# Report: Intel AMT / vPro per-system power-telemetry feasibility (tsys1,3,4,5,9 + 6,7)

Status: PROPOSAL (v1, 2026-09-06). Ticket: #826. Hardware verified live via
dmidecode 2026-09-06 (tsys9 not yet reachable — identification step included).

## Executive answers

**Does AMT provide power usage data? Can it be pulled from the BIOS?**
**No — no Intel AMT version (9.x through current) exposes real-time watt
telemetry, via BIOS or any API.** Intel's own forum answer is categorical:
AMT provides power *control* (on/off/cycle/boot-once), not power
*measurement*. The Redfish `Power`/`PowerConsumedWatts` resource is a
server-BMC feature (iDRAC/iLO wired to PSU metering hardware), not an AMT
feature. So AMT is worth enabling only for remote KVM/power-control, never
for watts.

## Per-system table (hardware verified by dmidecode 2026-09-06)

| System | Platform (verified) | AMT/vPro? | Watts via mgmt? | Best watt source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pfv-tsys1 | OptiPlex 9020, i7-4770 (Haswell), Q87 | YES — AMT 9.1 (Dell spec confirms vPro/iAMT 9.x) | NO | Linux RAPL: PKG + DRAM |
| pfv-tsys3 | Precision 7510 (mobile WS), Xeon E3-1535M v5 (Skylake-H), CM236 | YES — AMT 11.x (patch post-CVE-2017-5689!) | NO | Linux RAPL: PKG (DRAM domain often absent on mobile SKL — verify) |
| pfv-tsys4 | Precision T1700, Xeon E3-1246 v3 (Haswell), C226 | **NO AMT** — CPU is vPro-capable but C226 has no AMT ME stack (Haswell vPro needs Q87); no BMC either | NO | Linux RAPL: PKG + DRAM |
| pfv-tsys5 | Precision T7500, Xeon E5620 (Westmere), 5520 chipset | NO — server-class chipset, pre-vPro era; no BMC | NO | **Nothing software-readable: Westmere has NO RAPL** (Sandy Bridge introduced it). Metered PDU / smart plug only |
| pfv-tsys6 | PowerEdge R610, 2x E5530, iDRAC6 | NO AMT (servers = BMC) | **YES via iDRAC6** | `racadm getconfig -g cfgServerPower -o cfgServerActualPowerConsumption`; ipmitool sensor "System Level" (watts often x10). DCMI partial/absent on old firmware |
| pfv-tsys7 | PowerEdge R620, 2x E5-2630 v2 (Ivy Bridge-EP), iDRAC7 | NO AMT (BMC) | **YES via iDRAC7** (full DCMI) | `ipmitool dcmi power reading`; `racadm getsysinfo -c`; plus host-side RAPL PKG+DRAM |
| tsys9 | unknown (2013-17 OptiPlex/Precision) | Identify first: `dmidecode -t system` + `lspci \| grep -i MEI` + MEBx (Ctrl+P) | if AMT: still NO watts | RAPL if Haswell or newer |

## Practical pull methods

- **AMT 9.x/10.x/11.x (tsys1, tsys3):** WSMAN/SOAP via `wsman` CLI or
  MeshCommander (port 16993 TLS) — power state, on/off, KVM, inventory. AMT
  11.6+ also speaks Redfish at `https://<host>:16992/redfish/v1/` but with no
  Power telemetry resource.
- **Local MEI/HECI discovery:** `/dev/mei0`, `intelmetool` — tells you whether
  AMT firmware is present/provisioned (use this for tsys9 triage).
- **RAPL readers:** `turbostat` (most complete; PKG/cores/DRAM), powercap
  sysfs `/sys/class/powercap/intel-rapl:*` (poll `energy_uj`, delta/t = W),
  `perf stat -e power/energy-pkg/`. node_exporter has NO built-in RAPL
  collector — deploy a small rapl exporter or scrape turbostat. Caveat: RAPL
  measures CPU package (+DRAM), not whole-wall draw (~60-75% of wall on
  desktops).

## RAPL coverage by CPU generation

- RAPL introduced Sandy Bridge (2011); **Westmere (E5620) and Nehalem (E5530)
  have none — tsys5 and tsys6 hosts cannot RAPL.**
- Haswell adds DRAM domain: tsys1 (i7-4770) and tsys4 (E3-1246 v3) get
  PKG+PP0+DRAM.
- Skylake-H (tsys3): PKG yes, DRAM typically absent on mobile.
- Ivy Bridge-EP (tsys7): PKG+DRAM.

## Recommendations

1. Don't chase watts via AMT anywhere — the capability does not exist. Use
   AMT (tsys1, tsys3) only for remote KVM/power control; patch tsys3's AMT 11
   firmware for CVE-2017-5689 before enabling.
2. Uniform host-side telemetry = RAPL exporter on tsys1, tsys3, tsys4, tsys7.
3. Servers (tsys6, tsys7): pull BMC watts out-of-band (racadm/ipmitool DCMI);
   update iDRAC6 firmware on tsys6 if DCMI commands fail.
4. tsys5 (T7500): budget a metered PDU or smart plug — no software path
   exists (fits the planned UPS re-cabling: put tsys5 on the metered leg).
5. tsys9 RESOLVED (2026-09-06): OptiPlex 7080, i5-10500, live PVE 9.2.5 node
   (100.101.158.76 — runs pfv-netinfra-02 + k8s wnode-tsys9); RAPL present —
   include it in the RAPL exporter wave.
6. UPS plan alignment: since only tsys6/7 (BMC) + RAPL hosts give per-node
   watts, keep the metered UPS leg feeding the gear you most need wall-watts
   for; per-node software telemetry covers the rest.

## Sources

- Intel Community — AMT and power usage monitoring: https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-Business-Client-Software/AMT-and-power-usage-monitoring/td-p/853085
- Intel Community — AMT Support Identification: https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-vPro-Platform/Intel-AMT-Support-Identification/td-p/1275668
- DMTF Redfish Telemetry DSP2051: https://www.dmtf.org/sites/default/files/standards/documents/DSP2051_1.1.0.pdf
- OptiPlex 9020 spec (AMT 9.x): https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/optiplex-9020-desktop/opt9020sffom-v2/specifications
- Precision 7510 spec sheet: https://i.dell.com/sites/csdocuments/Shared-Content_data-Sheets_Documents/en/us/Dell-Precision-15-7000-Series-7510-Spec-Sheet.pdf
- ARK E3-1246 v3: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/80916/intel-xeon-processor-e31246-v3-8m-cache-3-50-ghz/specifications.html
- ServerFault Dell power CLI: https://serverfault.com/questions/736068/how-do-i-get-the-power-consumption-of-a-dell-poweredge-server-on-the-cli
- jonamiki racadm power capping: https://jonamiki.com/2014/10/18/power-control-and-capping-on-dell-servers-using-racadm/
- Dell InfoHub power reporting: https://infohub.delltechnologies.com/en-us/p/server-power-consumption-reporting-and-management/
- Launchpad RAPL domains: https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1467014
- Hackenberg et al. Haswell RAPL survey: https://tu-dresden.de/zih/forschung/ressourcen/dateien/projekte/firestarter/2015_hackenberg_hppac.pdf
- kernel mei/iamt docs: https://docs.kernel.org/driver-api/mei/iamt.html

> **Docs live on Discourse — this repo is the executable source of truth.** Perf topic: https://community.turnsys.com/t/328