FreeNAS Server BIOS Setup

[Charles Rhoades]

I am building a FreeNAS server using an Asrock E3C226D2I Motherboard with an E3-1231 V3 CPU, 6 4TB HDDs in RAIDZ2.

What I'm looking for is something that tells me what each setting in BIOS means (Google provides a good source for this), the effect it has when enabled or disabled beyond turning a feature off and on; and when to enable or disable...particularly in my implementation.

Any suggestions where I could find a good resource beyond "stick with the defaults"?

Thanks...I appreciate any constructive feedback.

 

[Deleted47050]

The motherboard manual or support site will likely be your best resources when it comes to understanding what each bios setting does...

Also, if sticking with the defaults work, why shouldn't you do it? If it's purely for testing or curiosity, feel free to experiment and report the results ;)

Not to mention that not all bios settings will have a massive impact on how freenas runs.

 

[Charles Rhoades]

Ok, thanks Dat.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. The User Manual info on "CPU C State Support. Use this item to configure the support of CPU C State."

"Enhance Halt State (C1E). All processors support the Halt State (C1). The C1 state is supported through the native processor instructions HLT and MWAIT ported through the native processor instructions HLT and MWAIT and requires no hardware support from the chipset. In the C1 power state, the processor maintains the context of the system caches."
"CPU C3 State Support. Use this to enable or disable CPU C3 (ACPI C2) report to OS."
"CPU C6 State Support. Use this to enable or disable CPU C6 (ACPI C3) report to OS."
"CPU C7 State Support. Use this to enable or disable CPU C7 (ACPI C3) report to OS."
"Package C State Support. Selected option will program into C State package limit register. The default is [Auto]."

So which do I choose and why? Or do I choose to enable all of them? If there's a "report to OS", what does the OS do with it, or for that matter, what do I do with that info, or is it just useless info...and what would that report consist of, and is it important?

I want to pick the "right" one, but I have no clue which is "right" for my implementation. I do know I want to save power, but at what cost of response, or functionality?

This is just one example. What about the Hardware Prefetcher, or Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch? Here's a good one...Energy Performance...enable or disable. What does it do, when does it do it, what is the effect on my particular implementation? What about SATA Aggressive Link Power Management..."Use this item to configure Aggressive Link Power Management." That's all the User Manual says, no description of the options or the effect of the options, let alone help me figuring out which is better for my implementation and why.

So the User Manual leaves a lot to be desired, as a good guide. Sorry if I come across a little harsh, I'm just looking for a good source where I can find this stuff out.

 

[Bidule0hm]

I want to pick the "right" one, but I have no clue which is "right" for my implementation. I do know I want to save power, but at what cost of response, or functionality?

Did you tried to search "C states" for example?

 

[Deleted47050]

If the manual is missing information, once again these questions should be directed to the motherboard manufacturer for clarification. Now, as to what consequence each of those settings might have on freenas, that's a fair request but I am afraid there is nothing at that level of detail that I know of. I think it would be almost impossible to provide this type of information for each bios version, even if it would be great to know.