Dell PowerEdge T710 fans on high all the time.

You could try updating the iDRAC's firmware, if it's out of date, or performing a hard reset of the iDRAC. The reason being that the iDRAC serves as your fan controller. I will say though, the fan speeds that you're reporting aren't all that high. I say that just from the frame of reference that they can spin up to ~15k RPM at max.

If you're expectation for your server is for it to be about as quiet as your desktop, or only a bit louder, I don't think that expectation will be met. My R710 was pretty noisy. I'm not familiar with the commands, but I think some folks were slowing the fans down manually with IPMItool. If noise is a concern, you might look into it.

I believe the current firmware version for the T710 iDRAC 6 Enterprise is 1.95, which is what I have.

Reading the current temps and fan speeds it seems the fan speeds are relative to the ambient temperature, not the CPU temperatures.

Currently the ambient temp is 23C and the CPU temps are:-

Core 0: +34.0°C
Core 1: +32.0°C
Core 2: +34.0°C
Core 3: +31.0°C
Core 4: +34.0°C
Core 5: +30.0°C
Core 6: +32.0°C
Core 7: +33.0°C

This is read by the Linux 'sensors' command, as iDRAC doesn't show the CPU temps at all.

The fan speeds as of writing this post, are:-

Fan 1: 2640
Fan 2: 2640
Fan 3: 2280
Fan 4: 2400

Compared to the previous results the fans are a lot slower and are now quieter, but they do tend to sound like a jet engine at times, that is what I'm confused about, why does the heat sensors only work to detect ambient temps not CPU temps?  The hotter the room, the louder and faster the fans, and yet the colder the room, the slower and quieter the fans, all when the heatsinks are icy to the touch.

Are servers designed that way?  Where cooling depends on the ambient temperature and not the CPU temps?

Just as a quick test, I ran the server for about a minute or 2 without the heatsinks and by rights, I should be able to fry an egg on the CPU, but again even the CPU was cold to the touch and the temps barely moved.

Normally when a CPU starts getting hot, it triggers the sensor to speed up the fan, but it seems that's not the case with my server, the fans seem to speed up only when the temperature in the room increases, or slows down when the room temp decreases, it seems to have no relation to the CPU's whatsoever.

I'd start by updating the iDRAC. Latest version would be 2.90. I'll link to it below.

https://dell.to/3bFsKXx

The specific algorithm used to control the fans isn't something shared with support. I can say that all that data is going into the fan control, but that's not something that's particularly helpful with what you're looking for. All I can really do on this is speculate on this matter, unfortunately.

Speaking strictly from direct experience - ambient temps can definitely make a difference. Whether that heat has someplace to vent to, or if it just builds up around the server matters, too.

Let me know if 2.90 does anything to help out. 

I hit a major problem when trying to update the firmware, it's a windows exe file, and my server is not running windows, it's running Debian based headless Ubuntu server 18.04.4 LTS, originally it had Windows server 2015, but as I despise Windows and only use it if I absolutely need to (such as for my home recording studio), I much prefer Linux, and the only Linux versions I see listed on the Dell support site for this firmware is all Redhat based, I used Linux mainly because for server work, Windows is far to complicated, whereas Linux is a lot easier to use and more secure.

When I first got the server, I did update the motherboard BIOS to 6.6, but that was before I removed Windows and installed Ubuntu.

Well, hello fellow penguin, then!

As for Debian, it does present an issue to the firmware update package. You can try modifying the etc/release file to mimic a Redhat release, I've had success with that in other distros, but I can't say definitively that it will work. It might be that the script looks for etc/redhat-release, and fails if it doesn't find the filename. 

Failing that, you could try using the Support Live image. You could boot to that, then put the firmware package on a USB drive and run it from there. 

I would try the older 2.2. 3.0 is based off of 7.4, and I'm not positive that worked with the 11G systems. 2.2 will provide all the functionality we need for this, even if 3.0 is indeed bootable for the 11G systems.

Ok, now I'm confused.  The support page at:-

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/poweredge-t710/drivers

Says to download live image version 3.0, but the generation table at:-

https://www.dell.com/support/article/en-us/sln294897/how-to-identify-which-generation-your-dell-poweredge-server-belongs-to?lang=en

Says the T710 is an 11th Gen server, which the support page at:-

https://www.dell.com/support/article/en-us/sln305214/dell-poweredge-how-to-download-and-use-the-support-live-image?lang=en

Midway down, shows 2 images, 1 for 12G to 14G which is version 3.0 and the 2nd for 9G to 11G which is version 2.2, which one is it?  Bearing in mind my server is an 11th Gen.

I want to make sure everything is precise, because 1 mess up and the server is useless, especially when the firmware and BIOS is concerned.

Sorry if this post has been posted twice, but for some reason, it wasn't accepted the first time.

I just tried the live image and it either is Linux based (CentOS) and has the OMSA software (which by the way is the same as iDRAC minus the firmware update), or the DOS based boot, and that is only a DOS based memory diagnostics, there is no option anwhere on the image that allows firmware updates, if I try to run the exe file from the DOS window, I get told 'Please run using Windows'.

Another option is the remove all HD's and insert just one, install windows, update firmware, then shutdown server, and swap out the drive with the Ubuntu drives and boot back in to Ubuntu, and hopefully everything goes smooth.

It seems to update BIOS and/or firmware, either the supported OS's are installed, or the server stays outdated.

I did notice though, iDRAC does have the ability to update the firmware, but I don't know what file it's looking for, an ISO, or an IMG, I have no idea, because when I click on 'Browse' it has 'All files' selected.

You wouldn't want to provide an .EXE , you would need to use the BIN file for Linux based operating systems, which you should be able to launch from a terminal. 

As for DOS or FreeDOS, I can't really comment on it. My exposure to FreeDOS has been limited to two laptop instances, and I haven't used the actual DOS. 

The .d6 file can be extracted from the iDRAC6_2.90_A00_FW_IMG.exe download on that page. This can be loaded into the iDRAC's web GUI. I'd actually forgotten about the .d6, it's been so long since I needed it. This might be the best option. This is an old video, so you can jump to about 4:30 to just get the relevant parts.

The update process should take about 10 minutes, give or take. How long after running the file was it that you tried to log back in?

If it does look like it's errored - don't worry. It's most likely not going to be a problem beyond being a minor annoyance. Most iDRAC errors can be resolved by shutting the server off, disconnecting it from power, and holding the power button down for about 30 seconds, too. This includes errors following firmware updates to the iDRAC, nearly all the time.

I waited til the progress bar showed 100%, then it gave a warning that iDRAC is being reset, and I won't be able to use the same session in the browser, so I waited about 15 minutes, the opened the browser to the iDRAC IP address and entered the login details, which as I mentioned it got accepted, then sent me back to the login screen, so I used the linux 'powerdown' command, waited til the server powered down, then unplugged both PSU's press and held the power button for around 30s, then plugged in both PSU's and tried again, same result, so I used 'CTRL-E' on the server itself, then selected to factory rest iDRAC, waited for a while, then re-setup access credentials, then tried again, and same result, I get access to the management screen, then it shows a greyed central area, then jumps straight back to the login screen.

If it can't be resolved, I may have to remove the iDRAC 6 module and just use the built-in iDRAC 5, which doesn't have the remote console.

Oh boy!!! major problem, I've updated the FW, and now I can't login to the admin panel, I set the update to keep configuration, restarted the server, and now when I try to login, it accepts the username and password, but just as the management screen appears I immediately get sent back to the login screen, and using a different browser all I get is the management screen navigation and nothing else.

I figured it out, I had to update the Life Cycle controller FW too from 1.5.0.671 to 1.7.5 and now I can login.

Thanks for your help @Dell-DylanJ The fans are a bit quieter now, I can hear a flea fart at 10 feet LoL

Morning,

I'm glad that got it for you. The LCC and the iDRAC work together to accomplish their tasks, and future iDRAC packages bundled the LCC and iDRAC firmware together, so you won't need to keep that in mind for newer models.