Optimizing LM-Sensor for Intel Arc A750 on Dell R720, Debian 11

Setting Up LM-Sensors for Intel Arc A750 on Dell R720 Running Debian 11 with Kernel 6.2.2

The following guide will help you set up LM-Sensors to monitor your Intel Arc A750 GPU and Dell R720 server hardware on Debian 11 with the 6.2.2 kernel.

Prerequisites

1. Kernel 6.2.2 Installation:
   Make sure you have updated your Debian system to use the 6.2.2 kernel. If you haven’t done this yet, follow these steps:

   # Update the package list
   sudo apt update

   # Install necessary packages for building the kernel
   sudo apt install build-essential libncurses-dev bison flex libssl-dev libelf-dev

   # Download the kernel source
   wget https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v6.x/linux-6.2.2.tar.xz
   tar -xvf linux-6.2.2.tar.xz
   cd linux-6.2.2

   # Configure the kernel
   make menuconfig

   # Compile and install the kernel
   make -j$(nproc)
   sudo make modules_install
   sudo make install

   # Update grub
   sudo update-grub

   # Reboot into the new kernel
   sudo reboot

2. Install LM-Sensors:
   LM-Sensors is a tool that monitors system temperatures, voltage, and fan speeds. To install it, use:

   sudo apt install lm-sensors

3. Intel Arc GPU Driver:
   Ensure you have the appropriate drivers for the Intel Arc A750. Since the Arc A750 is relatively new, you might need to use the latest drivers from Intel’s official site or their repositories.

   # Add Intel's repository (if not already added)
   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:intel-opencl/intel-opencl
   sudo apt update

   # Install the drivers
   sudo apt install intel-opencl-icd intel-level-zero-gpu intel-media-va-driver-non-free

   # Install dependencies for graphics stack
   sudo apt install libdrm2 libdrm-intel1 libdrm-amdgpu1

Configuring LM-Sensors

1. Detect Sensors:
   Run the following command to detect the available sensors on your system:

   sudo sensors-detect

Follow the prompts, and answer YES to all the questions. This will probe for different sensors on your motherboard and CPU.

2. Load Detected Modules:
   Once sensors-detect completes, it will provide you with a list of kernel modules that need to be loaded. You can load them manually using modprobe or add them to /etc/modules for automatic loading at boot. Example:

   sudo modprobe coretemp
   sudo modprobe i2c-i801

Or add these lines to /etc/modules to load them at boot.

3. Verify Sensors:
   After loading the appropriate modules, you can verify the sensors are working with:

   sensors

This command will display the temperatures, voltage, and fan speeds detected by LM-Sensors.

Monitoring Intel Arc A750

1. Install Intel GPU Tools:
   To monitor the Intel Arc A750, you’ll need the Intel GPU Tools package:

   sudo apt install intel-gpu-tools

2. Use intel_gpu_top:
   The intel_gpu_top tool provides real-time monitoring of the GPU. You can run it with:

   sudo intel_gpu_top

This tool shows various statistics about the GPU’s usage, such as the utilization of the render, media, and blitter engines.

3. Integrate with LM-Sensors (optional):
   To integrate Intel Arc GPU monitoring into the LM-Sensors framework, you can use the i915 module (used by Intel integrated GPUs and may work with Intel Arc cards as well).

   sudo modprobe i915

After loading the module, check if the GPU metrics are available in the sensors output.

Monitoring Dell R720 Server Hardware

1. IPMI Tools:
   Dell R720 provides sensor readings through the IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface). Install ipmitool to monitor these:

   sudo apt install ipmitool

2. Check IPMI Sensors:
   Use the ipmitool command to list all available sensors:

   sudo ipmitool sensor

This will display various metrics like temperatures, voltages, and fan speeds directly from the BMC (Baseboard Management Controller).

Combining Information

To have a comprehensive monitoring setup that includes both the Dell R720 and the Intel Arc A750, you can use a combination of sensors, intel_gpu_top, and ipmitool outputs. Tools like collectd, Prometheus, or Grafana can be used to aggregate and visualize these metrics in real-time.

Summary

By following the steps above, you should be able to set up and monitor your Dell R720 and Intel Arc A750 GPU on Debian 11 with kernel 6.2.2. Here’s a quick checklist of the main steps:

• Install kernel 6.2.2.
• Install and configure LM-Sensors.
• Install Intel Arc A750 drivers.
• Use intel_gpu_top for GPU monitoring.
• Use ipmitool for Dell R720 hardware monitoring.

This setup will help ensure you have comprehensive visibility into the performance and health of your hardware.