Skip to main content

dell-idrac-6-fan-speed-control-service

Link: hippyod/dell-idrac-6-or-7-fan-speed-control-service: Simple service to monitor ambient temp of Dell PowerEdge R610 or R720 (iDRAC 6 or 7) and set fan speed manually and appropiately via IPMI (github.com)

git clone https://github.com/hippyod/dell-idrac-6-or-7-fan-speed-control-service.git

Simple service to monitor ambient temp of Dell PowerEdge R610 or R720 (iDRAC 6 & 7) and set fan speed manually and appropiately via IPMI.

This service will start on boot, monitor the average core CPU temperature every 30s, and adjust fan speed over LAN via the ipmitool based on a rolling average of the average CPU temperatures every two minutes; i.e. ${AVG_CPU_TEMPS_ARRAY_SUM}/4

[NOTE: if you don't understand the instructions, that's what internet search is for.]

  1. Make sure ipmitool and lm_sensors is installed; e.g.
    sudo dnf install ipmitool lm_sensors
  2. Make sure iDRAC is enabled over lan from the host OS
  3. Get the IP address of iDRAC from the LCD menus at the front of the screen, or during boot
  4. Enter the iDRAC IP address, username, and password in fan-speed-control.sh
    1. We suggest making the IP address static
    2. We suggest changing the root/calvin default username and password on iDRAC first if you haven't already done so
    3. If the fan isn't under control by the time your login screen comes up, check the IP address first
  5. sudo sensors-detect
    1. Hit enter all the way through until it asks you to write out the results of the probe unless you know what you're doing
  6. sudo cp fan-speed-control.sh /usr/local/bin/
  7. sudo cp fan-speed-control.service /usr/lib/systemd/system/
  8. sudo systemctl enable /usr/lib/systemd/system/fan-speed-control.service
  9. sudo systemctl start fan-speed-control.service

The service will start and run every 5 seconds until a proper temperature average is calculated, and then every 30 seconds (default), adjusting the fan speed appropiately as the average core CPU temperature rises. Minimum rotation is set to 15%. Once the temp rises past 90% of the high CPU temperature as reported by the sensors command, it will return control to iDRAC until the core CPU average temperature falls back under 90% of the reported high. Please read through the script to understand the default settings, and to adjust the IP address of your iDRAC.

This stopped my machine (first a Dell Poweredge R610, and later a R720) from sounding like a jet engine, but it still sounds like a loud, '90's era desktop with this. Still much better and much more tolerable. Expect the fan speed to adjust somewhat regularly depending on usage and sensor sensistivity, and adjust the way the service works to your heart's desire, but see warning and disclaimer below. Occasionally the sensors may miss a beat, which will cause the script to fail. The script is designed to restart the service until fixed.

DISCLAIMER

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!! No responsibility taken for any damage caused to your equipment as result of this script.

Original script before modification can be found and freely obtained from NoLooseEnds

No Comments
Back to top