Etactiks: Recommended BIOS Settings on HP ProLiant DL580 G7 for VMware vSphere

The HP Proliant DL580 G7 has several important BIOS Settings which need to be set.

The default options are in Italic while the non-default (recommended) options are in Bold.

Options which are not relevant are left out.

You might need to change options if you have a specific configuration or specific needs. This list is only a general guideline for most of the settings tuned for vSphere.

Option	Value	Description
System Options
–Serial Port Options
—-Embedded Serial Port	COM 1; IRQ4; IO: 3F8h-3FFh	The onboard Serial Port is left enabled in case Serial-Line logging at the server is needed.
—-Virtual Serial Port	COM 2; IRQ3; IO: 2F8h-2FFh	The Virtual Serial Port is needed to do Serial-Line logging through iLO 3.
–Embedded NICs
—-Embedded NIC Boot Options	Disabled	If you don't PXE boot the server, set it to disabled. Otherwise, leave it enabled. Setting it to disabled saves you 2 seconds when booting the server
–Advanced Memory Protection	Advanced ECC Support	Depending on your needs, you might want to select improved Memory Protection
–USB Options
—-USB Control	USB Enabled	Allows the use of Keyboard and Mouse during vSphere setup.
—-USB 2.0 Controller	Enabled	Allows USB 2.0 high speed transfers.
—-Removable Flash Media Boot Sequence	External DriveKeys First	Allows the host to boot from external USB keys (and iLO). Necessary for firmware updates, …
–Processor Options
—-No-Execute Memory Protection	Enabled	Needed for vSphere
—-Intel® Virtualization Technology	Enabled	Needed for vSphere
—-Intel® Hyperthreading Options	Enabled	Divides each core in 2 logical CPU's, improving the vSphere CPU schedulers possibilities.
—-Processor Core Disable	All Cores Enabled	No reason to disable cores.
—-Intel® Turbo Boost Technology	Enabled	When not all cores are used, ESX will park those cores and over clock the other ones. When an ESX host is not using all its cores, the active cores will run faster resulting in faster VM speeds.
—-Intel® VT-d	Enabled	Needed for vSphere (VMDirectIO, …)
–NUMLOCK Power-On State	Disabled	In most server rooms or when using a laptop to access the server console, a numeric keypad is not available.
Power Management Options
–HP Power Profile	Custom	Allows to enable custom Power settings specific for vSphere
–HP Power Regulator	OS Control Mode	Hands over the Power Management to vSphere. The other options give this control to the server itself.
–Redundant Power Supply Mode	High Efficiency Mode (Auto)	By default (Balanced Mode), the server uses all installed PSU's. This might look like the most efficient use, but the more power is drawn from a PSU, the more efficient it operates. The less power you draw from a PSU, the more gets lost to keep the PSU working. Thus, it is best to use the minimum amount of PSU's so they deliver the highest possible output. The remaining PSU's are placed in standby. This settings does not affect redundancy as the standby PSU's jump in as soon as an active one fails. By using the 'Auto' mode, the active PSU's are chosen based on the server's serial number (odd or even number = odd or even PSU numbers). This makes sure that all power circuits in the racks are evenly used.
–Advanced Power Management Options
—-Minimum Processor Idle Power State	C3 State	Needed for vSphere DPM. Allows vSphere to halt unneeded cores.
—-Maximum Memory Bus Frequency	Auto	Memory only runs at 1 speed in these servers -> 800 MHz
—-PCI Express Generation 2.0 Support	Auto	Server will detect PCIe Generation itself. Forcing it to PCIe 2.0 will make all PCIe 1.0 cards unusable.
—-Dynamic Power Savings Mode Response	Fast	Switch faster between processor states.
—-Collaborative Power Control	Enabled	Allows vSphere to control the PCC Interface
—-DIMM Idle Power Saving Mode	Enabled	DIMMs can put themselves into Low Power mode when not used. This will save some power if not all memory is used on the host.
Server Availability
–ASR Status	Disabled	ASR monitors an agent running in the Service Console. When this does not respond within 10 minutes, the host is rebooted. However, if the agent fails or the Service Console becomes sluggish (even though the VM's are perfectly fine), ASR will detect this as a system hang and will reboot the server. Furthermore, in case of a PSOD, ASR will reboot the server as well. This reboot might cause a loss of some logfiles.
–ASR Timeout	10 Minutes	This has no effect since ASR is disabled.
–Thermal Shutdown	Enabled	To protect your server, it will be shutdown in case it gets too hot.
–Wake-On LAN	Enabled	vSphere DPM uses Wake-On LAN to power on servers (it uses iLO first, but falls back on Wake-On LAN)
–POST F1 Prompt	Disabled	The system boots if critical components fail.
–Power Button	Enabled	Power Button behaves like it should
–Automatic Power-On	Disabled	If set to enabled, the server will power-on as soon as AC Power is available. When set to disabled, power is restored to its previous state when AC Power is available.
–Power-On Delay	No Delay	When AC Power is restored, all systems will come online at the same time causing a power spike. If the power system is unable to handle this, a random delay will solve this problem.
BIOS Serial Console & EMS
–BIOS Serial Console Port	Auto
–BIOS Serial Console Baud Rate	9600
–EMS Console	Disabled
–BIOS Interface Mode	Auto
Advanced Options
–Advanced System ROM Options
—-Option ROM Loading Sequence	Load Embedded Devices First	Embedded devices should be loaded first so PXE boot from onboard NICs is always possible.
—-MPS Table Mode	Full Table APIC	vSphere needs this set to Full Table APIC
—-ROM Selection	Use Current ROM	Backup ROM is only needed when a firmware flash was unsuccessful.
—-NMI Debug Button	Enabled	Can be used to generate a NMI through the button on the system board.
—-Virtual Install Disk	Disabled	This Virtual Install Disk only contains drivers for Microsoft Windows Operating system.
—-PCI Bus Padding Options	Enabled	Disabling this option is only necessary for certain older expansion cards.
—-Power-On Logo	Enabled	Disabling has no improvements on boot-times.
–Video Options	Optional Video Primary, Embedded Video Disabled	Default setting.
–Power Supply Requirements Override	Default Power Supply Requirements	PSU requirements will be calculated depending on server power requirements.
–Thermal Configuration	Optimal Cooling	Fans will run at their minimum speed for adequate cooling. Saves some power since they don't run at full speed (less noise as well)
–Advanced Performance Tuning Options
—-HW Prefetcher	Enabled	In previous CPU generations, disabling this options gave better performance. With the Nahalem architecture, it does provide benefits (better caching)
—-Adjacent Sector Prefetch	Enabled	Similar to HW Prefetcher.
—-Hemisphere Mode	Auto	Hemisphere will be enabled if your memory configuration allows it (see HP QuickSpecs for optimal Hemisphere modes)
—-Node Interleaving	Disabled	Since vSphere utilizes NUMA nodes, there is no need to disable NUMA (= enable Node Interleaving)
–Drive Write Cache	Disabled	Only the DVD-ROM drive is attached to the onboard SATA controller. Writes are not possible to this device thus it can be left disabled. This setting has NO effect on the Smart Array Controller settings.
–Asset Tag Protection	Unlocked