Recommended Settings for HPE Servers with Sapphire Rapids Processors Running a RAN Workload.

Products

• VMware Telco Cloud Automation

Issue/Introduction

This article details the settings and configurations recommended for HPE Servers running Telco Cloud Platform (TCP) RAN / Telco Cloud Automation (TCA) Workloads.

Environment

2.x, 3.x, 4.x

Resolution

Details

The following settings and configurations are recommended for HPE Servers running TCP RAN/TCA Workloads.

Processor

Intel Xeon 6433N SPR EE CPU

 

 

BIOS Recommendations

1. Press F9, at boot, to enter the BIOS.
2. Select vRAN as the Workload Profile.
   
   
   

3. Set the time to the local time in the BIOS Date and Time configuration section.
   
   
   

 

Firmware/Driver for Network Interface Card and Accelerator

Complete the firmware and driver installation for the network adapter based on the RAN BOM:

https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?legacyId=87936

 

vRAN boost Driver installation.

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Telco-Cloud-Automation/3.1.1/com-vmware-tca-userguide/GUID-3A969B5C-F50D-4233-B446-ED8C189C23C9.html

TCA Host Profile Configuration

Accelerator Card and PTP Configuration

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Telco-Cloud-Platform-RAN/4.0/telco-cloud-platform-ran-platform-deployment-guide-40/GUID-8C30D3D0-E393-4D64-8924-CACDA989FF6E.html

 

Note: If you have a pre-existing host profile that is already associated with the cell site, please select that host profile and use EDIT to edit the existing host profile and add the CPU frequency setting, described in the next section. Resync after completing the profile.

If it’s a new cell site association, please complete the whole host profile (PTP, SRIOV, accelerator, etc) along with the CPU frequency, as described in the next section.

 

Set CPU Frequency through Host Profile  

Broadcom's current recommendation is to directly set the CPU frequencies to the vendor recommended value for a given processor family type.

Note: Setting CPU Frequency through a host profile is supported from TCA 3.1.1 onward

Procedure

1. Log into the TCA.
    
2. Under Infrastructure Automation > Configuration > Host Profile > ADD / EDIT.
   
   

 

3. In Host Profile, go to CPU Power Management > ADD ATTRIBUTE

   

 

4. Select CPU Frequency (in GHz)
   
   

 

5. Enter the GHz value based on your CPU model
   
   (Please consult the Intel documentation for your CPU model or reach out to the Broadcom team)
   
   

6. Complete the rest of the host profile such as PCI Device Settings, PCI Device Groups, and ESXi Reservation and click on Save. 
   
   
7. Apply the host profile to the cell site group and sync.