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How to enable iGPU on Hetzner - For Hardware Accelerated Transcoding in Plex/Emby

Note: This was tested on Hetzner's EX41-SSD Server, running Intel Core i7-7700 CPU on Ubuntu Server 16.04, but should work on other Hetzner servers with supported Intel CPUs (see this and this).

Note: If you have a Coffee Lake or newer CPU (e.g. the Intel Core i7-8700 in EX61-NVME), you will need to either 1) update to Ubuntu Server 18.04, or 2) update the kernel on 16.04 (see this), to have /dev/dri show up.

When iGPU isnt loaded...

/dev/dri path will be missing...

$ ls -la /dev/dri
ls: cannot access '/dev/dri': No such file or directory

vainfo will show this:

$ vainfo
error: can't connect to X server!
error: failed to initialize display
Aborted (core dumped)

Note: You may have to install vainfo via sudo apt-get install vainfo.

See if iGPU is supported on your server

Run the following command:

sudo lspci -v -s $(lspci | grep VGA | cut -d" " -f 1)

If your server supports iGPU, you will see something similar to Kernel modules: i915. However, kernel driver will not be loaded (i.e. Kernel driver in use: i915 will be missing).

Steps to enable iGPU

Hetzner disables loading of video card drivers unless install desktop OS. So to enable the loading of the drivers (ie. VA-AI) follow the steps below:

  1. Open /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-hetzner.conf (e.g. sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-hetzner.conf) and comment-out (add a # in front of) all lines referencing i915 driver or similar.

    • Example:

      • Before:

        ### Hetzner Online GmbH - installimage
### silence any onboard speaker
blacklist pcspkr
blacklist snd_pcsp
### i915 driver blacklisted due to various bugs
### especially in combination with nomodeset
blacklist i915 
blacklist i915_bdw
### mei driver blacklisted due to serious bugs
blacklist mei
blacklist mei-me

      • After:

        ### Hetzner Online GmbH - installimage
### silence any onboard speaker
blacklist pcspkr
blacklist snd_pcsp
### i915 driver blacklisted due to various bugs
### especially in combination with nomodeset
#blacklist i915 
#blacklist i915_bdw
### mei driver blacklisted due to serious bugs
blacklist mei
blacklist mei-me

  2. Open /etc/default/grub.d/hetzner.cfg (e.g. sudo nano /etc/default/grub.d/hetzner.cfg) and delete nomodeset from the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line.

    Note 1: For Ubuntu 18.04, this file may just be /etc/default/grub.

    Note 2: Your GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT might have something else in there, e.g. GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset consoleblank=0". That is OK. You are only taking out the word nomodeset from that line.

    • Example:

      • Before:

        GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=false
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset net.ifnames=0"

# only use text mode - other modes may scramble screen
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX="text"

      • After:

         GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=false
 GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="net.ifnames=0"

 # only use text mode - other modes may scramble screen
 GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX="text"

  3. Reload grub and reboot.

    sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
sudo reboot

Verify iGPU is enabled

/dev/dri will now exist with similar contents as below:

$ ls -la /dev/dri
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root        80 Sep 30 05:14 .
drwxr-xr-x 20 root root      4200 Sep 30 05:14 ..
crw-rw----  1 root video 226,   0 Sep 30 05:14 card0
crw-rw----  1 root video 226, 128 Sep 30 05:14 renderD128

vainfo will now show the details of the video driver.

Note: If the following doesn't work, that's OK. As long as /dev/dri exists with contents, you can move on to the next step`.

$ vainfo
error: can't connect to X server!
libva info: VA-API version 0.39.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_0_39
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA-API version: 0.39 (libva 1.7.0)
vainfo: Driver version: Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Kabylake - 1.7.0
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints

VAProfileMPEG2Simple            :	VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG2Simple            :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileMPEG2Main              :	VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG2Main              :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline:	VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline:	VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264Main               :	VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264Main               :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264High               :	VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264High               :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264MultiviewHigh      :	VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264MultiviewHigh      :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264StereoHigh         :	VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264StereoHigh         :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileVC1Simple              :	VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVC1Main                :	VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVC1Advanced            :	VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileNone                   :	VAEntrypointVideoProc
VAProfileJPEGBaseline           :	VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileJPEGBaseline           :	VAEntrypointEncPicture
VAProfileVP8Version0_3          :	VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVP8Version0_3          :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCMain               :	VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain               :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCMain10             :	VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVP9Profile0            :	VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVP9Profile2            :	VAEntrypointVLD

You can also check by running sudo lspci -v -s $(lspci | grep VGA | cut -d" " -f 1) and finding Kernel driver in use: i915.

$ sudo lspci -v -s $(lspci | grep VGA | cut -d" " -f 1)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 5912 (rev 04) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: Fujitsu Technology Solutions Device 121c
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 125
	Memory at ee000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	I/O ports at f000 [size=64]
	[virtual] Expansion ROM at 000c0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
	Capabilities: [40] Vendor Specific Information: Len=0c <?>
	Capabilities: [70] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
	Capabilities: [ac] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
	Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [100] #1b
	Capabilities: [200] Address Translation Service (ATS)
	Capabilities: [300] #13
	Kernel driver in use: i915
	Kernel modules: i915

Enable HW acceleration in Plex (Cloudbox)

Hardware acceleration is currently only available to Plex Pass members.

Note 1: ALL the steps below are essential!

Note 2: Step 1 is only necessary for existing Cloudbox installs. If you haven't installed Cloudbox yet, install Cloudbox first and then jump to Step 2.

  1. Update the Plex container (your database and settings will remain intact).

    sudo ansible-playbook cloudbox.yml --tags plex

    Note: This step is important because it adds /dev/dri/ to the Plex container. HW acceleration will not work without it.

  2. Enable HW Acceleration in Plex:

    • Settings -> Server -> Transcoder

    • "Use hardware acceleration when available": enabled

Enable HW acceleration in Emby (Cloudbox)

Note 1: ALL the steps below are essential!

Note 2: Step 1 is only necessary for existing Cloudbox installs. If you haven't installed Cloudbox yet, install Cloudbox first and then jump to Step 2.

  1. Update the Emby container (your database and settings will remain intact).

    sudo ansible-playbook cloudbox.yml --tags emby

    Note: This step is important because it adds /dev/dri/renderD128 to the Emby container. HW acceleration will not work without it.

  2. Enable HW Acceleration in Emby:

    • Gear icon -> Server -> Transcoding

    • "Hardware acceleration:" Video Acceleration API (VA API) (experimental)

    • "VA API Device:" /dev/dri/renderD128

    • "Enable hardware encoding": enabled

Tests

Intel GPU Top tool

To install it:

  • sudo apt-get install intel-gpu-tools

To run it:

  • sudo intel_gpu_top

Test 1

CPU: Intel Core i7-7700
OS: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Plex Server (docker): 1.10.0.4523
Plex transcode: Movie @ 1080p BluRay Remux (H264) --> 4Mbps 720p HD (H264).

CPU Usage (htop)

Without HW Acceleration: ~450%

With HW Acceleration: ~40%

iGPU Usage (intel_gpu_top)

Without HW Acceleration:

With HW Acceleration:

Test 2

CPU: Intel Core i7-7700
OS: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Plex Server (docker): 1.10.0.4523
Plex transcode: Movie @ 2160p (4K-UHD) BluRay Remux (HEVC) --> 4Mbps 720p HD (H264).

CPU Usage (htop)

Without HW Acceleration: ~550%

With HW Acceleration: ~40%

iGPU Usage (intel_gpu_top)

Without HW Acceleration:

With HW Acceleration:

References:
https://www.reddit.com/r/seedboxes/comments/57uq5e/hardware_video_encoding_on_hetzner_server_with/