Configure Manual Fan Control on Dell PowerEdge Servers Using IPMI

Overview

This article explains how to configure manual fan control on supported Dell PowerEdge servers using IPMI commands. This can be useful for reducing fan noise in lab environments or when custom cooling profiles are required.

The procedure uses Dell EMC OpenManage BMC Utilities and ipmitool to communicate with the server's iDRAC interface.

Step 1 - Install Dell EMC OpenManage BMC Utilities

Install Dell EMC OpenManage BMC Utilities on your server operating system.

Step 2 - Open the BMC Utilities Directory

Open a Command Prompt.

Change to the BMC utilities directory:

cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\SysMgt\bmc"

Step 3 - Configure Fan Control

Use any of the commands below to monitor temperatures, view fan speeds, enable or disable manual fan control, and set a static fan speed.

Print temperatures and fan RPMs.

ipmitool -I lanplus -H <iDRAC-IP> -U <iDRAC-USER> -P <iDRAC-PASSWORD> -x <IPMI-encryption-key> sensor reading "Ambient Temp" "FAN 1 RPM" "FAN 2 RPM" "FAN 3 RPM"

Print fan information.

ipmitool -I lanplus -H <iDRAC-IP> -U <iDRAC-USER> -P <iDRAC-PASSWORD> -x <IPMI-encryption-key> sdr get "FAN 1 RPM" "FAN 2 RPM" "FAN 3 RPM"

Enable manual or static fan control.

ipmitool -I lanplus -H <iDRAC-IP> -U <iDRAC-USER> -P <iDRAC-PASSWORD> -x <IPMI-encryption-key> raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x00

Disable manual or static fan control.

ipmitool -I lanplus -H <iDRAC-IP> -U <iDRAC-USER> -P <iDRAC-PASSWORD> -x <IPMI-encryption-key> raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x01

Set fan speed to 0%.

ipmitool -I lanplus -H <iDRAC-IP> -U <iDRAC-USER> -P <iDRAC-PASSWORD> -x <IPMI-encryption-key> raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0xff 0x00

Set fan speed to 20%.

ipmitool -I lanplus -H <iDRAC-IP> -U <iDRAC-USER> -P <iDRAC-PASSWORD> -x <IPMI-encryption-key> raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0xff 0x14

Set fan speed to 30%.

ipmitool -I lanplus -H <iDRAC-IP> -U <iDRAC-USER> -P <iDRAC-PASSWORD> -x <IPMI-encryption-key> raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0xff 0x1e

Set fan speed to 100%.

ipmitool -I lanplus -H <iDRAC-IP> -U <iDRAC-USER> -P <iDRAC-PASSWORD> -x <IPMI-encryption-key> raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0xff 0x64

Notes

Replace <iDRAC-IP>, <iDRAC-USER>, <iDRAC-PASSWORD>, and <IPMI-encryption-key> with values appropriate for your environment.

The final hexadecimal value in the fan speed command represents the desired fan speed percentage. Use a hexadecimal to decimal converter such as this one to help you find the desired speed.

The system will return to automatic fan control next time it boots. You may want to create a startup script to manually set the fan speed when the system boots.

Date Created: Thursday, 12 November 2020, 3:12 PM