Is it possible to set Sleep Mode with FreeNas?

[micheldiz]

I use FreeNas just for myself as a backup. However, I would not like to keep the machine running idly. Spending energy. The system takes a while to boot and become available. So such a mode would be very useful, because the state would be in RAM or saved to disk in case of hibernation.

I have a preference for backups at certain times. So I see no need to keep it on all the time. It would also be interesting to be able to connect the server via LAN. And then go into sleep mode shortly after.

 

[MikeyG]

The likely answer you are going to get is that FreeNAS is not built to go to sleep. There are some things you can do to try, such as modifying settings on the drives, and getting the system dataset off your data pool, but the general consensus I've seen is "good luck." Additionally, you will probably be told that the power savings are not worth the wear and tear on the drives. However, maybe someone can provide some useful info, and if you search the forums you will find more.

What I've settled into doing for my backup server is that I have it set to wake up every night at the same time for about 6 hours which is enough to run backup jobs to it, scrub every once in a while, etc. I'm probably saving some $ in power, but I also have a hard time managing heat and noise during the day where it's located, so this helps with that as well. It also saves me from having to do any tinkering inside FreeNAS.

Perhaps something similar could work for you.

 

[micheldiz]

I've found that FreeBSD has it, so it's common to think that FreeNas could be able to do it natively. But some kind of advanced behaving through the UI would be nice. And the Wake-on-LAN. I'll check if I can do it by command line.

https://wiki.freebsd.org/SuspendResume
https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/acpi-overview.html

 

[Glorious1]

What I've settled into doing for my backup server is that I have it set to wake up every night at the same time for about 6 hours . . .

What do you mean by 'wake up'? Have you verified the drives are not spinning up except for the wake-up time? How do you set it to sleep and wake at certain times?

 

[MikeyG]

What do you mean by 'wake up'? Have you verified the drives are not spinning up except for the wake-up time? How do you set it to sleep and wake at certain times?

They are definitely not spinning up as the system is completely off. I have a wake on lan job scheduled to wake it up at the scheduled time. Wake up meaning it goes through the entire boot process. It is not using a sleep mode such as S3.

Cron job shuts down at the scheduled time from within FreeNAS.

 

[Glorious1]

Oh, I see. I didn't know wake on lan could actually start a computer that is shut down.

 

[MikeyG]

Oh, I see. I didn't know wake on lan could actually start a computer that is shut down.

The other way that I found was ipmitool remote commands if your machine has that:

ipmitool -H host -U username -P password chassis power on

 

[Glorious1]

That's good to know should I ever have a second server. Right now I have none as my motherboard is dead :-(

 

[micheldiz]

It would also be interesting to be able to connect

A minor correction to what I wrote there. I said "able to connect", but I meant able to wake up via LAN.