In addition to the many performance tips in Performance Best Practices for VMware vSphere 4.0 for maximizing the performance of the hardware, enable the following BIOS-specific settings to ensure compatibility with the ESX Server:
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Enable all hardware-assisted virtualization features.
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Enable all populated sockets, and enable all processor cores in each socket.
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Enable hyperthreading.
Note that some manufacturers label the hyperthreading option as “Logical Processor,” while others label it “Enable Hyperthreading.”