BIOS Policy setting "CPU Performance" for M5 Blades- Enterprise or Platform Default?

[Amarpal]

We are using CISCO B200 M5 blades in UCSM firmware version 3.2(3g)b.

Release Notes for Cisco UCS Manager, Release 3.2

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/release/notes/CiscoUCSManager-RN-3-2.html

My question is as per release notes for UCSM 3.2(3g)b above, M5 does not support BIOS defaults and in my environment the BIOS setting for "CPU performance"is set to "platform default". Do we get enterprise level performance from this BIOS setting ?

My doubt here is as per CISCO performance tuning guide below for M5, they have kept  it to " Platform Default" for virtualization workloads.

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-b-series-blade-servers/whitepaper_c11-740098.pdf 

Does CISCO hard coded the CPU performance setting as "Enterprise" before delivery to us for M5s(clients who purchase them)

or do we need to change the setting to "Enterprise"in BIOS after CISCO delivers M5s. Please let me know specifically - do I have to set CPU performance to "enterprise" for virtualization workloads for M5s.

My environment is quite big one and hence need your help here.

[amarino2 · Accepted solution]

It is not just the CPU performance BIOS option you should be looking at, but how all the options work together. 

In the Release Notes it links to "Cisco UCS M5 Server BIOS Tokens" which has a "Default Value" for all of the BIOS options, essentially the Platform Default. It also shows what the other settings are changed if you choose a preset profile (Enterprise, High Throughput, HPC): 

If set as Enterprise then:

• Hardware Prefetcher is Enabled

• Adjacent Cache Line Prefetcher is Enabled

• DCU Streamer Prefetch is Enabled

• DCU IP Prefetcher is Enabled

If set as High Throughput then:

• Hardware Prefetcher is Disabled

• Adjacent Cache Line Prefetcher is Disabled

• DCU Streamer Prefetch is Disabled

• DCU IP Prefetcher is Enabled

If set as HPC then:

• Hardware Prefetcher is Enabled

• Adjacent Cache Line Prefetcher is Enabled

• DCU Streamer Prefetch is Enabled

• DCU IP Prefetcher is Enabled

The same "BIOS Values (platform-default)" column is in the Performance Tuning Guide for M5 that you linked. In both Table 4 "BIOS recommendations for maximum performance, low latency, and energy efficiency " and Table 5 "BIOS Options for various workloads" it shows what the platform-default is set to in the first column. For CPU Performance it is set to "Custom". That allows further options to be manually set. 

For example, in your Virtualization workload, it has you set the Power Technology to "Custom" so you can then change all the C States to "Disabled". In the detailed text it also mentions that it needs to be set to "Custom" to be able to individual settings:

"For best performance, set the power technology option to Performance or Custom. If it is not set to Custom, the individual settings for Intel SpeedStep and Turbo Boost and the C6 power state are ignored"

You can also refer to the following section of the Config Guide which goes over all the settings in more detail, and also mentioned that some settings are only configurable if the CPU Performance is set to "Custom"

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/ucs-manager/GUI-User-Guides/Server-Mgmt/3-2/b_Cisco_UCS_Manager_Server_Mgmt_Guide_3_2/b_Cisco_UCS_Manager_Server_Mgmt_Guide_3_2_chapter_01110.html

CPU Performance must be set to Custom in order to specify this value. For any value other than Custom, this option is overridden by the setting in the selected CPU performance profile.

Every environment is different and the guides are general recommendations for most setups. But all the documentation is there to learn the individual settings and tweak them for your specific install. And if you want to turn everything up to the max or down to be energy efficient, it lists the various options in Table 4 of the Performance Tuning Guide.

[Amarpal]

Thanks for the elaborative explanation. I got the point.

[Qiese Dides · Accepted solution]

Hi Amarpal,

Please note that the minute you apply a service profile to the blade it will take the BIOS setting that the service profile has configured prior. That is when you can make fine-tuning adjustments to the blades BIOS settings if needed.

You will have the option to beef up or change the BIOS settings to your liking. They will have the capability to use "Enterprise" level BIOS settings, but these are options you can create via a BIOS Policy.

- Please rate/mark the solution if it is helpful. This will assist others in finding the correct answer to your question.

[Amarpal]

Really helpful!!