BIOS setting optimisation for best performance

[a4t3rburn3r]

Hi good people. I have a question about some BIOS tuning practices for get maximum from virtualization server. We got new Supermicro servers, and i need advice about settings to make proxmox run best on this servers. Last 3 years i have worked exclusively with HP Proliant rack servers, and are not familar with Supermicro platform.

I know some resources from another brand manufacturers about tuning BIOS for maximum performance or energy saving:
Cisco: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/produc...ries-blade-servers/whitepaper_c11-727827.html
Dell: http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/white_papers/20248740
HP(actually not hp but for hp +vmware): https://boerlowie.wordpress.com/201...-setting-on-hp-proliant-dl580-g7-for-vsphere/
VMware: https://www.vmware.com/pdf/Perf_Best_Practices_vSphere5.5.pdf (page 17)

The question is: what settings are optimal or safe and stable with best performance? All this documents are similar but some parameters have different settings and often opposite. For example - vmware suggest to turn off interliving, cisco suggest turn it on. Cisco proposes to disable turbo boost but fujitsu and vmware talking about eneabling it. I can't find recommendations or practics about KVM virtualization - even in Red Hat documentations.
Maybe someone has links for documentations or some tests or own knowledge to share (good if it will be matherial about KVM and Supermicro motherboards).

Thx and good luck.

 

[manu]

Hi
I would advise first to leave the default settings, just make sure the hardware related virtualization options (Intel VT-x & VT-D ) are activated if you plan to run KVM.

 

[mmenaz]

In general, DISABLE "power saving, dynamic frequency, cre disabling, etc"
In an old post I've found "The problem is that if a core is shutted down, or frequency change, the vms are unware of this, and this can lead to problems, mainly clock problems. And windows guests really don't like this. (Note: Maybe it can be improved soon with qemu hyper-v features, but I'm not sure)"
So I usually disable something like:
C1E Support > disabled (on Fujitsu servers is called "Enhanced Halt State (C1E)")
Intel C-State > disabled
Enhanced Intel Speedstep Tech : off (dynamic frequency)
And enable
Max performance > ON
Don't know if with recent qemu versions (>= 2.4) everything has changed and this is no more needed