RAID 0

Data stored evenly in stripe blocks without redundancy

• Better storage
• Improved performance

• No error checking
• No fault tolerance
• No hot-swapping
• No redundancy
• No hot spare

RAID 1

Mirrored set of disk drives and an optional hot spare disk drive

• High availability
• Fault tolerance
• Hot spare
• Hot-swapping

• Less storage
• Performance impact

RAID 5

Data stored in stripe blocks with parity data staggered across all disk drives

• Better storage efficiency than RAID 1
• Better fault tolerance than RAID 0
• Low cost of redundancy
• Hot-swapping

• Slow performance

Non-RAID

Disk drives not configured for RAID

Also referred to as JBOD

• Portable

• No error checking
• No fault tolerance
• No hot-swapping
• No redundancy
• No hot spare

Reboot Host Immediately

If checked, the server is rebooted immediately after you click Save Changes.

To specify that the server should not reboot automatically, clear this check box. Any parameter changes will take effect the next time the server is rebooted.

Intel Turbo Boost Technology

Whether the processor uses Intel Turbo Boost Technology, which allows the processor to automatically increase its frequency if it is running below power, temperature, or voltage specifications. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The processor does not increase its frequency automatically.
• Enabled—The processor utilizes Turbo Boost Technology if required.

Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology

Whether the processor uses Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology, which allows the system to dynamically adjust processor voltage and core frequency. This technology can result in decreased average power consumption and decreased average heat production. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The processor never dynamically adjusts its voltage or frequency.
• Enabled—The processor utilizes Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology and enables all supported processor sleep states to further conserve power.

We recommend that you contact your operating system vendor to make sure the operating system supports this feature.

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Whether the processor uses Intel Hyper-Threading Technology, which allows multithreaded software applications to execute threads in parallel within each processor. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The processor does not permit hyperthreading.
• Enabled—The processor allows for the parallel execution of multiple threads.

We recommend that you contact your operating system vendor to make sure the operating system supports this feature.

Number of Enabled Cores

Sets the state of logical processor cores in a package. If you disable this setting, Hyper Threading is also disabled. This can be one of the following:

• All—Enables multi processing on all logical processor cores.
• 1 through n—Specifies the number of logical processor cores that can run on the server. To disable multi processing and have only one logical processor core running on the server, select 1.

We recommend that you contact your operating system vendor to make sure the operating system supports this feature.

Execute Disable

Classifies memory areas on the server to specify where application code can execute. As a result of this classification, the processor disables code execution if a malicious worm attempts to insert code in the buffer. This setting helps to prevent damage, worm propagation, and certain classes of malicious buffer overflow attacks. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The processor does not classify memory areas.
• Enabled—The processor classifies memory areas.

We recommend that you contact your operating system vendor to make sure the operating system supports this feature.

Intel Virtualization Technology

Whether the processor uses Intel Virtualization Technology (VT), which allows a platform to run multiple operating systems and applications in independent partitions. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The processor does not permit virtualization.
• Enabled—The processor allows multiple operating systems in independent partitions.

Intel VT for Directed IO

Whether the processor uses Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d). This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The processor does not use virtualization technology.
• Enabled—The processor uses virtualization technology.

Intel VT-d Interrupt Remapping

Whether the processor supports Intel VT-d Interrupt Remapping. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The processor does not support remapping.
• Enabled—The processor uses VT-d Interrupt Remapping as required.

Intel VT-d Coherency Support

Whether the processor supports Intel VT-d Coherency. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The processor does not support coherency.
• Enabled—The processor uses VT-d Coherency as required.

Intel VT-d Address Translation Services

Whether the processor supports Intel VT-d Address Translation Services (ATS). This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The processor does not support ATS.
• Enabled—The processor uses VT-d ATS as required.

Intel VT-d PassThrough DMA

Whether the processor supports Intel VT-d Pass-through DMA. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The processor does not support pass-through DMA.
• Enabled—The processor uses VT-d Pass-through DMA as required.

Direct Cache Access

Allows processors to increase I/O performance by placing data from I/O devices directly into the processor cache. This setting helps to reduce cache misses. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—Data from I/O devices is not placed directly into the processor cache.
• Enabled—Data from I/O devices is placed directly into the processor cache.

Processor C3 Report

Whether the processor sends the C3 report to the operating system. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The processor does not send the C3 report.
• ACPI C2—The processor sends the C3 report using the ACPI C2 format.
• ACPI C3—The processor sends the C3 report using the ACPI C3 format.

Processor C6 Report

Whether the processor sends the C6 report to the operating system. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The processor does not send the C6 report.
• Enabled—The processor sends the C6 report.

Hardware Prefetcher

Whether the processor allows the Intel hardware prefetcher to fetch streams of data and instruction from memory into the unified second-level cache when necessary. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The hardware prefetcher is not used.
• Enabled—The processor uses the hardware prefetcher when cache issues are detected.

Package C State Limit

The amount of power available to the server components when they are idle. This can be one of the following:

• C0 state—The server provides all server components with full power at all times. This option maintains the highest level of performance and requires the greatest amount of power.
• C2 state— System level coordination is in progress resulting in high power consumption. There might be performance issues until the coordination is complete.
• C6 state—When the CPU is idle, the system reduces the power consumption further than with the C3 option. This option saves more power than C0 or C2, but there might be performance issues until the server returns to full power.
• C7 state—When the CPU is idle, the server makes a minimal amount of power available to the components. This option saves the maximum amount of power but it also requires the longest time for the server to return to high performance mode.
• No Limit—The server may enter any available C state.

Patrol Scrub

Whether the system actively searches for, and corrects, single bit memory errors even in unused portions of the memory on the server. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The system checks for memory ECC errors only when the CPU reads or writes a memory address.
• Enabled—The system periodically reads and writes memory searching for ECC errors. If any errors are found, the system attempts to fix them. This option may correct single bit errors before they become multi-bit errors, but it may adversely affect performance when the patrol scrub is running.

Demand Scrub

Whether the system allows you to perform a memory scrub on demand. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The system does not allow you to perform a memory scrub on demand.
• Enabled—The system allows you to perform a memory scrub on demand. If errors are found, the system attempts to fix them or marks the location as unreadable. This process allows the system to run faster and with fewer data processing errors.

Device Tagging

Whether the system allows you to group devices and interfaces based on a variety of information, including descriptions, addresses, and names. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The system does not allow you to group devices and interfaces.
• Enabled—The system allows you to group devices and interfaces based on a variety of information, including descriptions, addresses, and names.

Select Memory RAS

How the memory reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) is configured for the server. This can be one of the following:

• Maximum Performance—System performance is optimized.
• Mirroring—System reliability is optimized by using half the system memory as backup.
• Sparing—System reliability is enhanced with a degree of memory redundancy while making more memory available to the operating system than mirroring.

Serial A Enable

Whether serial port A is enabled or disabled. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The serial port is disabled.
• Enabled—The serial port is enabled.

USB Port 0

Whether the processor uses USB port 0. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The server does not use the USB port 0.
• Enabled—The processor uses the USB port 0.

USB Port 1

Whether the processor uses USB port 1. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The server does not use the USB port 1.
• Enabled—The processor uses the USB port 1.

Reboot Host Immediately

If checked, the server is rebooted immediately after you click Save Changes.

To specify that the server should not reboot automatically, clear this check box. Any parameter changes will take effect the next time the server is rebooted.

Assert NMI on SERR

Whether the BIOS generates a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) and logs an error when a system error (SERR) occurs. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The BIOS does not generate an NMI or log an error when a SERR occurs.
• Enabled—The BIOS generates an NMI and logs an error when a SERR occurs. You must enable this setting if you want to enable Assert NMI on PERR.

Assert NMI on PERR

Whether the BIOS generates a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) and logs an error when a processor bus parity error (PERR) occurs. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The BIOS does not generate an NMI or log an error when a PERR occurs.
• Enabled—The BIOS generates an NMI and logs an error when a PERR occurs. You must enable Assert NMI on SERR to use this setting.

FRB2 Enable

Whether the FRB2 timer is used by CIMC to recover the system if it hangs during POST. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The FRB2 timer is not used.
• Enabled—The FRB2 timer is started during POST and used to recover the system if necessary.

Console Redirection

Allows a serial port to be used for console redirection during POST and BIOS booting. After the BIOS has booted and the operating system is responsible for the server, console redirection is irrelevant and has no effect. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—No console redirection occurs during POST.
• Serial Port A—Enables serial port A for console redirection during POST. This option is valid for blade servers and rack-mount servers.

Flow Control

Whether a handshake protocol is used for flow control. Request to Send/Clear to Send (RTS/CTS) helps to reduce frame collisions that can be introduced by a hidden terminal problem. This can be one of the following:

• None—No flow control is used.
• RTS-CTS—RTS/CTS is used for flow control.

Baud Rate

What BAUD rate is used for the serial port transmission speed. If you disable Console Redirection, this option is not available. This can be one of the following:

• 9.6k—A 9600 BAUD rate is used.
• 19.2k—A 19200 BAUD rate is used.
• 38.4k—A 38400 BAUD rate is used.
• 57.6k—A 57600 BAUD rate is used.
• 115.2k—A 115200 BAUD rate is used.

Terminal Type

What type of character formatting is used for console redirection. This can be one of the following:

• PC-ANSI—The PC-ANSI terminal font is used.
• VT100—A supported vt100 video terminal and its character set are used.
• VT100-PLUS—A supported vt100-plus video terminal and its character set are used.
• VT-UTF8—A video terminal with the UTF-8 character set is used.

OS Boot Watchdog Timer

Whether the BIOS programs the watchdog timer with a specified timeout value. If the operating system does not complete booting before the timer expires, the CIMC resets the system and an error is logged. This can be one of the following:

• Disabled—The watchdog timer is not used to track how long the server takes to boot.
• Enabled—The watchdog timer tracks how long the server takes to boot. If the server does not boot within the length of time specified in the OS Boot Watchdog Timer Timeout field, the CIMC logs an error and takes the action specified in the OS Boot Watchdog Policy field.

OS Boot Watchdog Timer Policy

The action the system takes when the watchdog timer expires. This can be one of the following:

• Do Nothing—The state of the server power does not change when the watchdog timer expires during OS boot.
• Power Down—The server is powered off if the watchdog timer expires during OS boot.
• Reset—The server is reset if the watchdog timer expires during OS boot.

Power Restore Policy

The action the system takes when the AC power is restored. This can be one of the following:

• Power Off—The server is powered off.
• Power On—The server is powered on.
• Power Last State—The server power is restored to its last state.

Save Changes button

Saves the settings for the BIOS parameters on all three tabs and closes the wizard.

If the Reboot Host Immediately check box is checked, the server is rebooted immediately and the new BIOS settings go into effect. Otherwise the changes are saved until the server is manually rebooted.

Reset Values button

Restores the values for the BIOS parameters on all three tabs to the settings that were in effect when this dialog box was first opened.

Restore Defaults button

Sets the BIOS parameters on all three tabs to their default settings.

Cancel button

Closes the dialog box without making any changes.