Ribbon recommends the following BIOS settings for optimum performance. The following table is intended as a reference. Exact values may vary based on vendor and HW.
Recommended BIOS Settings for Optimum Performance
Parameter | Recommended Setting |
---|
CPU power management/ Power Regulator | Maximum performance, or Static High Performance |
Intel Hyper-Threading | Enabled |
Intel Turbo Boost | Enabled |
Intel VT-x (Virtualization Technology) | Enabled |
Thermal Configuration | Optimal Cooling, or Maximum Cooling |
Minimum Processor Idle Power Core C-state | No C-states |
Minimum Processor Idle Power Package C-state | No Package state |
Energy Performance BIAS | Max Performance |
Sub-NUMA Clustering | |
HW Prefetcher | Disabled |
SRIOV | Enabled |
Intel® VT-d | Enabled |
The BIOS settings shown in the example below are recommended for HP DL380p Gen8 servers. For BIOS settings of other servers, refer to the respective vendor's website.
BIOS Setting Recommendations for HP DL380p Gen8 Server
Parameter | Ribbon Recommended Settings | Default Settings |
---|
HP Power Profile | Maximum Performance | Balanced Power and Performance |
Thermal Configuration | Maximum Cooling | Optimal Cooling |
HW Prefetchers | Disabled | Enabled |
Adjacent Sector Prefetcher | Disabled | Enabled |
Processor Power and Utilization Monitoring | Disabled | Enabled |
Memory Pre-Failure Notification | Disabled | Enabled |
Memory Refresh Rate | 1x Refresh | 2x Refresh |
Data Direct I/O | Enabled | Disabled |
SR-IOV | Enabled | Disabled |
Intel® VT-d | Enabled | Disabled |
- Ensure the number of vCPUs in an instance is always an even number (4, 6, 8, and so on), as hyper threaded vCPUs are used.
- . Performance degradation occurs if an instance spans across multiple NUMAs.
- Ensure the physical NICs associated with an instance are connected to the same NUMA/socket where the instance is hosted. Doing so reduces the remote node memory access, which in turn helps improve the performance.
Use the VMware vSphere client to configure the following ESXi host configuration parameters on the Advanced Settings page (see figure below) before installing the SBC SWe.
Path: Host > Manage > Advanced Settings
ESXi Parameter | ESXi 5.1 Settings | ESXi 5.5 Settings | ESXi 6.0 Settings | ESXi 6.5 Settings | ESXi 6.7 Settings |
| Recommended | Default | Recommended | Default | Recommended | Default | Recommended | Default | Recommended | Default |
Cpu.CoschedCrossCall | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Cpu.CreditAgePeriod | 500 | 3000 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 3000 | 1000 | 3000 |
DataMover.HardwareAcceleratedInit | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
DataMover.HardwareAcceleratedMove | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Disk.SchedNumReqOutstanding | 256 | 32 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Irq.BestVcpuRouting | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Mem.BalancePeriod | 0 | 15 | 0 | 15 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Mem.SamplePeriod | 0 | 60 | 0 | 60 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Mem.ShareScanGHz | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
Mem.VMOverheadGrowthLimit | 0 | 4294967295 | 0 | 4294967295 | 0 | 4294967295 | 0 | 4294967295 | 0 | 4294967295 |
Misc.TimerMaxHardPeriod | 2000 | 100000 | 2000 | 100000 | 2000 | 100000 | 2000 | 500000 | 2000 | 500000 |
Misc.TimerMinHardPeriod | 100 | 100 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Net.AllowPT | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Net.MaxNetifRxQueueLen | 500 | 100 | 500 | 100 | 500 | 100 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Net.MaxNetifTxQueueLen | 1000 | 500 | 1000 | 500 | 1000 | 500 | 1000 | 2000 | 2000 | 2000 |
Net.NetTxCompletionWorldlet | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Net.NetVMTxType | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Net.NetTxWordlet | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Numa.LTermFairnessInterval | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Numa.MonMigEnable | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Numa.PageMigEnable | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Numa.PreferHT | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Numa.RebalancePeriod | 60000 | 2000 | 60000 | 2000 | 60000 | 2000 | 60000 | 2000 | 60000 | 2000 |
Numa.SwapInterval | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
Numa.SwapLoadEnable | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
To edit CPU, go to Edit instance settings > Virtual Hardware > CPU.
Parameter | Recommended Settings |
---|
Cores Per Socket | 1 |
Reservation | Value = (No. of vCPUs * CPU frequency)/2 or example, No. of vCPUs associated with the SBC = 32 CPU Model : Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6140 CPU @ 2.30GHz Hence Value = 36800 MHz ( i.e., 32 x 2300 / 2) |
Limit | Unlimited |
Shares | Normal |
To edit Memory, go to Edit instance settings > Virtual Hardware > Memory.
Recommended Memory Settings
Parameter | Recommended Settings |
---|
RAM | As per requirement. |
Reservation | Same as RAM. Check "Reserve all guest memory (All locked)" |
Limit | Unlimited |
Shares | Normal |
To edit Latency sensitivity, go to Edit instance settings > VM Options > Advanced > Latency sensitivity.
Latency sensitivity settings
Configure the VM Latency Sensitivity to High, if the ESX allows it.
To edit NUMA settings, go to Edit instance settings > VM Options > Advanced > Configuration Parameters > Edit Configuration.
Configure numa.nodeAffinity based on the NUMA node to which Pkt NICs are attached (as mentioned in General Recommendations). Ensure the VM memory fits in a single NUMA node, so that remote memory access does not happen.
NUMA Settings numa.nodeAffinity
Configure numa.vcpu.preferHT=TRUE. This is required for better cache optimizations. Refer to http://www.staroceans.org/ESXi_VMkernel_NUMA_Constructs.htm for further details.
NUMA Parameter Settings numa.vcpu.preferHT
Configure numa.autosize.once = FALSE.