Disabling CPU management

Question

If I add the following processor.max_cstate=0 to the kernel command line for boot up, does that disable all CPU power management and throttling?

I also found: http://www.experts-exchange.com/OS/Linux/Administration/A_3492-Avoiding-CPU-speed-scaling-in-modern-Linux-distributions-Running-CPU-at-full-speed-Tips.html

The link talks of Change CPU governor from 'ondemand' to 'performance' for all CPUs/cores and disabling kondemand from kernel.

Server is for web hosting

UPDATES:

2.6.32-379.1.1.lve1.1.7.6.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Sat Aug 4 09:56:37 EDT 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

.

    # dmidecode 2.11
    SMBIOS 2.6 present.
    74 structures occupying 2878 bytes.
    Table at 0x0009F000.

    Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 24 bytes
    BIOS Information
            Vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
            Version: 1.0c
            Release Date: 05/27/2010
            Address: 0xF0000
            Runtime Size: 64 kB
            ROM Size: 4096 kB
            Characteristics:
                    ISA is supported
                    PCI is supported
                    PNP is supported
                    BIOS is upgradeable
                    BIOS shadowing is allowed
                    ESCD support is available
                    Boot from CD is supported
                    Selectable boot is supported
                    BIOS ROM is socketed
                    EDD is supported
                    5.25"/1.2 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
                    3.5"/720 kB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
                    3.5"/2.88 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
                    Print screen service is supported (int 5h)
                    8042 keyboard services are supported (int 9h)
                    Serial services are supported (int 14h)
                    Printer services are supported (int 17h)
                    CGA/mono video services are supported (int 10h)
                    ACPI is supported
                    USB legacy is supported
                    LS-120 boot is supported
                    ATAPI Zip drive boot is supported
                    BIOS boot specification is supported
                    Targeted content distribution is supported
            BIOS Revision: 8.16

    Handle 0x0001, DMI type 1, 27 bytes
    System Information
            Manufacturer: Supermicro
            Product Name: X8SIE
            Version: 0123456789
            Serial Number: 0123456789
            UUID: 49434D53-0200-9033-2500-33902500D52C
            Wake-up Type: Power Switch
            SKU Number: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
            Family: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 15 bytes
Base Board Information
        Manufacturer: Supermicro
        Product Name: X8SIE
        Version: 0123456789
        Serial Number: VM11S61561
        Asset Tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
        Features:
                Board is a hosting board
                Board is replaceable
        Location In Chassis: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
        Chassis Handle: 0x0003
        Type: Motherboard
        Contained Object Handles: 0

Handle 0x0003, DMI type 3, 21 bytes
Chassis Information
        Manufacturer: Supermicro
        Type: Sealed-case PC
        Lock: Not Present
        Version: 0123456789
        Serial Number: 0123456789
        Asset Tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
        Boot-up State: Safe
        Power Supply State: Safe
        Thermal State: Safe
        Security Status: None
        OEM Information: 0x00000000
        Height: Unspecified
        Number Of Power Cords: 1
        Contained Elements: 0

Solution

This is going to be a function of your hardware setup.
Please provide the server make/model and Linux distribution/version and kernel.

The process to maximize server performance varies greatly depending on what you have available to you...

For instance:

• Red Hat 6 systems have the tuned-adm framework which disables the CPU governors. (Also see this graphic.)
• HP ProLiant servers (and others) have a specific tuning guide and steps for low-latency and performance-optimized setups.
• Most hardware vendors have specific BIOS settings that can help (disabling C-States and P-States - also frequency-scaling).

So please, provide more context about what you're looking for.

Check the matrix listed in this answer for some general information on the RHEL approach.

Edit: From your kernel string, this appears to be a Red Hat-like RPM-based system.

I would suggest downloading the tuned-adm utilities and changing your system's performance profile to accomplish what you want.

In your case:

yum install tuned tuned-utils
tuned-adm profile latency-performance

or maybe:

tuned-adm profile enterprise storage

Either will disable the CPU governor.

The system settings and profiles are arranged according to the schedule below:

Comments

[MDMarra]

What's that link have to do with anything? If you expect people from here to follow a link to EE, you should give it some context.

[Tiffany Walker]

Explained the link some.

[Tiffany Walker]

Posted information! :)

[ewwhite]

@TiffanyWalker Still looking for the OS version.

[Tiffany Walker]

Done. 2.6.32-379.1.1.lve1.1.7.6.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Sat Aug 4 09:56:37 EDT 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[ewwhite]

@TiffanyWalker You haven't given the specific OS distribution or a real explanation of why you need the CPU management to be disabled. Can you provide some context on what you're trying to do? Either way, I'd updated my answer with the commands to modify the governors on a modern RHEL-like system.

[Tiffany Walker]

It's CentOS just with a modded kernel. The system is acting poor on performance with no real load so trying out CPU related issues.

[ewwhite]

@TiffanyWalker Well, just run tuned-adm profile <profile-name> for the appropriate profile, and you're done.

[ewwhite]

@TiffanyWalker I don't know. You haven't explained what the server's purpose or application is!

[Tiffany Walker]

It's a web based hosting server.

[ewwhite]

Try throughput-performance for now.