How to check CPU frequency in ESXi

[Xalzor]

Hello! I have an ESXi host with a 2x Xeon Gold 6130 the base freq. of the CPU is 2.1Ghz now anywhere I check (ESXi web client, vCenter, SSH) it says the clock speed is at 2.1Ghz even though the CPU's all core turbo is 2.8Ghz as it can be checked here: https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/intel/xeon_gold/6130​ , 1 core turbo is 3.7Ghz.

I have the servers CPU utilization at 70-90% and it still says everywhere its at 2.1Ghz and I cannot believe it is really at that speed since I have turbo boost enabled, ESXi power management set to high performance, and in the servers BIOS it is set to maximum performance. (C States are enabled aswell if it changes anything)

Can anyone give me a clue how to check the frequency accurately like the exact speed of it at the time of checking, or if these infos are accurate then why I have only 2.1Ghz all core speed?

Thanks for the help.

[TheBobkin]

Hello Xalzor​,

# esxcfg-info -w | grep CpuImpl -A10

Note that this will potentially tell you the same thing that the GUI does so don't shoot the messenger :smileygrin:

Good summary of required settings and peoples findings here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/vmware/comments/976yfw/esx_and_intel_turbo_boost/

Bob

[Xalzor]

Hello :smileyhappy:

So I checked this command but basically the output of it was 2.1ghz so I guess the turbo boost isnt working at all.

On that reddit post you linked one person said giving OS Controlled performance a try, maybe I should do that too?

I thought max performance mode will just use the maximum turbo speed of all cores of this CPU which should be around 2.8ghz according to the wiki.

Also an other question I have is that will enabling hardware virtualization at the cpu settings in ESXi give better performance overall?

Thanks for the answer.

[Xalzor]

That only checks the CPU Model.

I cant believe you cant check a simple thing like this neither in ESXi or vCenter, how come people paying thousands of dollars for VMWare and it doesnt have a simple monitoring feature like this?

It literally should be displayed at the host dashboard or at monitoring but its nowhere to be found.

I guess the only option now is to use some 3rd party monitoring app.

[MattG]

ESXTOP -> P (Power) -> F (Fields) -> F (APerf)%

The %A/MPERF shows the % above base frequency that you are running at per core.

For example:

• CPU Performance Profile - High Performance
• E5-2699 v3 (18c) - base frequency 2300 MHz
• 16vCPU CPUStress VM

Looking at ESXTOP, A/MPERF = 121.7% (per used core)

121.7% * 2300 = 2799.1

So my cores are running a 2800MHz.   I have also overcommitted the ESX host and the A/MERF stays at 121.7%. Apparently Intel CPUs have an "all-cores-max" value that will run all cores at the designated max.  Its not the max or base,  but in between.  Unfortunately Intel doesnt publish and I have been unable to figure out the "all-core-max" value per Intel CPU.   This would be good to know as I've always designed around the base frequency.   In my case I was off by 20%... at least it is a 20% bonus.

It appears the other power performance profiles use the "all-cores-max" value as well with the difference that they will turn off or turn down cores that aren't used to save power.  In very limited testing it doesnt appear that it raises used cores above "all-cores-max" frequency.

[Tuamigobender_]