Booting to BIOS

For the farm nodes, at the command line type

sudo ipmitool chassis bootdev bios

This should cause the console interface to show the BIOS screen after the next reboot. Subsequent reboots do not do this.

For the login nodes, the best I have been able to do is hit ESC-9. This gives the "rbsu" CLI to view/control BIOS settings. We have only been able to get the VT100-graphics version of the BIOS with a crash cart.

SL2x170z BIOS Settings

  Main
    -> Boot Settings Configuration
       -> Splash Screen               - change to 'DISABLED'
       -> Restore After AC Power Loss - change to 'OFF'
  Advanced
    -> IPMI Configuration
       -> Serial Port Configuration
          -> Serial Port Switching    - change to 'ENABLED'
    -> Remote Access Configuration
       -> BIOS Serial Console         - change to 'ENABLED'
       -> Serial Port Mode            - change to '57600'
  Boot
    -> Boot Device Priority           - move 'Network' to the TOP
  Advanced
    ->PowerConfiguration
       ->PowerEfficiencyMode = Performance

For the new 12-core cluster, cpo also made a point of disabling:

  • Intel VT-d
  • Intel Virtualization Technology
  • Intel HT technology

Karl A. mentioned that HT can also be disabled at the linux level, and that was done for the 8-core cluster.

Using CONREP

To save BIOS to a conrep file (use -s flag, for save):

sudo ~/sfs/sw/package/CONREPforHPProLiantSL2x170zG6Server-Linux-3.00/conrep -s -x/nfs/slac/g/suncatfs/sw/package/CONREPforHPProLiantSL2x170zG6Server-Linux-3.00/conrep_SL2x170zG6_2010.12.17.xml -f/u/if/cpo/suncat/suncat1064.dat

To load BIOS from a conrep file (use -l flag, for load):

sudo ~/sfs/sw/package/CONREPforHPProLiantSL2x170zG6Server-Linux-3.00/conrep -l -x/nfs/slac/g/suncatfs/sw/package/CONREPforHPProLiantSL2x170zG6Server-Linux-3.00/conrep_SL2x170zG6_2010.12.17.xml -f/u/if/cpo/suncat/suncat1064.dat

Verify memory speed performance with (first few lines should be 11MB/s, NOT 10MB/s)

/nfs/slac/g/suncatfs/sw/package/llcbench/cachebench/cachebench -m 29 -e 1 -x 2 -d 5 -w
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