DL380 G8 fans.

[Oscar A. Perez]

Update: 

After a couple of days of testing and debugging, here is what I found:

iLO controls the FANs using a PID (Proportional Integral Derivative) controller and for the P420 card, iLO gets from the FAN table a SetPoint value of 85ºC.  In practical terms, iLO will keep the P420 card at or below 85ºC even it takes iLO to ramp up the FANs to 100% for few seconds.  

The P420 Smart Array card does run hot.  Mine was only doing surface scans on two LFF drives and that was enough to keep it pegged at 85ºC more than 90% of the time.

On standard DL380e Gen8 models, the P420 card is able to get enough airflow when the FANs run at 20% but, in DL380e Gen8 storage models with 12 LFF drive bays or 25 SFF drive bays, the large backplane in the front of the server  and the drives installed are preventing the P420 card from getting enough airflow to keep it at or below 85ºC. Unless the FANs run at or above 35%.

I've tested changing the P420 card to different slots and so far, the slot 2 (default slot for this card) is where the card gets the best airflow. I tried all the other PCIx X8 slots and iLO had to ramp up the fans even higher to keep the card at 85ºC.

The only slot where I observed the P420 card running cooler was slot 4 but, this was because the slot is PCIe x4 and since the card is PCIe x8 so, the card wasn't running at its full capacity.

I'm afraid there isn't much can be done here. The DL380e Gen8 Storage models with 12 LFF drive bays or 25 SFF drive bays, FANs 4, 5, and 6 will always be at least 35%.

[fishy007]

Do you know if there are available fan-headers on the motherboard? I'm wondering if it's possible to put a fan on the heatsink of the P420. Back when I first started, we'd put small fans (5cm) on the northbridge processors on the motherboards. Maybe this could help?

I'm a lone IT guy working for a small business with a small server room. If I can't keep the fan speeds at a reasonable level I'm going to need to ditch the P240 card and go with the built-in controller (B120i).

[Kusado]

30-PCI 2? P420? High temperature? Mine is running at 62C now.

It was near to 85C at the very start of the process, but after opening the first case P420 controller was changed to another one with no success. Then they changed raiser card to another one, with SAS expantion slots, and some radiators. From that moment temperature of 30-PCI 2 sensor droped down 20 degrees.

Actual iLo screenshots:

Sensors:

---http://pasteboard.co/hTPCocb.png---

Fans:

---http://pasteboard.co/hTSca0T.png ----

[Note: broken link updated/removed by Mod]

[fishy007]

Has the noise level changed for you at all? I'm guessing not if I'm judging those fan %s properly.

[Oscar A. Perez]

Let me test the Primary Riser with SAS. 

By the way, once you have a system with either 12 LFF drive bay or 25 SFF drive bay, the FAN table will tell iLO to never drop the FAN speed below 35%.  This value is interesting since, my testings show that it is the minimum FAN speed that can keep the P420 temperature at or below 85ºC inside my server.

[fishy007]

Does this seem like something that might be fixable via firmware? Or does the P420 have to run that hot all the time?

I've confirmed what Kusado already said. The server is near silent without the bloody P420. I removed it and it's running like my other HP servers.

My choices right now are to wait and hope for a fix from HP (if it's fixable) or get another SAS controller. Problem is that another controller might have the exact same problem. No way to know without testing.

[Oscar A. Perez]

The P420 card runs hot and requires plenty of airflow to keep it at or below the targeted temperature of 85ºC.  The problem here is the massive backplane inside these Storage models that supports either 12 LFF or 25 SFF hard drives. The backplane limits the airflow to the back of the server and this cannot be fixed with firmware.  

Here is what I tried this morning before I posted the reply. With my P420 nice and cool at around 72ºC,  I used my iLO debug to manually lower the minimum fan speed for Slot 2 from the default 90 PWM to 50 PWM.  The fans immediately slowed down to 19% but, a minute later the fans were back at mid 30s because, the P420 rapidly heated up to 85ºC.  This tells me that in this system, the fans need to run above 30% all the time to be able to cool the P420 card.

I'm trying to get ahold of a Riser with SAS to test if it makes a difference.  So far, I've only managed to keep the P420 running cooler on PCIe slots that are x4, like slot 4.  But, running this card on a PCIe x4 slot is going to impact the storage performance.

[fishy007]

Hmm.  Ok. New question/tactic:   Do you know if it's possible/easy to change the backplane?

I bought this system with the intent of turning it into a SAN down the road, but it's not necessary.  If I can get a backplane that has adequate airflow, I can reduce the noise.  All I'd personally need is somethign that can house up to 8 2.5" SAS drives. 

Unfortunately I have limited experience with Proliant servers and no experience with replacing/purchasing a backplane. 

The noise is really driving me insane.....

[Oscar A. Perez]

The whole hard drive cage has to be replaced. It is not hard to do (8 screws plus disconnecting all the cables) but, the hood is different so, is the length of the SAS cables.

In my case, I could do it quickly because, I got few units in my lab that I could play with. Finding all the parts you need and doing the conversion yourself could be a Royal PITA.  I think it would be better for you just to call HP and try to get unit exchanged for a different DL380e configuration, the one that has the 8x SFF drives option.

[fishy007]

Well I called HP and I'm actually still on the phone with them right now. It's been about 2 hours and the problem is still not resolved.

The tech I spoke with conferred with Level-2-Support several times during the course of the call, but said that he could not authorize a different backplane or controller card. If I wanted either one, I'd need to get authorization from my point of sale.   I'm not sure how he expects my reseller to do that, but I digress.

Eventually the tech decided to send out a replacement backplane and SAS Contoller card. The exact same models as I already have (P420 w/2GB and 25 SFF).  I doubt that this will do anything, but the tech said that if it doesn't work, they'll escalate it to Level-3-support.

While I appreciate that the tech is doing what he can, I'm not really impressed with HP overall. We've had no problems with their servers until this machine.  I've been told by the HP techs (previous to this call) that this noise level is normal when it's clearly not. The problem is that HP gets to decide what is 'normal'. 

I'll keep troubleshooting with HP, but I need to get some work done as well. If the issue isn't resolved in the next 10 days or so, I'm just going to bite the bullet and get a new backplane for better airflow. 

If it comes to that, I'll be trying my luck with Dell or Lenovo servers in the future.