Energy Saving During the Night

[Leary]

I just set up my NAS to have access to my files from both of my devices: Desktop and Laptop.

But now I'm facing a problem concerning the energy consumption:
The system is running 24/7, which is not needed for my purpose.
Is there an easy option that the whole thing is going to standby when I not use it for more than an hour?
I found an option for the single drives, but even setting them to 5 minutes, the energy consumption doesen't change. And even if it would work, the WD Red probably only makes 3 Watt, which is very low comparing to the whole system.

I bought a mainboard with make-on-lan function and thought this would make that possible...

So is there a way the whole system goes to standby (1-5 watt?) when not using it or at least an easy way to shut it down and turn it on remotely?

 

[nojohnny101]

How often do you access it?

Most people will advise that if you're accessing the box less than 2-3 times per week it might make sense to shutdown. Most people will also tell you that shutting down frequently reduces the life of components (drives, capacitors, etc.).

It's a trade off, and that's why most people just leave their systems is running all the time. Although like I said, it could make sens if you are accessing it so infrequently.

 

[wblock]

With Wake on Lan (WoL), you can wake the system up remotely. Might need to enable it in the BIOS. How you send the magic packet that wakes the NAS depends on the client operating system.

There is a section on WoL in the FreeNAS docs: http://doc.freenas.org/9.10/freenas_intro.html#network-interfaces

 

[Leary]

How often do you access it?

about 8 hours per day.
Runnning it 24/7 would cost me about 100€ per year... running it only 8 hours would reduce these costs to 30€

Most people will also tell you that shutting down frequently reduces the life of components (drives, capacitors, etc.).

Are there any numbers? How likely is it that the drive breaks within 5 years if I turn it on and off once a day?

With Wake on Lan (WoL), you can wake the system up remotely. Might need to enable it in the BIOS. How you send the magic packet that wakes the NAS depends on the client operating system.

There is a section on WoL in the FreeNAS docs: http://doc.freenas.org/9.10/freenas_intro.html#network-interfaces

but that would mean that the system is complelty shut down, so it needs some minutes to wake up again, right?
My windows PC and laptop have this function that I can put them in standby/energy saving mode. If I activate the device again, it only needs a couple of seconds until it's ready. Is there anything similar with freenas (linux)?

 

[wblock]

but that would mean that the system is complelty shut down, so it needs some minutes to wake up again, right?
My windows PC and laptop have this function that I can put them in standby/energy saving mode.

Yes. Although it really does not take too long to start FreeNAS.

In concept, the underlying operating system tries to support standby (not always successfully), and it might be possible to use it with FreeNAS. In reality, I don't know if that is supported at all, or how safe it is for data.

 

[wblock]

Some systems can have a schedule set in the BIOS to turn on automatically. I've never used that, but I don't think they shut down automatically.

 

[depasseg]

My windows PC and laptop have this function that I can put them in standby/energy saving mode. If I activate the device again, it only needs a couple of seconds until it's ready. Is there anything similar with freenas (linux)?

I'm not aware of the system having a "go to sleep" option, but you can shut it down at a certain time and wake it up with a WOL packet (or power button press). Or you can create a script like this post outlines, which looks for other machines, and if they aren't available, then the server shuts down.
http://blog.graceabundant.com/2012/08/24/automatic-shutdownwake-up-on-freenas/

 

[Leary]

I managed to get the wake on lan option running, so I will shut it down and start it remotely when I need it.

But I'm still a bit concerned about the comment that this would damage the hardware and it would be better to let it run 24/7... Does anyone have a link or keywords so I could find out more?
I start my PC at least twice a day since 3-4 years and the hardware is still ok, I really wonder why the nas system should break starting it once a day... Are WD reds more vulnerable than normal drives?

 

[nojohnny101]

I didn't mean to say that shutting down and staring up will damage components. Maybe it is better to say that shutting down and starting up is the most stressful on components. If you think about it, a hard drive in particular is much happier spinning along compared to getting a "surge" of energy when booting up which isn't inherently harmful, but just stresses the components more. You also have to keep in mind that components expand and contract slightly during temperature changes which is also "stressful" and this is what booting up will do from a "cold state".

I do not have personal experience with capacitors blowing or such. And I don't mean to imply that it is even common, but vaguely gathering information from what others have posted on here based on their experiences, problems with PSUs, motherboards, and hard drives is that it seems to happen more often than not during the booting process. This is when components are often stressed the most because of the sudden draw of power that the board must handle when it is powered on. And by "surge" or "rush" of power at bootup, I don't mean to say that it is even equivalent to a voltage spike, just that the board goes from having no power flowing through it to all of a sudden having power flow through it.

I'm probably explaining it poorly. I don't mean to scare just that most would recommend what I stated above. Doing a quick Google search reveals a good discussion on the topic:
http://serverfault.com/questions/258064/should-servers-be-turned-off-at-night

The choice is up to you. It's a personal decision based on your usage. For me the power differences and costs that I would save for shutting down don't outweigh the potential shortened lifespan of my drives.

 

[wblock]

The "leave servers on versus shut them down" argument has been going on for more than thirty years. There is probably a tradeoff point where the reduced wear of being off balances the stress of starting up. This used to be a bigger deal when electronics were not only much more expensive, but more fragile. A Kill-a-watt meter can help determine the actual amount of power being used and help quantify the actual savings. Power savings is probably a lower number than expected on paper, because power ratings are usually maximums, not typical.

I'd say the WD are normal drives. Once they make it into the good part of the bathtub curve, they should have no problem outliving their warranties.

 

[gpsguy]

One thing to keep is making sure things like SMART tests and scrubs take place. If they are scheduled to kick off when the server is down, you may need to kick these jobs off manually.


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[cyberjock]

Personally, I'm not made of money either. I have a rather hefty electric bill since my A/C runs alot in the summer (I live in the Phoenix, AZ area) and try to keep the servers cool in an upstairs spare room. Costs me quite a bit but I'd rather do that then deal with the failure rates I used to see when I shutdown the server when I didn't need it. Doing an additional RMA or 2 a year eats away all the money you thought you saved. Not to mention the server likes to do its nightly maintenance and such, so there's definite reasons to keep it on as much as possible.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Does anyone have a link or keywords so I could find out more?

That would be nice to have. I've never seen a source cited, in these forums or elsewhere, yet I find myself in the 'leave it on' camp. The only computers I shut down are those I use less than once a day. Aside from any concerns about early component failure, FreeNAS is designed to operate 24/7. If it doesn't, you'll need to put a lot more effort into routine testing and maintenance schedules.

 

[pschatz100]

I've never been convinced that turning off a system saves all that much money, anyway. When not being used, many of the components go into an "idle" state and don't draw much power, anyway.

 

[maglin]

The struggle is real. But your scrubs should be done during low use periods so as to not hamper performance.

I hate it when I have to even power cycle old hardware. Components not posting all of a sudden sucks. I pay about $26 a month just to have 2 servers and a gaming rig running 24/7.

I would not recommend turning the FreeNAS server off.


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[andreas ahlsdorf]

I guess it depends on your system.
If your mainboard has some sort of management-capability two simple commands from your firewall or
some small Mini-PC (like RaspberryPi) with a debian/ubuntu on it could solve the "problem".
With a Board like "Supermicro X10SL7-F" or with a HP Microserver you could use that command to Turn your System on:

Code:

/bin/ipmiutil reset -u -N {YourIpAdressHere} -U {YourUsername} -P {YourPassword}

and that command to Turn your System off:

Code:

/bin/ipmiutil reset -u -D {YourIpAdressHere} -U {YourUsername} -P {YourPassword}

The Username/Password is the same as for the Management-Port you could use via http://{YourIpAdressHere} for that Systems
Because that command is like pressing the PowerSwitch once for a sec. you could put those commands in a crontab you could turn your NAS on/off whenever you like.
Example to turn your System ON mo-fr at 16.30h and OFF mo-fr at 01:30h

Code:

30 16 * * 1-5  /bin/ipmiutil reset -u -N {YourIpAdressHere} -U {YourUsername} -P {YourPassword}
30 1 * * 1-5  /bin/ipmiutil reset -u -D {YourIpAdressHere} -U {YourUsername} -P {YourPassword}

I've done that for a while, but after thinking about that a bit longer, i dont turn off my NAS now.
The Reason is simple.
While turning on/off the NAS more often, the Harddisks could fail with a higher possibility. Because my 10 Harddisk is the NAS are worth about ~2000€ i better pay a higher bill for power-consumption than replacing by chance every two years a single harddisk worth about 230€.

 

[Stux]

That would be nice to have. I've never seen a source cited, in these forums or elsewhere, yet I find myself in the 'leave it on' camp. The only computers I shut down are those I use less than once a day. Aside from any concerns about early component failure, FreeNAS is designed to operate 24/7. If it doesn't, you'll need to put a lot more effort into routine testing and maintenance schedules.

Anecdotally, most of the non-disk failures I've experienced have been at startup.

Except those which caused it to turn off ;)

Disk failures generally just happen.

The ones where fire/smoke shoots out of the psu when you press the power button are my least favorite. Yikes.