MicroServer Gen8 is noisy

[der_burner]

Oh, sorry. I mean this Version (06/06/2014)

I don't know what's wrong?

[tedaz99999]

After tested, with J06 06/06/2014, the iLO 1.51 still set the fan to 50%, but the cracked iLO 1.32 only set the fan to 29%.

PS: ambient 34C.

Anyboday could post a snapshot of the the fan speed with iLO 1.51 in SATA mode?

[ad-d]

If the ambient is 34 degrees there's no wonder fan speed is high!  Fan speed is 13% when the ambient is 23 degrees, at 24 degrees I get 14% and at 25 degrees I get 15% - certainly seems to be 1% faster per degree at those sorts of temperatures but at the high ambient you are talking about it could easily be set to ramp up the speed by more than 1% per degree (very likely in fact).  Even if you assume it will stick to 1% per degree that would give a minimum of 24% fan speed at that temperature.

My fan speeds were from a quick initial test with no HDDs fitted either, if you have hot 7200rpm or faster drives fitted you'll certainly be running even faster fan speeds to try and cool everything to acceptable temperatures.

I'd take a look at where you run the server (in an enclosed cupboard?) and what HDDs/add on cards etc etc you're using to work out why the server wants to run the fan so fast, once you've fixed the problem I expect fan speed will reduce.  Have you upgraded the CPU to something with a TDP far too high for the server?

Using the 'cracked ilo' and completely voiding your warranty is your choice I guess but please don't go talking about it on HP's own forum, it gives a really bad impression that everyone is abusing their servers with software that artifically reduces fan speed to levels the server does not want them to run at, increases the chance that something will get damaged from heat - BUT more importantly it reduces the likelihood that HP will consider releasing more updates that tweak the fan speed curves to make it quieter if they think they're likely to end up with loads of dead machines sent back under warranty from people who've inappropriately used too low a fan speed.  Yes HP do consider things like this and I don't want any further improvements to be cancelled for these reasons.  There are plenty of other forums to discuss unsupported modifications on.

[tedaz99999]

Thanks for your detailed explanation. However, the key point is: the iLO 1.51 official version still set the fan works at unnecessary speed, the cracked 1.32 manipulate the fan at a resonable speed.

What is the deifination of "unnecessary" and "resonable"?

Same harddisks, same ambiant temperature, in RAID mode, the iLO  1.51 sets the fan speed 8%, BUT 50% in SATA
 mode, this cannot be explained by "ambiant 34C".

This means the new J06(6/6/2014) + iLO 1.51 hadn't resolved the fan speed issue.

[der_burner]

Hello Together,

my ambient is on 24C, and the Fan on 30% with J06 06/06/2014 and iLO1.51

What for a energy profile you use?

I'm use "HP Dynamic Power Savings Mode"

[ZakSmith]

So I wonder what's different.  Some of us are getting 12-15% with the new BIOS, and some people have worse fan speeds than some of us had originally.

I am running mine with OS power control and SATA mode.

[der_burner]

And which values do you have? With Ubuntu 14.04? Or what OS?

[subsix]

We have a fairly hot day today where the inlet ambient temperature on the Microserver is at 29 degree C. Yet, the fan speed is still at 11%... Configuation as below:

- 06/06/2014 System ROM 

- iLO 1.50

- B120i switched off

- Two WD Red SATA disks and one genuine HP disk connected to a HP H220 HBA

- 16 GB RAM

- SmartOS with multiple server VMs

From what I recall all BIOS settings are at their defaults with the exception of the B120i mode/state.

We have another Microserver running without the H220 HBA and the B120i in AHCI mode and Hitachi disks instead of the WDs. In the same environment the fan speed on that machine is at 14%.

Not too bad as I clearly remember where we came from...

Did you try to perform a BIOS factory reset? What disks setup do you use?

Peter

[Zuru_]

I'm starting to think that the problem is in the latest verstion of iLO firmware 1.51 . Has someone ever tried to downgrade iLO firmware?

[der_burner]

Yes, is all on factory Defaults, without SATA-Mode.

Do you have changed the Power Profile? Which value do you have there?

[subsix]

The power profile is on "Balanced Power and Performance" and the power regulator seeting is on "HP Dynamic Power Savings Mode". From what I recall both are the default values for the respective settings.

Let me ask again: What disks do you have installed?

Peter

[der_burner]

two Western Digital und one original HP (shipped with the Server). The both Western Digital running in Software Raid 1. 

[subsix]

Sounds not too far away from my setup… Could you test what happens with just the HP disk installed? I had mixed issues initially with two 2.5" Hitachi's in adaptor frames...

Peter

[Jimmy Vance]

---

@Zuru_ wrote:

I'm starting to think that the problem is in the latest verstion of iLO firmware 1.51 . Has someone ever tried to downgrade iLO firmware?

---

I have one at home and four at the office. They are all running the 06/06 ROM and iLO v1.51.  some have 2 disks, some have 4, they all run between 11 and 15 percent.

This system has 4 HP drives, two 1TB and two 2TB

Tried to post, but the formatting got wacked. See the attachement  

[tedaz99999]

RAID or AHCI mode?

In RAID mode, everything perfact. What people talking about is the noisy in AHCI mode.

[Jimmy Vance]

---

@tedaz99999 wrote:

RAID or AHCI mode?

In RAID mode, everything perfact. What people talking about is the noisy in AHCI mode.

---

If you've been following this thread, you'd know I've been involved from the beginning. We all know that iLO can read the controller temp when the B120i is enabled and the fan spins at 6%. The readings in my last post are in AHCI mode where the issue exists.

Oscar and I have been working with the product team to get the fan speed reduced in AHCI mode. The 06/06 ROM release is a result of that effort.  I'm now working with the DL320e Gen8 v2 product team trying to get something similar done with that system.

Regards

--jv

[Erathiel]

---

@Jimmy Vance wrote:

 I'm now working with the DL320e Gen8 v2 product team trying to get something similar done with that system.

---

---

This is wonderful news. Thank you, Jimmy! Looking forward to hearing some updates on this one! :)

[Torsten.]

---

@Jimmy Vance wrote:

---

 I'm now working with the DL320e Gen8 v2 product team trying to get something similar done with that system.

Is the ML310e Gen8 v2 in scope too?

---

 Is the ML310e Gen8 v2 in scope

 too?

[Jimmy Vance]

I haven't looked into that unit yet, but will

[tedaz99999]

Thanks for your reply and hard work on this issue.

Howere, based on my experience, it seems that the new BIOS and the iLO 1.51 didn't reduced the fan speed in AHCI mode, compare with previous versions.

Is there any theoretically reduce of the new firmwares?

[JDWL]

Hey,

HPVSA drivers are available for various versions of Ubuntu server - check out the HP ISS team PPA.

While early releases of the driver (kernel module) were apparently a bit rough the current versions are rock solid - my server runs 24/7 with this module on the latest 14.04 LTS kernel with no issues of any kind.

The team also provide a install driver so you can build the server with with HPVSA from boot, I didn't need this as my boot drive is RAID0.

Gotchas are;

1) you have to blacklist the AHCI module (modprobe.blacklist=ahci) or the HPVSA module will not load.

2) you must install both the HPVSA ppa and the HPVSA-update ppa - the update PPA provides modules for kernel updates, in my experience the updated modules come out before a new kernel.

6% fan speed in Ubuntu w/ the B120i in raid mode.

https://launchpad.net/~hp-iss-team/+archive/ubuntu/hp-storage

J

[no_noisy_server]

Hey JDWL,

may I ask which Ubuntu version you use? I assume 14.04?

I read about creepy errors and that the driver is really unstable.

Could you explain how you installed Ubuntu with the driver or is there any more useful documentation available anywere?

Thank you in advance

[c0mm0n]

This isn't only an issue with AHCI.

Using b120i with 2x3tb each in a Raid0 array (fake JBOD to keep the raid controller ON).

Using proxmox (debian).

As debian doesn't have drivers for the b120i,  using it seems useless and my fans are at 37/39% permanently.

With the modified ILO, I get 22%, better, but still way too noisy.

Using Debian, the smart array goes missing in ILO, and the HD Max sensor too. Yes i'm in raid mode, I'm SURE.

If I boot into IP, and do any refresh or change on RAID config = fans go at 6%

If I boot esxi from a USB stick = fans at 6%

I've juiste bought this 1k€ server, and am amazed at how things are going. From very bad support in ESXI 5.1 /5.5 to fan crisis using Debian, looks like a cursed hardware.

[igloo]

Hello from france,

and thanks for the post.

it's seems there's an issue.

http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/mostViewedDisplay?javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.prp_efb5c0793523e51970c8fa22b053ce01=wsrp-navigationalState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c04226727-1%257CdocLocale%253Den_US&javax.portlet.tpst=efb5c0793523e51970c8fa22b053ce01&sp4ts.oid=5219994&ac.admitted=140...

[Admin: Above link no longer exists] 

works for me with ahci sata.

regards.

[asterisk1]

Hello

I'm tried to update BIOS to latest version (06/06/2014) but I got the error init disk warnig:Using suspect partition. 

Any idea how to solve this?

Regards.