Best practices for Windows power settings when using Security Center - Security Center 5.7 - 5.12

Security Center Best Practices - Enterprise
Applies to
Security Center 5.7 - 5.12
Last updated
2023-08-15
Content type
Best practices
Language
English
Product
Security Center
Version
5.12
5.11
5.10
5.9
5.8
5.7

To get optimal performance from your Security Center servers, it is recommended to opt for maximum performance over energy savings when configuring your Windows power management settings.

  • To avoid disruptions of your Security Center system, you must prevent the PC from going into sleep mode. Many Security Center software components run automatically in the background. As a result, your power management settings need to prevent the PC from going into sleep mode when there is no user activity.
  • To avoid disruptions of your Security Center system, configure the power management settings of the Network Driver on your servers. For each NIC being used, do the following:
    NOTE: To avoid possible connectivity issues, we recommend that you do not change this option remotely.
    1. In Windows Control Panel, open the Network Connections window.
    2. Right-click the network adapter and click Properties > Configure > Power Management.
    3. Clear the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power option and click Save.

      This option is not available on some older servers.

  • For certain Windows versions, like Windows 7, high-performance power settings are available. Because high-performance power settings can increase the performance of your PC, select these settings whenever possible.
  • If the PCI state power management is available, disable it.
    • Active State Power Management (ASPM) is a power management protocol used to manage PCI Express-based (PCIe) serial link devices as links become less active over time. There is a tradeoff between power savings and the time that your PC takes to recover from the PCI sleep state.
    • To get maximum performance, the PCI link must not go into sleep mode, so disable this option if it is available. In the Power options from the Control Panel, make sure that the plan High-performance is selected and that the PCI Express Link state Power Management is set to OFF.
  • To avoid data loss and data corruption caused by power failures, it is recommended to protect your Security Center servers, or at least the Directory servers, with an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).

Usually, your IT system administrator imposes restrictions on changing power settings. Make sure that the imposed restrictions comply with the above requirements for each machine that runs Security Center components.

Each version of Windows has a slightly different way of configuring the power management settings. For more information about how to do it with your particular version of the OS, see the Microsoft Support website: https://support.microsoft.com.