Quick Start¶

Install all required dependencies to run all tests and evaluate your edge system.

Info

Refer to Intel® ESQ for Intel® AI Edge Systems for official main qualification page.

Requirements¶

Before starting, ensure your system meets the following requirements:

1. Hardware¶

Intel® ESQ supports a wide range of Intel® edge systems optimized for various performance and use case requirements.

Category	Processors	Specifications	Storage	Discrete GPU Options
Scalable Performance Graphics Media	Xeon-Based: Intel® Xeon® 6 Processors, 5^th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors, Intel® Xeon® W Processors Core-Based: Intel® Core Ultra Processor (Series 2), Intel® Core™ (Series 2)	Xeon-Based: SKU: Dual and Single Socket Minimum System Memory: 128 GB DDR5 (Dual Channel) Core-Based: Minimum System Memory: 64GB DDR5 (Dual Channel)	Recommended: 1TB	Intel® Arc™ B-Series Graphics, Intel® Arc™ Pro B-Series Graphics
Scalable Performance	Intel® Xeon® 6 Processors, 5^th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors, Intel® Xeon® W Processors	SKU: Dual and Single Socket Minimum System Memory: 128 GB DDR5 (Dual Channnel)	Recommended: 1TB	N/A
Efficiency Optimized	Intel® Core™ Ultra Processor (Series 2)	Graphics: Integrated GPU with 7 Xe-Cores or more SKU: Single Socket Minimum System Memory: 32 GB DDR5 (Dual Channel)	Recommended: 512 GB	N/A
Mainstream	Intel® Core™ (Series 2)	Minimum System Memory: 32 GB DDR5 (Dual Channel)	Recommended: 512 GB	N/A
Entry	Intel® Processor for Desktop, Intel® Processor X-series, Intel® Processor N-series	Minimum System Memory: 32 GB DDR5 (Dual Channel)	Recommended: 512 GB	N/A

2. Operating System¶

Install a supported operating system before proceeding.

OS	Version	Notes
Ubuntu*	24.04 Desktop LTS or newer	Recommended Linux* distribution
Windows*	Coming soon	Coming soon

Installation¶

1. System Drivers¶

Configure system drivers:

sudo bash -c "$(wget -qLO - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/open-edge-platform/edge-developer-kit-reference-scripts/refs/heads/main/main_installer.sh)"

Additional Reference

For detailed information about system drivers, see the Edge Developer Kit Reference Scripts documentation.

2. System Dependencies¶

Install essential system packages:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y curl git libgl1 make

3. Docker Engine¶

Docker* Engine Download Source

Intel® ESQ uses download.docker.com* as the default download source. To use a custom download source*, configure it with:

export DOCKER_SOURCE_URL=<custom_docker_source_url>

Install Docker* Engine:

# Add Docker's official GPG key:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL ${DOCKER_SOURCE_URL:-https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu}/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

# Add the repository to Apt sources:
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.sources <<EOF
Types: deb
URIs: ${DOCKER_SOURCE_URL:-https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu}
Suites: $(. /etc/os-release && echo "${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-$VERSION_CODENAME}")
Components: stable
Architectures: $(dpkg --print-architecture)
Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
EOF

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

Add your user to the docker group:

Warning

Adding your user to the docker group grants root-level access. This should only be done on development or test systems.

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

To activate your new group membership immediately in your current terminal, run:

newgrp docker

This command starts a new shell session with updated group permissions, allowing you to use Docker* without logging out. You can now verify Docker* installation is successful by running the hello-world image:

docker pull hello-world

Note

If you see a list of containers (even if empty), your user is correctly added to the docker group. If you get a permission error, ensure you have run newgrp docker in your terminal. For persistent access across all sessions, log out and log back in, or reboot your system.

Note

If you cannot pull the image, your network may be unable to reach the default registry. Configure a mirror registry in the Docker* daemon configuration:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/docker
sudo tee /etc/docker/daemon.json > /dev/null <<EOF
{
    "registry-mirrors": [
        "<mirror-registry-source>"
    ]
}
EOF

Additional Reference

For detailed Docker* installation instructions, see the official Docker* Engine installation documentation.

4. Python Package Manager¶

Install uv to accelerate Python* package management:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh && source $HOME/.local/bin/env

Additional Reference

For detailed uv installation instructions, see the official uv Installation documentation.

5. Platform Power Monitoring¶

Configure non-root access to RAPL (Running Average Power Limit) powercap files for platform power monitoring:

About RAPL Power Monitoring

RAPL provides energy consumption data for Intel® processors. This step enables Intel® ESQ to collect power configuration information without requiring root privileges.

Run the automated setup script to configure group-based permissions:

sudo bash -c "$(wget -qLO - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/open-edge-platform/edge-system-qualification/refs/heads/main/scripts/setup-powercap-permissions.sh)"

This setup script:

Auto-detects all powercap energy files on your system
Creates a powercap group for secure, user-specific access
Adds your user to the powercap group
Configures persistent permissions via /etc/sysfs.d/powercap.conf (applied automatically on boot)
Applies permissions immediately for the current session

Security & Persistence

This configuration uses group-based permissions (mode 0440, owner root:powercap) to grant read-only access to RAPL powercap files exclusively to users in the powercap group. Permissions are automatically reapplied on boot via the sysfs configuration.

Verification

Verify access with:

cat /sys/class/powercap/intel-rapl/intel-rapl:0/energy_uj

If this command prints a number without requiring sudo, the setup was successful.

6. Intel® ESQ¶

Development Version

To access the latest features that may not be available in the current release, you can install the development version from the main branch:

uv tool install --force --refresh git+https://github.com/open-edge-platform/edge-system-qualification.git@main

Install Intel® ESQ from GitHub*:

uv tool install --force --refresh git+https://github.com/open-edge-platform/edge-system-qualification.git@main

Verify that Intel® ESQ is working correctly:

esq --version

Quick Start¶

Run all tests and review the generated test report:

Newer Version

Before running a new version of Intel® ESQ, run the following command to clean up any previously created esq_data folder:

esq clean --all

This ensures that leftover data from previous ESQ versions does not interfere with the new installation. If you have uninstalled ESQ but the esq_data folder still exists, remove it using the above command before running any new ESQ commands. Otherwise, ESQ may not work as expected.

Download Source

Intel® ESQ uses HuggingFace* as the default download source. For ModelScope*, you can configure it with:

export PREFER_MODELSCOPE=1

1. Run Intel® ESQ¶

Run qualification and vertical (recommended) test profiles to generate a test report:

esq run

By default, this command will:

Run qualification profiles (always included)
Run vertical profiles (unless you choose to skip them at the prompt)
Collect metrics and generate a test report

Verbose Output

Use the --verbose option to see detailed information while running tests:

esq --verbose run

This provides real-time feedback on test progress, system information collection, and detailed execution logs.

Run All Profile Types

Use the --all option to run all available profile types (qualification, vertical, and suite):

esq --verbose run --all

Driver Requirements

Intel® GPU and NPU tests require specific drivers. Ensure you have the latest Intel® drivers installed for your hardware configuration.

Virtualization

Running in virtual machines may impact performance and hardware acceleration capabilities. Bare metal installation is recommended for accurate testing results.

Ready to explore all test suites? Continue to the Test Suites →