iDRAC9 : Unable to set manual fan response after iDrac v3.34.34.34

Same problem on a new T640 running iDrac v3.34.34.34

I've tried all the options I can to alter privilege levels:

ipmitool -I lanplus -H $IP -U $USER -P $PASSWD channel setaccess 1 $USERID link=on callin=on ipmi=on privilege=0x4

ipmitool -I lanplus -H $IP -U $USER -P $PASSWD user priv $USERID 0x4

ipmitool -I lanplus -H $IP -U $USER -P $PASSWD user priv $USERID 0x5

I've tried "-L OEM", "-L 0x5", "-L 'OEM Proprietary'"

I've hunted through the iDRAC settings via the web interface - no joy!

Were you ever able to figure this out? I'm having the same problem.

I'm sorry Dell but here's what the cpus in my T440 report with the system on 'light' load and with the fan at 1080rpm:

# CPU_temp.sh
(II) Ambient Temp: N/A
(II) Fan: 1080 (+/- 120) RPM
Temp: +35.0 C (high = +80.0 C, crit = +90.0 C), CPU Cores: 0
Temp: +34.0 C (high = +80.0 C, crit = +90.0 C), CPU Cores: 0,6,6
Temp: +33.0 C (high = +80.0 C, crit = +90.0 C), CPU Cores: 1,2,3,5,7,1,5,7
Temp: +32.0 C (high = +80.0 C, crit = +90.0 C), CPU Cores: 4,2,3,4

In my T440, I have dual E-4110 silver cpus, 384G RAM, a 1660 GTX Ti, an 8Tb WD RED, 2 x 2Tb Samsung 860 SSDs and 1 2Tb NVMe flash drive. The system reports 110-154WW usage consumption under 'light load'.

Sorry Dell, but I do -NOT- see a possible reason for wanting to increase the system fan speed to 3700-4200rpm (aside from hoping I'll buy your overpriced DIMMs, or HDDs or SSDs).

If one day you start building precision Tower Workstations with iDRACs and better diags than just flashing LEDs on the front planel, then I'll stop buying PowerEdge servers to use as workstations.

Hi,

3.34.34.34 is the first iDRAC where they 'removed' this functionality. You will have to downgrade to 3.30.30.30 if you wish to manually control the fans.

On my T630, to keep the noise manageable, I do this:

# Set to manual control:

/usr/bin/ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x00

# Back fans get set to 1320rpm
/usr/bin/ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0x00 0x10 > /dev/null 2>&1
/usr/bin/ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0x01 0x10 > /dev/null 2>&1
# Front fans get set to 960rpm
/usr/bin/ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0x02 0x08 > /dev/null 2>&1
/usr/bin/ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0x03 0x08 > /dev/null 2>&1
/usr/bin/ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0x04 0x08 > /dev/null 2>&1
/usr/bin/ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0x05 0x08 > /dev/null 2>&1

First of all, downgrade to 3.30.30.30.

Then as root, you could slow down your fan with:

# Set to Manual
/usr/bin/ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x00 > /dev/null 2>&1
# Set to 1080rpm
/usr/bin/ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0xff 0x0b > /dev/null 2>&1

The 0xff before 0x0b means : all fans.

Obviously, if you have more than one than fan and you wish to run them at different speeds, you'll have to send them to different speeds individually. e.g, on my T630 (6 fans), I do this:

# Set to Manual
/usr/bin/ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x00 > /dev/null 2>&1

# Back fans get set to 1320rpm
/usr/bin/ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0x00 0x10 > /dev/null 2>&1
/usr/bin/ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0x01 0x10 > /dev/null 2>&1
# Front fans get set to 960rpm
/usr/bin/ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0x02 0x08 > /dev/null 2>&1
/usr/bin/ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0x03 0x08 > /dev/null 2>&1
/usr/bin/ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0x04 0x08 > /dev/null 2>&1
/usr/bin/ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0x05 0x08 > /dev/null 2>&1

The last hex block controls the fan speed. Check the speeds afterwards with 'ipmitool sdr list full'.

Of course, you're doing this at your own risk (I do have a daemon which continuously checks if temp > 60C and if so, it sets all fans back to Auto in order to protect the H/W).

To go back to 'Auto':

/usr/bin/ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x01 > /dev/null 2>&1

the last hex block controls if 'Manual' (0x00) or 'Auto' (0x01).

I hope this helps,

Vincent