topic Re: Synergy Gen 11 NUMA Config - SNC4 in HPE Synergy

Synergy Gen 11 NUMA Config - SNC4

Sean Overall — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 00:48:31 GMT

We have a new Synergy system with Gen 11 480 nodes, using Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6444Y processors (2), each processor has 8 DIMMs evenly populated. When I look at the processor specs on Intel website it says it supports SNC 4, but when I try to enable the 'Virtualization - Max Performance' profile I get a warning message "IMPORTANT: Installed Processor does not support SNC 4", it then automatically downgrades it to SNC 2, which then causes a Warning in OneVIew that BIOS settings do not match upon every reboot.

Is anyone else seeing such or am I setting something wrong? I setup a couple Windows 2022 Hyper-V nodes using the HPE provided PDF guide which says set the profile to the above. So I am a bit confused here...

Re: Synergy Gen 11 NUMA Config - SNC4

Mani_Np — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 04:40:13 GMT

Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6444Y processors are MCC CPUs and supports only SNC 2

Refer Customer Advisory: https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-a00141297en_us

Query: Synergy Gen 11 NUMA Config - SNC4

support_s — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 10:36:01 GMT

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Re: Synergy Gen 11 NUMA Config - SNC4

Rama2 — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 09:31:05 GMT

Sub-Numa clustering (SNC)
*If the plugged processors do not have SNC4 supported and the workload profile is set as "General Throughput
Compute" or "Virtualization–Max Performance", the sub-NUMA clustering is modified to “Enable SNC2 (2-clusters)”.
Advisory: https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-a00141297en_us

Re: Synergy Gen 11 NUMA Config - SNC4

SH-Lan — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 06:28:20 GMT

@Rama2 I got the same question.. It can't do andy change.

Change the BIOS setting to SNC4 and disable Sub-NUMA clustering from the System Utilities page. Select System Configuration-> BIOS/Platform Configuration (RBSU)-> Power and Performance Options-> Sub-NUMA Clustering.
Select a setting: Enabled or Disabled.
Save the setting.

Re: Synergy Gen 11 NUMA Config - SNC4

Mr_Techie — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 09:32:42 GMT

@SH-Lan

It may indicate a system or BIOS limitation, which might require an update or further investigation from HPE support.

Additionally, if the BIOS settings revert on every reboot or OneView keeps flagging mismatches, confirm that there are no profiles enforcing other configurations that could conflict with manual changes.

Re: Synergy Gen 11 NUMA Config - SNC4

juli2 — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 06:54:40 GMT

where did you find this PDF, could you please provide a link or sth?

Re: Synergy Gen 11 NUMA Config - SNC4

CSKA — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 16:31:59 GMT

Dear HPE Support,

I've reviewed the advisory you provided, but I still don't understand why HPE continues to justify the current behavior based on Intel's unclear or incorrect documentation.

As you're likely aware, some MCC-based CPUs (like the Intel Xeon Gold 6444Y) do not support SNC-4 — only SNC-2. Yet, the default setting in the "Virtualization - Max Performance" profile is still configured to use SNC-4.

All I want is to use the predefined "Virtualization - Max Performance" setting without having to manually change it each time.

When creating a Server Profile or Template and selecting a specific Hardware Type, it should be possible to implement logic in OneView to detect the installed CPU's SNC capability and set the appropriate default — e.g., use SNC-2 when an MCC CPU is detected, and SNC-4 for an XCC CPU.

I understand that Intel's documentation on SNC support is confusing — I spent nearly an hour trying to find a reliable source mapping CPUs to SNC modes, with no success — but this shouldn't be a justification to propagate incorrect defaults in HPE's tooling.

Thank you for your attention to this issue. I look forward to your response.

Re: Synergy Gen 11 NUMA Config - SNC4

juli2 — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 01:11:26 GMT

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I was actually looking for answers as well, I am not sure if it has sth to do with what I am going through now.

And similar with your situation, I was tring to turn on the "Virtualization - Max Performance" in BIOS, and it shows the same warning information, and eventually I turned it off, because it won't let me do anything.

Re: Synergy Gen 11 NUMA Config - SNC4

Sean Overall — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 17:23:33 GMT

In reference to this we have just lived with the warning and when we reboot the hardware we just go into the Synergy OneView and dismiss the warning. Servers still work with great speed. Of course no one likes a warning or an ill configured system, but as stated by others in this post it would be nice if HPE issued an update to the built-in profile that would analyze or recognize the processor and adjust the profile accordingly. Or even just offer 2 different profiles to fit the processors used... "Max Performance SNC-4//Max Performance SNC-2". That or not offer processor options that do not fit said single profile. This would be an easy fix with just a few questions at time of purchase or again as an update to OneView. In our case every host is configured exactly the same, meaning hardware and software is identical. 5 Hyper-V and 5 ESXi. Getting down to the nitty gritty, it would absolutley be better to only offer SNC-4 processors as a configuration option in virtualization scenarios. Admins should not have to go in and override what is sold as a solution. We understand not everyone designates the hardware as a Hypervisor/virtualization host, but again that should be something brought up at time of purchase or fixed with some logic/Profile Options. Even the HPE certified builder that we paid extra for to help install the Synergy system had no knowledge of this issue and deemed it as "it is what it is".