Dell PowerEdge 12th Generation

Server BIOS Configuration

Authors
Marie Chagny
Bill Munger
Vijay Nijhawan
Mark Shutt
Rob Volentine
Wuxian Wu

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Dell PowerEdge 12 Generation Server BIOS Configuration

This document is for informational purposes only and may contain typographical errors and technical
inaccuracies. The content is provided as is, without express or implied warranties of any kind.
2012 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Dell and its affiliates cannot be responsible for errors or omissions
in typography or photography. Dell, the Dell logo, and PowerEdge are trademarks of Dell Inc. Intel is a
registered trademark of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Other trademarks and trade
names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or
their products. Dell disclaims proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.
June 2012 | Rev 1.0

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Dell PowerEdge 12 Generation Server BIOS Configuration

Contents
Executive summary ................................................................................................................................................... 4
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................... 4
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PowerEdge 12 generation server preboot configuration ................................................................................ 4

System BIOS Settings ............................................................................................................................................... 6
Processor Settings page ....................................................................................................................................... 6
Alternate RTID (Requestor Transaction ID) Settings ................................................................................... 6
DCU Streamer Prefetcher ................................................................................................................................ 6
DCU I/P Prefetcher ........................................................................................................................................... 6
SATA settings .......................................................................................................................................................... 6
Embedded SATA setting ................................................................................................................................... 6
SATA Port A to F .................................................................................................................................................7
Boot settings ...........................................................................................................................................................7
UEFI vs. Legacy Boot .........................................................................................................................................7
Integrated Devices page .......................................................................................................................................7
PCIe Slot Disablement .......................................................................................................................................7
System Profile settings ......................................................................................................................................... 8
Performance Per Watt Optimized (DAPC) .................................................................................................... 8
Performance Per Watt Optimized (OS) ......................................................................................................... 8
Performance Optimized .................................................................................................................................. 8
Dense Configuration Optimized .................................................................................................................... 9
Custom................................................................................................................................................................ 9
System Security page .......................................................................................................................................... 11
AC Power Recovery Delay .............................................................................................................................. 11
TXT ...................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Miscellaneous Settings page .............................................................................................................................. 11
ISC (In System Characterization) ................................................................................................................... 11
Summary ................................................................................................................................................................... 16

Figures
Figure 1.

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Workflow comparison for 11 and 12 generation PowerEdge servers ................................... 5

Tables
Table 1.

Preboot Configuration Utilities ........................................................................................................12

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Dell PowerEdge 12 Generation Server BIOS Configuration

Executive summary
Dell was founded on the premise that customers should be able to purchase what they want, and have
the product operate in a manner that suits their needs. Dell applies customer input and feedback all
the way to the core of the server at the platform BIOS level.
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Dell PowerEdge 12 generation servers feature a simplified BIOS interface based on customer input
and requests to modernize the interface in accordance with the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
(UEFI) specificationwhile maintaining the option to boot from the legacy mode. The BIOS features
fewer reboot cycles, user-friendly menus through the F2 hot key, and integrated help menus with text
for each configurable option. The new BIOS provides the same interface for configuring iDRAC, PERC,
LOM, and other adapter settings. The new BIOS setup also gives you a System Profiles menu for
choosing the ideal operating profile for your server system environment.

Introduction
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This paper identifies the new BIOS setup options as well as the changes from the 11 generation BIOS
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setup. Some of the differences between the 11 and 12 generation BIOS features include:

The Power Management page has been replaced with a System Profiles Settings page.

The additional PCIe slot disablement settings are now available on the Integrated Devices page.

The System Security page captures changes in the behavior for power recovery.

SATA settings are new for the PowerEdge 12 generation servers:

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Adds support for AHCI and RAID modes

Supports up to 6 SATA devices

PowerEdge 12th generation server preboot configuration

In previous PowerEdge generations, configuration screens for each hardware component (BIOS,
iDRAC, PERC, LOM) were accessed by different hot keys, and each hot key was active during a narrow
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window of time during preboot. In order to improve customer experience, Dell PowerEdge 12
generation servers support an integrated system setup utility that is launched from a single hot key
(F2).
The benefits of the integrated utility include:

Single hot key to access BIOS, iDRAC, PERC, LOM, and other PCIe adapter card configuration

Single boot to configure all hardware (no rebooting between each device)

Keyboard and mouse configuration access

The new integrated system setup utility results in a much more efficient workflow for customers who
wish to configure a single server using an interactive, menu-driven method. Figure 1 compares the
preboot configuration workflow of the previous and new generation of PowerEdge servers.

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Dell PowerEdge 12 Generation Server BIOS Configuration

Figure 1.

Workflow comparison for 11th and 12th generation PowerEdge servers

PowerEdge 11th
generation workflow

PowerEdge 12th
generation workflow

F2
Configure BIOS

F2
Configure BIOS

Reboot

Ctrl-E
Configure iDRAC

Ctrl-E
Configure iDRAC

Ctrl-S
Configure LOM

Reboot

Ctrl-R
Configure RAID

Ctrl-S
Configure LOM

Reboot

Reboot

Install OS

Ctrl-R
Configure RAID

Reboot

Install OS

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Dell PowerEdge 12 Generation Server BIOS Configuration

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PowerEdge 12 generation servers continue to support the traditional, text mode configuration utilities
for PERC (Ctrl-R) and LOM (Ctrl-S). See Table 1 for a summary of the preboot configuration utilities
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available on the PowerEdge 12 generation servers.

System BIOS Settings

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This section describes changes in the Dell PowerEdge 12 generation server BIOS settings.

Processor Settings page

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The following processor settings are new to the 12 generation server BIOS. The Turbo Mode,
C-States, and C1E enable/disable options have been moved from the Processor menu to the System
Profile Settings menu. Most of these settings are fixed for a system profile, however, you can change
these settings individually by selecting the Custom System Profile.

Alternate RTID (Requestor Transaction ID) Settings

When enabled, this setting provides more remote memory bandwidth at the expense of local memory
bandwidth. The factory default for this setting is disabled. If you load defaults, this setting will also be
disabled. A non-default value can be set in the factory or you can change it through the BIOS setup.

DCU Streamer Prefetcher

DCU streamer prefetcher is an L1 data cache prefetcher. When it detects multiple loads from the same
cache line within a certain time, it assumes that the next line will be required. This setting is enabled
and helps with most workloads. Depending on the workload, however, it may be helpful to turn this
setting off.

DCU I/P Prefetcher

DCU I/P prefetcher is an L1 cache prefetcher. It looks for sequential load history to determine whether
to prefetch the next expected data into the L1 cache from memory or the L2 cache. The setting is
enabled by default. A non-default value can be set in the factory or you can change it through the
BIOS setup.

SATA settings
The section explains the behavior changes for the SATA settings.

Embedded SATA setting

This field allows the Embedded SATA Controller to be set to Off, ATA, AHCI, or RAID Mode.

AHCI Mode: Factory setting

ATA Mode

RAID Mode

OFF

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Dell PowerEdge 12 Generation Server BIOS Configuration

SATA Port A to F
This field sets the drive type of the selected device.
When the Embedded SATA setting is ATA Mode, set this field to Auto to enable BIOS support for the
device. Select Off to turn off BIOS support for the device. Auto is the factory setting for all SATA ports.
When the Embedded SATA setting is RAID Mode, BIOS always enables support for the device.

Boot settings
UEFI vs. Legacy Boot
This field determines the boot mode of the system. Selecting BIOS (factory setting) ensures
compatibility with operating systems that do not support UEFI. Selecting UEFI enables booting to UEFI
capable operating systems.
Refer to the following white paper for more information on deploying a UEFI-aware operating
systems: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/peR410/en/Whitepaper/uefi_dpt.pdf

Integrated Devices page

PCIe Slot Disablement
This field controls the configuration of the card installed in this slot. You can set one of the following
options for each of the cards:

Enabled: The card is available during POST or to the operating system.

Disabled: The card is not available during POST or to the operating system.

Boot Driver Disabled: The Option ROM does not run during POST, the system cannot boot from
the card, and its preboot services are also not available. However, it is available to the operating
system. If the boot driver is disabled, note that systems management support through Lifecycle
Controller will be disabled.

This option is not available if the slot contains a Dell RAID controller card (PERC).

When the boot driver is disabled, the OS driver is still available so a NIC or PERC that is not
bootable could still be used from within the OS. This would be equivalent as if the card has no
OPROM or UEFI driver installed.

Note: If multiple cards from the same manufacturer are managed using the same boot driver, select
Boot Driver Disabled for all the cards from the same manufacturer so that the Option ROM does not
run.
There are a few reasons why you might choose to change the default setting of this field.

The PCIe slot can be set to Boot Driver disabled to allow quicker boot times if the adapter is not a
boot device.

The UEFI standard introduces a standard preboot configuration interface known as Human
Interface Infrastructure (HII). For adapters that support HII, locate their configuration pages using

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Dell PowerEdge 12 Generation Server BIOS Configuration

System Setup > Device Settings menu then pressing F2 during POST. However, new technology
compatibility issues have been seen with some vendors. If any issues are detected and the system
cannot boot or System Setup cannot be entered with a new card, the slot can be set to Boot
Driver Disabled with the card removed.

System Profile settings

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For PowerEdge 12 generation servers, the Power Management page has been replaced with a System
Profiles Settings page. This section describes each of the selectable System Profiles in more detail.

Performance Per Watt Optimized (DAPC)

Using Dell Advanced Power Control (DAPC), this mode allows the BIOS to manage the processor
power states for maximum performance/watt at all utilization levels and workload types while still
meeting performance requirements. BIOS also manages system Power Capping in this mode.
When this mode is selected, BIOS sets the CPU Power Management as System DBPM and the Memory
Speed to Maximum Performance. Turbo Boost, C1E, and C-States are all enabled. BIOS sets the
Memory Patrol Scrub rate to Standard, the Memory Refresh Rate to single refresh (x1) and the Memory
Operating Voltage to Auto mode.
This mode enables the Monitor/Mwait setting.

Performance Per Watt Optimized (OS)

Under this mode, the CPU Power Management field is set to OS DBPM. This means that the operating
system (OS) controls the processors power management. The main controls are the processor
frequency or performance states (P-States: P0, P1 Pn), and the processor clock throttling (T-States:
T0, T1 ... Tn). The OS modifies the power states to achieve the best operating performance, based on
the Node Manager inputs and the processor utilization.
The Memory Frequency field is set to its maximum frequency. The Memory Patrol Scrub field is set to
the standard mode. The Memory Refresh Rate is set to 1X, and the Memory Operating Value Voltage is
set to auto. The Turbo Boost, C1E, and C-States fields are enabled to achieve the desired balance
between power consumption and performance.
This mode enables the Monitor/Mwait setting.

Performance Optimized
Under this mode, the CPU Power Management field is set to Performance and allows the BIOS to
program the processor for the maximum performance state. The Memory Frequency field is set to its
maximum frequency. The Memory Patrol Scrub field is set to the standard mode. The Memory Refresh
Rate is set to 1x, and the Memory Operating Value Voltage is set to auto. The Turbo Boost is enabled
to allow the maximum performance. The C1E and C-States fields are disabled to maximize the
performance.
This mode enables the Monitor/Mwait setting.

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Dell PowerEdge 12 Generation Server BIOS Configuration

Dense Configuration Optimized

This mode is typically selected for systems with a high DIMM count where reliability is prioritized over
power savings or performance considerations. This mode optimizes the power settings for
configurations that have a large number of DIMMs. In this mode, settings are optimized to achieve
enhanced reliability. CPU Power Management is set to DAPC. The memory frequency is reduced to
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the minimum setting, which is 800Mhz for PowerEdge 12 generation servers. Turbo Boost, which is a
performance setting, is disabled. The patrol scrub rate is extended, and the memory operating voltage
is set to 1.5V to increase memory margins.
This mode enables the Monitor/Mwait setting.

Custom
Under this mode, you can change the setting of each option.

Memory Patrol ScrubThis feature is built into the memory controller in the processor. Patrol
Scrub searches the memory for errors and repairs correctable errors to prevent an accumulation
of errors. There are three selectable BIOS settings for Memory Patrol Scrub:

Disabled: Turns off this feature.

Standard: Specifies that patrol scrubbing will occur at the standard or default rate of once
every 24 hours.

Extended: The rate is increased for patrol scrubbing. A patrol scrub of the entire memory array
is performed once every hour.

Memory Refresh RateThis setting allows the memory to operate more reliably by refreshing the
memory data at twice the normal rate.

Memory FrequencyThis is the speed at which the memory bus operates. The maximum possible
frequency in the system may not be the maximum frequency rated on the installed DIMM. The
maximum memory bus frequency is dependent upon the currently selected profile, the capability
of the DIMMs, the installed DIMM configuration in the system, the operating voltage, and the
capability of the processor. In most profiles except the Dense Configuration Optimized profile, the
BIOS will configure the memory bus frequency to the maximum possible frequency.
Using the Memory Frequency settings on the custom menu, a desired memory frequency can be
selected. However, the selected frequency can never exceed the maximum possible frequency for
the system, which is limited by the capabilities and configuration of the system as noted above. For
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12 generation severs, the Memory Frequency options include the following:

Maximum Performance: The memory frequency will be set to the maximum supported
frequency. Note that the maximum possible frequency is limited by the capabilities and
configuration of the system as noted above.
This setting would be selected for environments where maximum system performance is
required and power savings is not the most critical consideration.

Maximum Reliability: The memory frequency will be set to the minimum supported frequency.
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For 12 generation servers, this is 800Mhz.
This setting would be selected for environments where maximum power savings is required
and system performance is not the most critical consideration.

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Dell PowerEdge 12 Generation Server BIOS Configuration

1600Mhz: The memory frequency will be set to 1600Mhz, the maximum supported frequency
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on 12 generation servers, if the system capabilities and configuration support this frequency
setting.
See the maximum performance setting description above for an explanation of when to use
this setting.

1333Mhz: The memory frequency will be set to the second highest supported memory
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frequency on 12 generation servers, if the system capabilities and configuration support this
frequency setting.
This setting would be selected for environments where both performance and power savings
are required. This setting will allow the memory to run at a higher performance setting while
also saving power.

1067Mhz: The memory frequency will be set to the third highest supported memory frequency
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on 12 generation servers, if the system capabilities and the configuration support this
frequency setting.
This setting would be selected for environments where both performance and power savings
are required. This setting will allow the memory to run at a frequency above the minimum
supported frequency while saving more power than the 1333Mhz setting.

800Mhz: The memory frequency will be set to 800Mhz, which is the minimum supported
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frequency on 12 generation servers.
See the maximum reliability setting description above for an explanation of when to use this
setting.

Turbo BoostTurbo mode allows the processors to engage to a higher frequency than the
processors nominal or rated frequency if the current operating environment allows it. This results
in higher system performance. Turbo boost is engaged on per socket basis. If some of the cores of
a socket are idle, then other cores of the same socket can go to a higher processor performance
state.

C1E and C-StatesThese settings were moved to System Profile settings. C1E and C-States are
low power idle states that are used to minimize the power consumption.

Monitor/MwaitThis setting allows you to provide an option to enable/disable the monitor/mwait

instructions of the processor. When this option is set to disabled monitor/mwait, instructions are
not supported by processor. This setting under custom profile should only be changed when
C-States is set to disabled.

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Dell PowerEdge 12 Generation Server BIOS Configuration

System Security page

This section details the behavior changes for AC recovery.

AC Power Recovery Delay

This field specifies how the system will support the staggering of power-up after AC power has been
restored to the system. You can set one of the following options:

Immediate: There is no delay before powering-up.

Random: The system will create a random delay (60s to 240s) before powering-up.

User Defined: The system will delay powering-up by the amount set by the user. The system
supported user defined power-up delay range is from 60s to 240s.

TXT

To enable Intel TXT, VT must be enabled, and the TPM must be enabled with preboot measurements
and activated. The setup option is displayed, but be read-only and disabled if the software
requirements are not met.
If a server does not support TPM, the server cannot support TXT.

Miscellaneous Settings page

ISC (In System Characterization)
This setup option is enabled from the factory. ISC tries to characterize the system for maximum power
usage. The output of ISC is used to program memory VRs settings. If ISC is disabled, then default
memory VR settings are programmed.

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Dell PowerEdge 12 Generation Server BIOS Configuration

Table 1.

Preboot configuration utilities

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The following table summarizes the preboot configuration utilities available with the 12 generation
servers, and the different methods for launching those utilities.
BIOS boot screen
Feature

BIOS boot screen

Description

Splash screen displayed

during BIOS boot. Preboot
configuration utilities are
accessible from this screen
using hot keys.

BIOS configuration
Feature

BIOS configuration

Description

Main menu for the system

setup utility used to
configure BIOS, iDRAC,
LOM, RAID, and other add-in
PCIe cards.

Legacy
hot key

F2

New
hot key

F2

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Dell PowerEdge 12 Generation Server BIOS Configuration

System services
Feature

System services

Legacy
hot key

F10

New
hot key

F10

Description

Launch Unified Server

Configurator (USC)

Boot Manager menu

Feature

Boot Manager menu

Description

Enters the BIOS Boot

Manager or the UEFI Boot
Manager, depending on your
systems boot configuration.

Legacy
hot key

F11

New
hot key

F11

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Dell PowerEdge 12 Generation Server BIOS Configuration

One Time PXE Boot

Feature

One Time PXE Boot

Description

Forces a one time boot to

PXE. If more than one LOM
is enabled for PXE boot, then
a menu is displayed which
allows selection of which
LOM to use.

Legacy
hot key

F12

New
hot key

F12

iDRAC Configuration
Feature

iDRAC Configuration

Description

Enters the iDRAC settings

screen within the system
setup utility. Allows access to
the system event log (SEL)
and configuration of remote
access to the system.

Legacy
hot key

Ctrl-E

New
hot key

F2 > iDRAC Settings

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Dell PowerEdge 12 Generation Server BIOS Configuration

PERC Configuration
Feature

PERC Configuration

Description

Enters the PERC

configuration screen within
the system setup utility.

Legacy
hot key

Ctrl-R

New
hot key

F2 > Device Settings >

Integrated RAID Controller

Feature

PERC Configuration

Description

May be used to launch the

traditional text mode PERC
configuration utility (similar
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to 11 generation).

New
hot key

Ctrl-R

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Dell PowerEdge 12 Generation Server BIOS Configuration

LOM Configuration
Feature

LOM Configuration

Description

Enters LOM configuration

screen within the system
setup utility.

Legacy
hot key

Ctrl-S

New
hot key

F2 > Device Settings >

Integrated NIC

Feature

LOM Configuration

Description

May be used to launch the

traditional text mode LOM
configuration utility (similar
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to 11 generation).

New
hot key

Ctrl-S

Summary
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The 12 generation server BIOS architecture helps you more fully configure your servers, with fewer
reboot cycles and greater consistency across your user profiles than in previous generation servers. To
find out more, refer to your server Getting Started Guide on Support.Dell.com.

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