Power Configuration Part 0: Introduction: Yikes, there is a lot that is not documented

I was hoping to write a brief two part overview of how to configure the various power settings for the Intel® Xeon Phi™ coprocessor. It was going to be concise and brief, allowing me to get on to the next topic. Unfortunately, as I dug into the topic further, I discovered that much of it is not very well documented. I found myself essentially writing quite a bit of explanation.

As usual, I am starting off writing this as a series of blogs. At a later point, I will reformat the blogs into a more formal article with any semblance of humor removed.

Here is my outline as it exists so far. This can change as I dig further into the topic.

1. This very brief introduction and some useful references
2. Why you might want to adjust your coprocessor’s power management
3. The micsmc (Intel® MIC System Management Console) graphical interface: power options
4. The micsmc (Intel MIC System Management Console) command-line interface: power options
5. The configuration file: power options

USEFUL REFERENCES

Though the documentation is a little sketchy, here is what I found.

[intl1] Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessor System Management Team, Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessor Platform Status Panel User Guide, v1.2, Intel® MPSS installation tree, dated August 26, 2013.

[intl2] Intel® Corporation, Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessor Platform Status Panel (micsmc command-line help), v 3.1-0.1.build0, Intel MPSS for Linux* Software Release 3.1, October 2013, retrieved November 30^th, 2013.

[intl3] Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessor: Datasheet, Document # 328209, v002, http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/xeon/xeon-phi-coprocessor-datasheet.html, June 2013.

[kidt1] Kidd, Taylor, “List of Useful Power and Power Management Articles, Blogs and References,” http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/list-of-useful-power-and-power-management-articles-blogs-and-references, October 23^rd, 2013.