Enable SEV-SNP on r6525

[江立中]

Hi Cloudlab Team.

My current experiment is https://www.cloudlab.us/status.php?uuid=014001eb-3947-11ed-b318-e4434b2381fc

I was trying to launch SEV-SNP on this node according to this link https://github.com/AMDESE/AMDSEV/tree/sev-snp-devel#prepare-host.

But it seems that I need to update the BIOS settings as mentioned in the tutorial link above.

Specifically, it mentions two things.

One is the BIOS upgrade as follows:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

*NOTE: If your SEV-SNP firmware is older than 1.51, see the "Upgrade SEV firmware" section to upgrade the firmware. *

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another one is the BIOS configuration as follows:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Verify that the following BIOS settings are enabled. The setting may vary based on the vendor BIOS. The menu option below are from AMD BIOS.

  

CBS -> CPU Common ->
                SEV-ES ASID space Limit Control -> Manual
                SEV-ES ASID space limit -> 100
                SNP Memory Coverage -> Enabled
                SMEE -> Enabled

        -> NBIO common ->
                SEV-SNP -> Enabled

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since I cannot modify the BIOS setting without the admin, I wonder if you could help me settle up these?

Thank you in advance!

Sincerely,

Michael 

[Mike Hibler]

Through sheer coincidence, the node you are on (clnode301) already has the
SEV features enabled. I set them for a previous user and forgot to reset
them. I pointed him to your post so maybe he can chime in with his experience.

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[Vikram Narayanan]

As Mike pointed out, all the recommended BIOS options are enabled on clnode301. But it won't enable the SNP mode.

The SEV firmware provided by the latest DELL BIOS update (v2.8.4) is super up to date and AMD does not have the kernel patches yet for supporting the firmware version (v1.52, build 4).

For now, the only option is to wait for a kernel update from AMD (https://github.com/AMDESE/AMDSEV/issues/107).

~Vikram

[Mike Hibler]

Thanks Vikram.

We will enable SEV on all of the r6525 nodes at Clemson once we are sure
we have the correct settings.

> cloudlab-users/988733ea-979d-4925-9dd1-dfa417eb2478n%40googlegroups.com.

[Mike Hibler]

Well, except for the global transparent memory encryption which would
affect the performance for everyone, whether interested in encryption
or not. That will not be enabled.

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[江立中]

Hi Mike and Vikram.

I see.

Thanks for your replies.

It's really helpful!

Sincerely,

Michael