How to Enable Dell Processor Acceleration Technology

This article describes instructions for implementing DPAT on Dell PowerEdge servers

Table of Contents:

1. Overview
2. Processor Acceleration Technology
3. Enable DPAT in the BIOS
4. Enable DPAT with RACADM
5. Enable DPAT using WSMAN
6. Enable DPAT with DTK
7. Additional Information

1. Overview

Dell Processor Acceleration Technology (DPAT), enabled through the BIOS, provides a better performing solution than turning turbo off to force operation at the lowest base frequency of the processor while maintaining a more consistent turbo frequency state. DPAT minimizes transition duration when the processor functions in turbo mode, thereby decreasing jitter and allowing for lesser latency. This function is only supported on the Intel E5-2690 processor with newest bios and iDRAC firmware. This feature can be enabled using racadm, Web Services Management (WSMAN), and Dell Deployment ToolKit (DTK) commands.

2. Processor Acceleration Technology

Dell servers can be set to Maximum Performance in the bios but this feature is intended for maximum throughput not latency. Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 was developed to get most speed out of the any running cores in a multicore multiprocessor environment within the power constraints of the CPU. Turbo Boost is activated by the Operating System (OS) following ACPI standards using processor performance states. When the OS instructs an Active core to enter C3 sleep state the other cores dynamically accelerate to a higher frequency. Turbo Boost is limited by the number of cores, current and estimated power consumption and temperature when it runs. The Power Gate Transistor Intel developed means very little power is used by cores when they are off so Active cores can run at a higher frequency. The processor is stepped in 100MHz steps in response to Turbo Boost. There is some latency in stepping frequency, changing C states and other CPU functions.

Some environments such as High Frequency Trading in the Financial Markets need low latency in their transactions. Dell Processor Acceleration Technology (DPAT), enabled through the BIOS, provides a better performing solution than turning turbo off to force operation at the lowest base frequency of the processor. PAT limits the settings for the processor uses to keep latency low all the time. Using Turbo Boost with PAT the fewer cores you activate the faster the clock speed you can use. This was developed for the Intel E5-2690 processor (which runs at 2.9GHZ) so can typically run at 3.8Ghz with a single core, 3.6GHz with a dual core or 3.4GHz with 4-cores.

3. Enabling DPAT in the Bios

The following Dell PowerEdge systems with Intel E5-2690 processors installed, support DPAT

To support DPAT on your system, make the following changes in the BIOS setup.

1. Set the desired number of cores
   • Press F2 to enter the System Setup menu
   • In the Processor Settings screen, set the Number of Cores per Processor to the desired value.

2. Make the required changes in the BIOS system profile
   • Set the System Profile in the BIOS setup to Performance mode
   • Make the changes using the System Profile Custom selection
     - Set the System Profile option in BIOS to Custom mode
     - Set CPU Power Management to Maximum Performance mode
     - Set the Turbo Boost mode to Enabled

You must enable DPAT with a controlledturbo command using one of the following modes:

• RACADM
• WSMAN
• DTK

4. Enable and Disable DPAT from RACADM

The iDRAC7 can be used to configure DPAT using RACADM commands remotely using Telnet or SSH or locally if DRAC Tools have been installed on the server from the Dell Open Manage disk. Bios settings do not take effect until the server is rebooted and the Lifecycle Controller needs CSIOR to run to update its configuration files. Connect to the iDRAC7 on the server and run the following commands:

A. Enabling DPAT Using RACADM (Firmware RACADM: SSH or Telnet Session)

1. Set ControlledTurbo to Enable:
   $ racadm set bios.procsettings.controlledturbo Enabled
2. Create commit and host reboot jobs using the jobqueue command:
   $ racadm jobqueue create BIOS.Setup.1-1 -r pwrcycle -s TIME_NOW -e TIME_NA
3. Reboot the server and let CSIOR run for the setting to take effect.

B. Disabling DPAT Using RACADM (Firmware RACADM: SSH or Telnet Session)

1. Configure ControlledTurbo to Disable:
   $ racadm set bios.procsettings.controlledturbo Disabled
2. Create commit and host reboot jobs using the jobqueue command:
   $ racadm jobqueue create BIOS.Setup.1-1 -r pwrcycle -s TIME_NOW -e TIME_NA
3. Reboot the server and let CSIOR run for the setting to take effect.

5. Enable and Disable DPAT using WSMAN

The iDRAC7 Lifecycle Controller 2 (LC) can be used to update firmware and backup or configure hardware profiles using WSMAN commands. WSMAN allows managing servers remotely without having to install any OS agents. The Microsoft implementation of WSMAN is called Windows Remote Management (WinRM) and is run from command prompt or powershell. For more on how to use the LC Services API consult the manual LC 2 Web Services Guide for Windows.

The WSMAN commands can be used in Linux thru small changes in the commands: WSMAN - Windows/Linux Command Conversion . For more information on Linux consult the manual: LC 2 Web Services Interface Guide for Linux.

Enabling and Disabling DPAT Using WSMAN

To enable or disable DPAT using WSMAN, enter the following command:

winrm i SetAttribute http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wscim/1/cimschema/

%2/root/dcim/DCIM_BIOSService?SystemCreationClass

Name=DCIM_ComputerSystem+CreationClassName=

DCIM_BIOSService+SystemName=DCIM:ComputerSystem+Name=

DCIM:BIOSService -u:%1 -p:%2 -r:https://%3/wsman -

SkipCNcheck -SkipCAcheck -SkipRevocationCheck -

encoding:utf-8 -a:basic -file:set_controlled_turbo.xml

Enabling Turbo Using WSMAN

To enable turbo using WSMAN, use the following content for set_controlled_turbo.xml:

<p:SetAttribute_INPUT xmlns:p=

"http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wscim/1/cimschema/

2/root/dcim/DCIM_BIOSService">

<p:Target>BIOS.Setup.1-1</p:Target>

<p:AttributeName>ControlledTurbo</p:AttributeName>

<p:AttributeValue>Enabled</p:AttributeValue>

</p:SetAttribute_INPUT>

Disabling Turbo Using WSMAN

To disable turbo using WSMAN, use the following content for set_controlled_turbo.xml:

<p:SetAttribute_INPUT xmlns:p=

"http://schemas.dmtf.org/wbem/wscim/1/cimschema/

2/root/dcim/DCIM_BIOSService">

<p:Target>BIOS.Setup.1-1</p:Target>

<p:AttributeName>ControlledTurbo</p:AttributeName>

<p:AttributeValue>Disabled</p:AttributeValue>

</p:SetAttribute_INPUT>

6. Enable and Disable DPAT from DTK

The Dell Deployment ToolKit is used to script operating system installations. The script is used in a preboot environment and generally an existing installation is used to create configuration files to deploy. The bios settings are stored in the syscfg file but users can customize for their needs. The Dell DTK can be downloaded from Dell Drivers and Downloads website under Systems Management. More information can be found in the DTK manuals: Dell Deployment ToolKit 4.3. Add these commands to the DTK scripts:

Enabling DPAT Using DTK

Use the following command to enable DPAT using DTK:

Syscfg -controlledturbo=enable

Disabling DPAT Using DTK

Use the following command to disable DPAT using DTK:

Syscfg -controlledturbo=disable

7. Additional Information

Dell has released a White Paper on increasing performance and decreasing latency which covers many aspects of server performance: Configuring Low-Latency Environments on 12th-generation Servers.

More information on using the for iDRAC7 RACADM commands in the manual: RACADM Command Line Reference Guide.

Many informative videos can be found at Dell Tech Center on scripting the Lifecycle controller with WinRM and WS-MAN commands: https://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/systems-management/w/wiki/1981.scripting-the-dell-lifecycle-controller.aspx

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