Supermicro fan control, IPMIUTIL or FEEIPMI?

[Z300M]

Hum... You're right. Seems port jails are broken in 9.2.1.
There is another way

Do
$ cd /usr/ports/sysutils/freeipmi
$ make

Press and validate at all prompts. This will take a little while.

Then install with:
$ make install

Now you can run it. If you have loaded the ipmi kernel module you can use freeipmi as-is, in out of band mode, no need for user/password. If not, check the help on how to set which machine to connect to, the username and password.
To load the ipmi module, the fastest is to exit the jail and type:
$ sudo kldload ipmi

Then go back into The jail and use ipmi-sensors-config to checkout the current configuration, and commit to modify it

OK, I got freeimpi installed and saved the current settings to a file, then changed the Fan1 thru Fan4 Lower Non-Critical Thresholds to 500.000000 and the Lower Critical Thresholds to 400.000000 (had to re-learn vi -- yuk!).

BUT when I tried to commit the changed file I got the response that these values are "out of range." And then I read that these values are not reconfigurable on Supermicro boards anyway, so I still have to put up with the Enermax "T.B Silence" fans either running at full speed all the time or frequently changing over a range from 525rpm to 1575rpm. (But once I have this all figured out, I'll put the FreeNAS box somewhere where it won't be heard anyway.)

BTW, apart from FANA being for the CPU, are each of the other fan connectors intended for fans in specific locations in the case? -- not that I am using a traditional rack-mount server case anyway.

 

[jyavenard]

That's a small issue with ipmi tools. Not all values can be represented in the protocol used by IPMI, so it gets rounded. If the rounded value is too different than the value you originally asked for, freeipmi will abort. I've suggested a different behaviour to the freeipmi author, and that will be in the next major release.
In any case, you just need to retry with different values, until it does work. I know 300rpm does work. If you're going to use noctua fans for example, you want even less as they do go down to 300rpm. The limit you put doesn't matter IMHO, if your fan fail they will go down to zero anyway, so no point test for just 500 or 400 rpm

 

[Z300M]

That's a small issue with ipmi tools. Not all values can be represented in the protocol used by IPMI, so it gets rounded. If the rounded value is too different than the value you originally asked for, freeipmi will abort. I've suggested a different behaviour to the freeipmi author, and that will be in the next major release.
In any case, you just need to retry with different values, until it does work. I know 300rpm does work. If you're going to use noctua fans for example, you want even less as they do go down to 300rpm. The limit you put doesn't matter IMHO, if your fan fail they will go down to zero anyway, so no point test for just 500 or 400 rpm

OK, so far my experiments have shown that multiples of 150 work, so I made the values 450, 300 and 150. Although one fan still drops below 450 sometimes, that doesn't cause them all to rev up to max.

 

[jyavenard]

If you put a limit of 450, and the fan drops to 450 from time to time, it's going to cause events to be logged. Noise for nothing.

Glad you got it working okay.

 

[jyavenard]

just a note, with 9.2.1.1, the jails are working again and you can use pkg again.

So simply delete your existing port jail and add a new one and follow the first set of instructions

 

[Z300M]

If you put a limit of 450, and the fan drops to 450 from time to time, it's going to cause events to be logged. Noise for nothing.

Glad you got it working okay.

I did think of making them 300, 300 and 150, but does it make any sense to have the same value for two different thresholds? Will it even accept the same value for two or more thresholds? If so, I guess I could just make them all 300.

I've set the Fan Mode to Optimal, and I see one or other of the fans at 450rpm (but not slower) from time to time, and there's nothing in the Event Log.

 

[Z300M]

just a note, with 9.2.1.1, the jails are working again and you can use pkg again.

So simply delete your existing port jail and add a new one and follow the first set of instructions

Would that be an improvement on the way I have it working now? -- following your revised instructions.

 

[jyavenard]

Make sure to monitor the temperature of your disks. In my 2U chassis, with the fan running at 300, disks temperature would quickly reach over 50 degree.

Too bad the supermicro BMC gives such poor control over fan speed. It's either full or very slow as it seems only CPU temperature cause fan speed to change.

 

[jyavenard]

Would that be an improvement on the way I have it working now? -- following your revised instructions.

Now, just much easier and faster to get started. It takes a good 10 minutes to compile it all on my system, and less than a minute using binary packages.

Now that you have it running, probably not worth the bother

 

[Z300M]

Make sure to monitor the temperature of your disks. In my 2U chassis, with the fan running at 300, disks temperature would quickly reach over 50 degree.

Too bad the supermicro BMC gives such poor control over fan speed. It's either full or very slow as it seems only CPU temperature cause fan speed to change.

My hard disks are mounted in iStarUSA cages (in an Antec 1200 case) with their own temperature-controlled fans. Drive temperatures at present range from 29 to 36 degrees.

 

[cyberjock]

36 is a bit high for an idle drive. You may find your drives going over that 40C line when scrubbing or other heavy disk activity.

 

[kennyko]

Hi Jy

just a note, with 9.2.1.1, the jails are working again and you can use pkg again.

So simply delete your existing port jail and add a new one and follow the first set of instructions

I have a Supermicro X10SLM-F. I can follow your first set of instructions to install freeipmi on 9.2.1.1 but is not able to check out the config file. Running the command "ipmi-sensors-config --filename=ipmi.config --checkout" simply returns nothing, no errors nor the config file. Any ideas?

Thanks in Advance

 

[kennyko]

Hi Jy


I have a Supermicro X10SLM-F. I can follow your first set of instructions to install freeipmi on 9.2.1.1 but is not able to check out the config file. Running the command "ipmi-sensors-config --filename=ipmi.config --checkout" simply returns nothing, no errors nor the config file. Any ideas?

Thanks in Advance

Hi Jy,

Fyi, the 2nd method you suggested to Z300M worked for me as well. The acceptable value range for me was in the multiple of 100's tho.

 

[cyberjock]

jyavenard: You may want to create a dummies guide in the "How-To" section of the forum. Looks like there may be a few people that want a good clear guide. ;)

 

[Z300M]

Hi Jy,

Fyi, the 2nd method you suggested to Z300M worked for me as well. The acceptable value range for me was in the multiple of 100's tho.

I can't think why there would be different acceptable values for different motherboard models. I wonder whether it has to do with the BIOS version or IPMI firmware version: my BIOS version is 1.1 and the IPMI firmware revision is 01.10.

 

[kennyko]

I can't think why there would be different acceptable values for different motherboard models. I wonder whether it has to do with the BIOS version or IPMI firmware version: my BIOS version is 1.1 and the IPMI firmware revision is 01.10.

That could be it, my Bios version is 1.1b and IPMI firmware revision is 1.24. It also appears that my IPMI firmware assumes if you have done something dodgy after loading a new config file and defaults the fans to their full speeds - there's so little trust these days :p . A cold reset of the BMC is required for the new settings to take effect.

 

[Sir.Robin]

Damn... can this (editing IPMI settings) be done remotely? I am running FreeNAS as a VM.

 

[Z300M]

That could be it, my Bios version is 1.1b and IPMI firmware revision is 1.24. It also appears that my IPMI firmware assumes if you have done something dodgy after loading a new config file and defaults the fans to their full speeds - there's so little trust these days :p . A cold reset of the BMC is required for the new settings to take effect.

The BIOS and IPMI firmware on mine seem to be the latest versions for this model.

 

[Sir.Robin]

Once i figured out the IPMIUTIL, it worked just as i hoped. Fast and simple. :)

 

[scurrier]

I've read this thread several times and looked into the IPMIUTIL tool. I must be dense because I'm still not understanding if this is a safe way to adjust the speed of 3-pin fans. I would hate to screw anything up on my shiny new production motherboard. I do have a tolerance for complex, clear instructions executed carefully. My supermicro 933T chassis screams like a banshee with the midship fans plugged into the backplane and I'm exploring ways to slow it down. I also have the SM X10SL7-F.

Could anyone give the high level overview of these IPMI utilities with regards to manipulating the fans? What is the purpose of having a third party IPMI utility, why this isn't built into the BIOS, how safe it is to use these, etc.