PowerEdge 840 BIOS XD (Execute Disable) Setting ?

Question

Hello,

I have a PowerEdge 840 on which I am looking to do a little Hyper-V work. In preparation for this I’ve recently upgraded the CPU from the original Pentium D 3.0GHz (no Virtualization Technology support) to a Xeon x3210 which does support VT. The new chip is installed and working fine. Before the chip swap I updated the BIOS from A03 to the latest, A08. When I go into the BIOS, I can find and enable VT, however there is no BIOS setting for XD (Execute Disable). If I look at the CPU information under Dell OpenManage, it says the CPU is not XD capable and XD is not enabled. I’ve tripled checked the BIOS settings and there is no XD enable setting. Just for the heck of it I reflashed the A08 BIOS after the Xeon chip install – no change.

So, I’m puzzled –

I’ve seen Dell documentation that says the PE840 with Xeon processor supports Hyper-V.

I’ve seen Dell documentation that says PE840 BIOS version A02 and later support XD.

Intel clearly says the x3210 supports both VT and XD.

I’ve seen multiple accounts on the web of people running Hyper-V on Xeon equipped PE840s.

What am I missing?

Does this version of BIOS bundle the XD setting within the VT setting?

Is OpenManage lying?

Is there a separate BIOS download for Xeon equipped PE840s? (I pulled down the A08 BIOS associated with the Dell service tag which of course corresponds to a system originally equipped with the Pentium D).

I would greatly appreciate your input on this.

Thank You,

theflash1932 · Accepted Answer

Hey ... so I looked through the docs, and I agree that it "should" be an option, based on the information available.

The BIOS release notes is where I got the revision information:

ftp.dell.com/.../PE840-BIOSA08.TXT

I have never actually seen an 840 labeled specifically as "II", so I don't know if they are so rare or market-specific (for example, there exists an almost mythical 2850 II that supports DC procs and VT, I believe it was released only in European markets) that there aren't many around, or if it is the first revision that is so rare that nearly all 840's are II's, so the distinction is rarely made. There are 3 revisions of the 2950 (which do show the revision in OMSA - maybe the 840 does not), with progressively different specs - FSB, memory max, processor support, internal USB/TPM, etc. The 840 BIOS does indicate a revision II of the 840, but like you said, I believe the point is almost moot, as you seem to have the latest/greatest revision.

You might think about installing Hyper-V as a test to see if it is active. VT, for example, I have seen enabled with a supporting processor is installed, even if the system's BIOS does not have the option to explicitly enable it.

Dev Mgr · Accepted Answer

I noticed that the hyper-v document you link also says that all Dell servers (that are listed) have XD (execute disable) enabled in the bios by default. Maybe on the 840 it's not even an option to disable.

I'd suggest to add the hyper-v role, create a VM and try starting it up (if the hyper-v role couldn't start for whatever reason the attempt to power up the VM will fail, but if the VM powers up, everything is working as intended).

theflash1932 · Answer

OpenManage does not lie ... but it may not correctly understand what it is seeing. Are you using the latest version of OSMA? ESM/BMC also up to date (as well as BIOS)? The ESM/BMC is the actual hardware link for OMSA.

All 840's have a single BIOS update/code - there is not a separate BIOS update for different revisions or configurations.

There are two revisions of the 840 ... there will be a II on it on the chassis (or may say so in the Information section of OMSA's System/Main System Chassis section if you have the second revision. As I understand it, BIOS version A03 accompanied the launch of the 840 II. It is possible that only revision II supports XD, but according to the release notes of the BIOS, only revision II supports the X3210/X3220, so if you have an X3210 successfully running in yours, you probably (should) have revision II.

What documentation did you find that the 840 supports Hyper-V and XD?

dmagnant · Answer

Flash,

Thank You for the response. Below is a link to a Dell document that contains a list (Page 12) that lists specific systems that support Hyper-V. The PowerEdge 840 is listed with the qualifer that it applies only to Xeon equipped systems. Since Hyper-V by definition requires VT and XD, I would take this to mean that the Xeon equipped PE840s support XD.

support.dell.com/.../sova00.pdf

Regarding OMSA - I am running version 6.2 on this system. After reading your post I checked the BMC firmware version. It was at 1.7.x so I updated it to the latest version, 1.8.3, I believe, and no apparent difference in what I'm seeing in OMSA.

I am running the very latest system BIOS - A08.

Very interesting about the PE840 rev II. I looked on the information page of OMSA as you suggested. For Chassis Model it simply says, "PowerEdge 840". Have you seen one of the 840s with a 'II' stamp on the chassis? I'm just curious as to exactly where I would look for that. Or, have you seen an 840 that had a different designator in the OMSA chassis field?

Nonetheless, as you said, if the thing is running ok with the x3210 it would seem that we should be in business.

If anyone out there is seeing an Execution Disable setting in their PE840 BIOS, I sure would like to hear about it - and to know if the system has some kind of Mark II designator.

Again, thank you for the response. I'll rummage around on the web a little to see if I can find out a bit more on the rev II variant.

dmagnant · Answer

Flash,

I meant to add - I have not yet tried installing Hyper-V on this system, I'm just assuming that since BIOS is telling me nothing about XD and OMSA is telling me it is not enabled (or present) that this will be a non-starter.

Thanks,

dmagnant · Answer

Here is a link to the document that lists PowerEdge System BIOS levels that support XD.  The table, on page 8, indicates that XD support on the PE840 starts at A02. support.dell.com/.../ImpInfo.pdf

theflash1932 · Answer

A 'test' install of 2008 R2 with Hyper-V and a Windows 7/2008 R2 VM wouldn't take even an hour to set up to see for sure.  If it works, then you could start on your actual 'rebuild'.  If it doesn't work, then you'll know before investing a lot of time on a rebuild that was doomed from the start. Good luck :)

dmagnant · Answer

Flash / Dev Mgr,

I was thinking along the same lines - that quite possibly XD is default enabled in which case I should be in business as the BIOS does give me the ability to turn on VT. I would simply go ahead and enable the Hyper-V role as suggested except that this system is currently running Server 2003. Part of the reason for the chip upgrade was to prepare the system for a Server 2008 R2 install whereafter we would enable Hyper-V. So, I was trying to be as sure as possilbe of Hyper-V success before undertaking the OS rebuild.

Given that we want to do the 2008 R2 upgrade anyhow, I will plan to proceed and give the Hyper-V role a try when I reach that point. It may be a couple weeks before I have a chance to try that out, but I will plan to post my findings on this thread once I do.

Thank you very much for your input.

dmagnant · Answer

Flash,

I agree, except that the server in question is my utility server (WSUS, SEP Manager, etc.) currently running Server 2003 so I need to plan this over a weekend. My hope is to upgrade to Server 2008 R2, then assuming Hyper-V compatibility, rebuild the original functionality as a Server 2008 R2 VM. As this represents a 32 to 64 bit jump, everything will need to be rebuilt from scratch. If the Hyper-V piece does not work, then at least we've accomplished the Server 2008 R2 upgrade.

Thanks

theflash1932 · Answer

Yeah, that changes things if the server is currently busy doing other things :)  Good luck.

theflash1932 · Answer

No problem ... glad it worked out for you.

dmagnant · Answer

And the answer is... It works.

I had a chance to do the Hyper-V Install and configure a single Server 2008 R2 VM and everything worked very well. Apparently, even though there is no explicit Execute Disable setting in the BIOS, it is enabled by default. So, here is at least one case where a PE 840, with no apparent Rev 2 designation, after a Pentium D 3.0 GHz to Xeon x3210 chip upgrade, does in fact run Hyper-V without issue.

Flash / Dev Mgr - thanks for your help and input on this.

PowerEdge Hardware General

PowerEdge 840 BIOS XD (Execute Disable) Setting ?

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