Updates to the DKU (CentOS only)

New DKU, power management improvements.

DKU 16.2 comes with the following updates:

• AJA Driver 16.0.2
• dlConfigCheck update: Adds the Lenovo P620.
• NVIDIA driver 460.91.03 - July 2021 security update. Details on the security fixes are available at NVIDIA.
• AJA Firmware updates
  • Kona 4: 12/24/2020 - kona_5_retail_tprom_2020-12-24.bit
  • Kona 5: 3/25/2020 - kona_4_2020-03-25.bit. This update fixes an SDI output corruption when using Headroom with firmware "2019/11/06 at 19:00:20" for Kona5.
• Modules required for the installation of Mellanox OFED drivers. These modules were missing from previous DKU versions.
• New Power Management options for power-saving modes. See the following section.

Power Management Update

A new power-saving mode is now enabled when the Flame Family products are not running, lowering the power draw of the CPU and GPU.

When you start a Flame Family product, the CPU and the GPU are set to the performance mode.

The following changes are made to CentOS to enable these power-saving features:

xorg.conf

• The Power option has been removed.

When you start a Flame Family product:

• The active profile is now set to autodesk.
• PowerMizer is set to the Prefer Maximum Performance mode. This option is visible in nvidia-settings (PowerMizer section).

When no Flame Family product is running:

• The active profile is set to Balanced.
• PowerMizer is set to the Adaptive Performance mode.

These power setting changes apply to:

• Flame
• Flare
• Flame Assist
• Lustre
• Burn
• Background Reactor

Note: These new power management settings confuse the dlConfigCheck when it reports CPU values. To avoid confusion, the CPU check has been removed from the dlConfigCheck.

Enabling the Power-saving Mode

The DKU and Flame Family products installation do not modify the xorg.conf file. But to benefit from the power-saving mode, you must force the DKU to update xorg.conf.

How you do this depends on whether you customize the xorg.conf file.

If you do not customize your xorg.conf file:

• Overwrite the xorg.conf when installing DKU 16.2:
  • In a shell, from the DKU folder, type ./INSTALL_DKU --forcexorg
  • Reboot the workstation.

If you customize the xorg.conf file:

• As root, edit the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf
• Search for the lines with PowerMizer, and remove them.
• Save the file.
• In a shell, from the DKU folder, type ./INSTALL_DKU
• Reboot the workstation.

If You Plan on Using Older Flame Family Products

Important: If you are planning to use a pre-2022.2 Flame Family product on a workstation updated to DKU 16.2, read the following section. If not, you can safely ignore the following section.

With this new power management update, whenever you start a Flame Family product version 2022.2 Update, the software automatically switches to the autodesk power management profile and the NVIDIA performance mode. It switches back to balanced power management and NVIDIA auto mode when you exit.

Previous versions of Flame Family products do not know of this, and cannot manage power profiles. Using the balanced power management and not enabling NVIDIA performance mode can impact performances. If you plan on using previous versions of Flame Family products on a workstation updated to DKU 16.2, use the following instructions.

If you plan on using previous versions of Flame Family products on a workstation updated to DKU 16.2, switch to the autodesk power management profile before starting your software.

To use a previous version of Flame Family products with optimal performance:

• In a shell, enter: tuned-adm profile autodesk
• In the shell, enter: nvidia-settings
• In the PowerMizer menu, select Prefer Maximum Performance.
• Quit NVIDIA settings.

To return to the balanced power profile and conserve power:

• In a shell, enter: tuned-adm profile balanced
• In the shell, enter: nvidia-settings
• In the PowerMizer menu, select Auto.
• Quit NVIDIA settings.