Nvidia Clara AGX User manual

NVIDIA Clara AGX Developer Kit –
Getting Started Guide
Release 1.0
Nvidia Corporation
Nov 17, 2020

Getting Started Guide
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Requirements ........................................ 1
1.2 Precautions ......................................... 1
1.3 System Overview ...................................... 2
2 Steps for Getting Started 5
2.1 Powering up the System .................................. 5
2.2 Flashing and Updating the Clara AGX Developer Kit using SDK Manager ....... 5
2.3 Switching between iGPU and dGPU ............................ 5
2.4 Additional Resources .................................... 6
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Chapter 1
Introduction
The Getting Started Guide for the Clara AGX Developer Kit will guide you through the steps of flashing,
setting up, and starting a new Clara AGX system.
1.1 Requirements
• Clara AGX System with provided power cable
• Ubuntu 18.04 host system
• Standard USB-A to USB-C cable with data enabled
Note: Some USB-C connectors can interfere with the chassis. In this case, we suggest trimming the
base of the connector to ensure proper contact. The cable provided with the unit will work without
modification.
1.2 Precautions
• Only connect and disconnect PCIe cards (e.g. miniSAS or dGPU) when the system is powered
down.
• Apply extra care when plugging in and removing PCIe cards to avoid stress on the PCIe connec-
tors.
• The rightmost USB connector is USB 2.0 (even if the color of the port is blue). The other two
USB connectors are USB 3.0.
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NVIDIA Clara AGX Developer Kit – Getting Started Guide
1.3 System Overview
1.3.1 Main Components
The Clara AGX Developer kit is made of the following major components:
•AGX Xavier 32 GB Module
•Quadro RTX 6000 discrete GPU
•ConnectX-6 IC
• 256GB Removeable SSD
1.3. System Overview 2

NVIDIA Clara AGX Developer Kit – Getting Started Guide
1.3.2 IO and External Interfaces
1. Power cable connection
2. Power switch
3. PCIe slots for customer cards
4. dGPU: See the Switching between iGPU and dGPU section below to determine which display
output to use.
5. 100 GbE QSFP Ethernet connector to Mellanox CX6
6. 10 GbE RJ45 Ethernet connector to Mellanox CX6
Note: The 10 GbE RJ45 Ethernet connector only supports 10 GbE speeds.
7. 1 GbE RJ45 Ethernet connector to Xavier module
8. 2x USB 3.0 ports
9. 1x USB 2.0 port
10. HDMI out: See the Switching between iGPU and dGPU section below to determine which display
output to use
11. HDMI in: Connect instruments that output HDMI to the platform here.
12. Debug USB C port: Connect this to the Linux host system for flashing and serial port connections.
1.3. System Overview 3

NVIDIA Clara AGX Developer Kit – Getting Started Guide
13. PCIe slot for customer card to Mellanox CX6
14. PCIe slot for customer card, to Xavier Module
15. SD card slot
16. Recovery button
17. Reset button
18. Main secondary compartment fan connector (there’s an additional system fan inside the chassis)
19. Auxiliary fan connector for card fans
20. Power button
1.3. System Overview 4

Chapter 2
Steps for Getting Started
2.1 Powering up the System
1. Connect all desired peripherals to the system before powering on.
2. Connect the power cable to the system in the slot labeled (1) in the IO and External Interfaces
section above.
3. Once the power is connected, press the power button (20) for less than 10 seconds. It should light
up with a green light.
4. If you have a display connected, you should see the system booting on it. Please reference the
Switching between iGPU and dGPU section below to determine which display output to use.
2.2 Flashing and Updating the Clara AGX Developer Kit using SDK
Manager
Detailed instructions on how to use SDK Manager for component updates for Clara AGX are available
here. Ensure you have the latest version of SDKmanager installed on the host system.
Your account needs to be approved for the Clara AGX SDK Early Access program for SDKmanager to
be able to flash Clara AGX. Reach out to your main Clara AGX contact at NVIDIA after you apply to be
approved. You will need to log out and log in again on SDKmanager for the permissions to take effect.
The default username and password after flashing are “ubuntu” / “ubuntu”.
2.3 Switching between iGPU and dGPU
The Clara AGX Developer Kit can use either the Xavier AGX module GPU (iGPU, integrated GPU) or
the RTX6000 add-in card GPU (dGPU, discrete GPU). You can only use one type of GPU at a time.
By default, the Clara AGX Developer Kit uses the iGPU. To switch between the iGPU and dGPU, use the
“nvgpuswitch.py” script that is included with the clara-agx-tools package (installed by SDK Manager
with the Clara AGX SDK, located in /opt/nvidia/clara-agx-sdk/clara-agx-tools/
bin).
To view the currently installed drivers and their versions, use the following query command:
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NVIDIA Clara AGX Developer Kit – Getting Started Guide
$ nvgpuswitch.py query iGPU (nvidia-l4t-cuda, 32.5.0-20201012161040)
To install the dGPU drivers, use the following install command with the dGPU parameter (note that
sudo must be used to install drivers):
$ sudo nvgpuswitch.py install dGPU
The install command will begin by printing out the list of commands that will be executed as part of
the driver install, then will continue to execute those commands. This aids with debugging if any of
the commands fail to execute for any reason. The following arguments may also be provided with the
install command:
-d Does a dry run, showing the commands that would be executed by the
˓→install but does not execute them.
-v Enable verbose output (used with `-d’ to describe each of the commands
˓→that would be run).
-i Run commands interactively (asks before running each command).
-l [LOG] Writes a log of the install to the file `LOG’.
The dGPU driver install may be verified once again using the query command:
$ nvgpuswitch.py query dGPU (cuda-drivers, 455.32.00-1)
After the dGPU drivers have been installed, rebooting the system will complete the switch to the dGPU.
At this point the Ubuntu desktop will be output via DisplayPort on the dGPU, so the display cable must
be switched from the onboard HDMI (10) to DisplayPort on the dGPU (4).
If at any time you want to switch back to iGPU, use the install command with the iGPU parameter:
$ sudo nvgpuswitch.py install iGPU
After the iGPU drivers have been installed, rebooting the system will complete the switch to the iGPU.
At this point the Ubuntu desktop will be output via the onboard HDMI, and so the display cable must be
switched from the DisplayPort on the dGPU (4) to the onboard HDMI (10).
The GPU settings will persist through reboots until it is changed again with “nvgpuswitch.py”.
2.4 Additional Resources
For further documentation, see release notes on the Early Access portal. For further Jetson documenta-
tion, see the L4T documentation.
2.4. Additional Resources 6