Dell PowerEdge R730xd Fan Control

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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
  • Show details of specific setting: ipmitool -I lanplus -H WhatEverUserName -P WhatEverPassword sdr get "Fan1 RPM"
    • "Fan1 RPM" is obtained from the first command
  • Enable Manual Control of Fans: ipmitool -I lanplus -H WhatEverUserName -P WhatEverPassword raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x00
    • Disable Manual Control / Enable Automatic Control: ipmitool -I lanplus -H WhatEverUserName -P WhatEverPassword raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x01
  • Set Fan Speed (WhatEverFanSpeed is a Percentage in Hexadecimal Form): ipmitool -I lanplus -H WhatEverUserName -P WhatEverPassword raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0xff WhatEverFanSpeed
    • Example for 20% Fan Speed: ipmitool -I lanplus -H WhatEverUserName -P WhatEverPassword raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0xff 0x14
    • 30% = $1E, 40% = $28, ($ is Commodore Speak for Hexadecimal)
  • ...and finally, if the power / mains are pulled then everything reverts to defaults and the above settings have to be input again.

Another Solution

Sourced from here: http://www.righteoushack.net/dell-poweredge-13th-gen-fan-noise/

Below is a "direct quote" from the above source. No copyright infringement intended.
Disable Third-Party PCIe Card Default Cooling Response:

ipmitool -I lanplus -H ipaddress -U root -P password raw 0x30 0xce 0x00 0x16 0x05 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x05 0x00 0x01 0x00 0x00

Enable Third-Party PCIe Card Default Cooling Response:

ipmitool -I lanplus -H ipaddress -U root -P password raw 0x30 0xce 0x00 0x16 0x05 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x05 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00

To check the current third party PCIe card default cooling setting:

ipmitool -I lanplus -H ipaddress -U root -P password raw 0x30 0xce 0x01 0x16 0x05 0x00 0x00 0x00

This response means disabed:

16 05 00 00 00 05 00 01 00 00

This response means enabled:

16 05 00 00 00 05 00 00 00 00

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

...so , still on the "To Do List";

  • 0x30 seems to indicate OEM specific "Extended" Settings, but why 0x30 0x30? Is that Extended, Extended Settings? Or is the second 0x30 Fan control?
  • Is the 0x01 the command for Set?

Cool Other Thoughts

...it turns out the IPMI utility was originally written by a person by the name of Duncan Laurie.

https://github.com/ipmitool/ipmitool

Some documentation on 'hidden settings': https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19464-01/820-6850-11/IPMItool.html#50602039_46384

SuperMicros IPMIView works (mostly)

Power Cap Policy / Policies are an interesting subject (for later), that can curb a power hungry system (thus cutting down fan speeds), but at a cost of performance: https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/idrac9-lifecycle-controller-v3.0-series/idrac_3.00.00.00_ug/viewing-and-configuring-power-cap-policy?guid=guid-8b420aae-ecdb-4d50-9cc9-13ac6669afd5&lang=en-us (yes, it says iDRAC9, but applies to 8 too)


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