering ?

Cheers,
Bertrand.
  
I'm not an authority on the issue, but I do not believe that the JVM makes use of the GPU anyway.

It actually tries to use it when working in an enviroment that has
one to accelerate rendering. Never made a measurement of how a GPU
affects WMS rendering thought.

We certainly do not have graphics drivers loaded on our servers. So my answer is "no".

Yup
Cheers
Andrea

4

Ciao Bertrand,
GeoServer should work just fine even without a video card and there
should not be any visible performance difference. GeoServer does not
make use of VolatileImages and also I don't even think we are using
Managed Images too much since we play around with the BufferedImage we
draw into quite a lot, therefore we might loose hw acceleration on
them. Anyway, it's transparently managed by the JVM therefore, who
knows :-).

Anyway, best thing is to try and report your experience.

Ciao,
Simone.
-------------------------------------------------------
Ing. Simone Giannecchini
GeoSolutions S.A.S.
Owner - Software Engineer
Via Carignoni 51Bertrand
55041 Camaiore (LU)
Italy

phone: +39 0584983027
fax: +39 0584983027
mob: +39 333 8128928

http://www.geo-solutions.it
http://simboss.blogspot.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/simonegiannecchini

-------------------------------------------------------

On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 10:22 AM, blega <legabertrand@anonymised.com> wrote:

Hello,

We are considering using Geoserver on our projet and I need to
know if Geoserver needs a video card in production.

That may seem a silly question, but some GIS product uses graphic
libraries that require a GPU, and thus a video card built in the
production server (even a "emulated video card" - virtual framebuffer).

So, I need to know if this is the case for geoserver : can geoserver be
installed on a server without any GPU (emulated or not) ?
If it's possible, is there any consequence on the performance of
the map rendering ?

Cheers,
Bertrand.
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5

Thanks for your answers !

Cheers,
Bertrand
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