DL320e Gen8 v2 fan noise

[T_1_6]

Server 2012 R2, all temps reporting, fan speed is at 6% idle, Esxi... no temps being reported, fans are screaming at 35-50%. Crazy.

[Jimmy Vance]

Sorry, I didn't read back through the whole thread, I thought this was a new post.  I really wish I had an asnwer for you but I don't. I can send all this info back to the product team again, but there isn't much more I can do.

[T_1_6]

Ok I have a little more information.

Esxi 5.5 HP Custom image, gives me HD-MAX sensor, but still no Nic temperatures, they come up as not installed under the temps area of ILO.

Move to Esxi6 HP custom image, and no HD MAX or Nic temps either.

So can you ask your product team, why on earth there are no NIC temperatures (Broadcom OR intel) being reported through the drivers on Esxi, yet everything works a charm on Windows Server 2012?

This is all we want. We have been waiting for so long now and we are getting desperate. These servers might not be the ultimate in high end, but we should at least be able to have the server recognise the PCI-e Nic temps in the ILO so that it runs the fans correctly.

Whats next? If HP cannot resolve this, we are left with a bunch of servers that are not performing as described.

All the Nics I have are Gen8 compatible, and like I said work fine in Server 2012, so there is an issue with ESXi and these temps not being reported.

Id LOVE to know why..........

[T_1_6]

Has ANYone else had any success seeing nic temps in Esxi?

[bmihajlovic]

T16

I have the same problem as you did with procurve 1810 24G with 4 lacp setup ML110 g6... only 3 nic are working.

What did you do at the end..? Sorry that I have to ask you from different subject section.

[Cyirak]

Hi Guys,

Sorry ive been quiet. Just recieved the following this morning so thought i would post.

Hewlett Packard is pleased to provide the following documentation via email.

Please do not reply to this message, as the HP Customer Care Center cannot be reached via this mailbox. Should further technical support be needed, please call the Customer Care Center directly.

Thank-you for contacting HP,
Your Customer Care Representative.

Title: Advisory: Increase in Fan Speed when 331T Network Card is installed on a Gen8 Server running Esxi 5.x or Esxi 6.x

Object Name: mmr_kc-0130339

Document Type: Support Information

Original owner: KCS - ProLiant Servers

Disclosure level: HP and Customer Viewable

Version state: final

Environment

FACT:

1. Any Gen8 server running Esxi 5.x or Esxi 6.x Operating System.
2. Server is installed with 331T Network Card in any of the PCI Slot.

Questions/Symptoms

SYMPTOM:Increase in Fan speed of 15% than normal is noticed on these servers.

Fan speed with windows operating system

 

Fan speed with VMware Vsphere Esxi operating System

 

The screenshots were taken from the Ilo System Information Webpage.
DL320e Gen8 server with 2 processors, 16 GB of memory and 331T card in PCI slot 1

Cause

CAUSE:

1. The tg3 driver for ESXi 5.x, 6.x does not have support for sensor data reporting which allows communication to and from the BMC/ILO. 
2. The Windows driver has this support.
3. BMC/ ILO is aware of the PCI Card installed in the server and increases the Fan speed to dissipate the heat generated by the PCI Card.
4. This is normal in operation.

Answer/Solution

FIX:

>> Server is working as per Design.
>> There is no plan to fix this behaviour in future.

Keywords: DL320e Gen8 server, 331T, High Fan speed

Hardware Platforms Affected: HP Proliant DL320e Gen8 Server, HP Proliant DL320p Gen8 Server, HP Proliant DL360e Gen8 Server, HP Proliant DL320p Gen8 Server, HP Proliant DL380e Gen8 Server, HP Proliant DL380p Gen8 Server

Operating Systems Affected: VMware Vsphere Esxi 5.x, VMware Vsphere Esxi 6.x

Software Affected: Not Applicable

Support Communication Cross Reference ID: IA01501574

©Copyright 2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. 

Hewlett-Packard Company shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. The information provided is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. To the extent permitted by law, neither HP or its affiliates, subcontractors or suppliers will be liable for incidental,special or consequential damages including downtime cost; lost profits;damages relating to the procurement of substitute products or services; or damages for loss of data, or software restoration. The information in this document is subject to change without notice. Hewlett-Packard Company and the names of Hewlett-Packard products referenced herein are trademarks of Hewlett-Packard Company in the United States and other countries. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

[Cyirak]

Annoying as I spent the extra 100 odd quid on a NIC Listed in their HCL and effectivily its just something im pushing round my desk at the moment, the server is too noisey where it is located with the card inserted. 

I logged my support call with hp on 13/11/2014 and its taken this long to give me an answer... i wish i was just told within the first couple of weeks as i had the option to send the card back for a refund but held onto it as i had this open with HP.

[Jimmy Vance]

The only option I can offer is to run Linux such as CentOS using KVM to run your virtual machines. With CentOS (and a few other distribution) you can load the HP provided companion tg3sd driver which will report the sensor data to iLO

[Cyirak]

Hi Jimmy,

Thanks for the reply. For me I wouldn't entertain the idea of moving away from vSphere.  I am tempted with windows server 2016 Nano as a hypervisor, but ideally want to be on vSphere 6.

What really surprises me is that esxi is essentially built on red hat or at least it was on the early versions and other sensors are reported back to iLO once the system loads, such as the HD MAX for example. It’s just a bit disappointing that I have waited nearly a year for the above response

O well is what it is, at least if someone sees the advisory note they may think twice about buying the server. One of the major selling points for me was the low db and purchased nics on the HCL.

Slighty differnt train of thought. Are the intel based nics affected in the same way?

Kind Regards

[Jimmy Vance]

I haven't worked with any of the option NIC cards, so I can't provide an answer.  At some point I think VMware moved away from booting out of Red Hat and did their own thing.