Dell PowerEdge R730xd Fan Control: Difference between revisions

Line 1:

Dell provides an OpenManage BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) / IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) Program for changing some settings. This also applies to other models like the R730, etc., but watch out for naming conventions like "FAN1 RPM" VS "Fan1 RPM" (notice the CAPs).

=== The Problem ===

Why control the fan speed instead of leaving it up to the server? Well, scattered information seems to indicate that if a "non-certified" PCIe card or perhaps disk drive is installed, the punishment, err, standard functionality of the Dell Controller is to ramp the fan speeds up to maximum. (Hint from here: https://www.dell.com/community/PowerEdge-Hardware-General/How-to-quiet-r730XD-fans-lower-idle-fan-speed/td-p/8349052)

=== The Solution ===

*Show all the available IPMI Settings: ipmitool -I lanplus -H WhatEverUserName -P WhatEverPassword sdr list full

Line 13:

Line 16:

*...and finally, if the power / mains are pulled then everything reverts to defaults and the above settings have to be input again.

<br />

=== Additional Information ===

Thanks to: https://old.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/7xqb11/dell_fan_noise_control_silence_your_poweredge/ for the information.

Thanks to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vvKQL6sRiw for the original hint (but don't watch it as it is slow, and I can't believe I'm recommending Redit for anything, but since it appears to be the original source for the posted information in the above link, use that instead)

Another conversation that hints at, without explicitly stating, that any "third party card" (why not second party or non-Dell?), will trigger the 'Dell Tax Avoidance' behavior of the fans, which is to spin up to 100%: https://www.dell.com/community/PowerEdge-Hardware-General/T130-Fan-Speed-Algorithm/td-p/5052692

Possible additional information that may apply to the R730xd (this applies to the C6100 Baseboard Controller, and might be IPMI 2.0 'compliant'): https://dl.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_ser_stor_net/esuprt_cloud_products/poweredge-c6100_reference%20guide_en-us.pdf

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 Dell provides an OpenManage BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) / IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) Program for changing some settings.  This also applies to other models like the R730, etc., but watch out for naming conventions like "FAN1 RPM" VS "Fan1 RPM" (notice the CAPs).
+=== The Problem ===
 Why control the fan speed instead of leaving it up to the server?  Well, scattered information seems to indicate that if a "non-certified" PCIe card or perhaps disk drive is installed, the punishment, err, standard functionality of the Dell Controller is to ramp the fan speeds up to maximum. (Hint from here: https://www.dell.com/community/PowerEdge-Hardware-General/How-to-quiet-r730XD-fans-lower-idle-fan-speed/td-p/8349052)
+=== The Solution ===
 *Show all the available IPMI Settings: ipmitool -I lanplus -H WhatEverUserName -P WhatEverPassword sdr list full
@@ Line 13: / Line 16: @@
 *...and finally, if the power / mains are pulled then everything reverts to defaults and the above settings have to be input again.
+<br />
+=== Additional Information ===
 Thanks to: https://old.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/7xqb11/dell_fan_noise_control_silence_your_poweredge/ for the information.
 Thanks to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vvKQL6sRiw for the original hint (but don't watch it as it is slow, and I can't believe I'm recommending Redit for anything, but since it appears to be the original source for the posted information in the above link, use that instead)
+Another conversation that hints at, without explicitly stating, that any "third party card" (why not second party or non-Dell?), will trigger the 'Dell Tax Avoidance' behavior of the fans, which is to spin up to 100%: https://www.dell.com/community/PowerEdge-Hardware-General/T130-Fan-Speed-Algorithm/td-p/5052692
 Possible additional information that may apply to the R730xd (this applies to the C6100 Baseboard Controller, and might be IPMI 2.0 'compliant'): https://dl.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_ser_stor_net/esuprt_cloud_products/poweredge-c6100_reference%20guide_en-us.pdf