Home > Workload Solutions > SQL Server > White Papers > SQL Server 2019 Best Practices on PowerEdge Servers and PowerStore T Model Arrays > PowerEdge R750xs: Enabling Processor x2APIC Support
By default, Intel’s Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (x2APIC) BIOS setting is disabled on the PowerEdge R750xs server. In this best practice, we enabled the x2APIC setting to evaluate the impact on performance.
Table 16. Best practice category
Category | PowerEdge |
Product | PowerEdge R750xs server |
Type of best practice | Performance Optimization |
Day and value | Day 3, Fine Tuning |
Overview
The x2APIC is designed to improve efficiency in multiprocessor systems. An interrupt is a request by the software for the processor to respond to an event. For example, if an operating system requests that the processor suspend current activities and this request is accepted by the processor, the state of the current activities is saved and the new request is processed.
The x2APIC is Intel’s most recent and advanced programmable interrupt controller. Enhancements to x2APIC include support for more processors and improved performance. The PowerEdge R750xs used for testing best practices had two Intel® Xeon® Gold 6338 processors each with 32 cores, for a total of 64 cores in the server. VMware vSphere 7.0.3 was used to virtualize the SQL Server databases. Enabling x2APIC should enable efficiencies for the PowerEdge multi-processor system and optimize interrupt management of virtual machines.
Recommendation
Overall, the best practice of enabling the x2APIC in BIOS can provide a slight improvement in the system performance. Enabling x2APIC considered as a Day 3, Fine Tuning recommendation with these considerations:
Additional Resources
Setting up BIOS on 15th Generation (15G) Dell EMC PowerEdge Server