Objectives
- Properly configure BIOS and management settings to support DPM
- Test DPM to verify proper configuration
- Configure appropriate DPM Threshold to meet business requirements
- Configure EVC using appropriate baseline
- Change the EVC mode on an existing DRS cluster
- Create DRS and DPM alarms
- Configure applicable power management settings for ESXi hosts
- Properly size virtual machines and clusters for optimal DRS efficiency
- Properly apply virtual machine automation levels based upon application requirements
- Create and administer ESXi host and Datastore Clusters
- Administer DRS / Storage DRS
Properly configure BIOS and management settings to support DPM
Official Documentation:
vSphere Resource Management Guide, Chapter 10 “Using DRS Clusters to Manage Resources”, Section “Managing Power Resources”, page 67.
Summary:
Some background on this subject.
The Distributed Power Management (DPM) feature allows a DRS cluster to reduce its power consumption by powering hosts on and off based on cluster resource utilization.
DPM can use one of three power management protocols to bring a host out of standby mode:
- Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI)
- Hewlett-Packard Integrated Lights-Out (iLO)
- Wake-On-LAN (WOL)
If a host supports multiple protocols, they are used in the order presented above.
If a host does not support any of these protocols it cannot be put into standby mode by vSphere DPM.
Each protocol requires its own hardware support and configuration, hence BIOS and Management Settings will vary depending on the hardware (vendor).
Note: DPM is complementary to host power management policies (See Objective 3.1, Section on Tune ESXi host CPU configuration). Using DPM and host power management together can offer greater power savings than when either solution is used alone.
Example, configuring a Dell R710 server with an iDRAC (Dell Remote access solution) for DPM. A Dell R710 contains also a BMC, which is also needed.
The iDRAC supports IPMI, but out-of-the-box, this feature is disabled.
So, log on to the iDRAC, go to “iDRAC settings”, section “Network Security” and enable IPMI Over LAN.