Fan speed control on supermicro X12

[Kai Li]

I try to lower the fan threshhold on my X12 and I foud “ipmitool sensor thresh” command does not work anymore, anyone figure out how to lower the fan threshhold on the newer boards?

 

[Kai Li]

The version I used is SMCIPMITool 2.25.0

 

[DaveInTexas]

I know this is an old post, but there's a dearth of posts on this site regarding X12 board fan management, so I'm replying here and necro'ing this thread to keep the info consolidated. A search engine query on this site for "X12 fan control" pulls up this thread near the top.

... my X12

“ipmitool sensor thresh” command does not work

SMCIPMITool 2.25.0

1. Which motherboard model, specifically?
2. Almost all X12 boards use the ASPEED AST2600 BMC chipset. A few use AST2500. Some do not have BMC chips at all.
3. SMCIPMITool is a proprietary Supermicro IPMI tool used for out-of-band server BMC configuration. Are you sure that's what you wanted to use? An out-of-band tool? I'm asking because generally speaking, if you're using an out-of-band tool it implies you're not physically near the server, at which point why would you be trying to tweak the fans? How would you garner feedback regarding the success or failure of your adjustments or attempt at adjustments if you're not physically next near it?
4. Supermicro also has a proprietary in-band IPMI tool called IPMICFG. I would consider trying that.
5. IPMItool is an open-source tool available on Linux platforms. IMHO, this would be your best bet. There are a few threads on this site with tips on how to use it per your intentions described in your original posts.
6. All of these tools must be run as root (Linux) or admin (DOS/Windows).
7. Simple explanation of in-band versus out-of-band IPMI access: In band and Out of Band Network Management : Detailed Comparison » Network Interview

 

[im.thatoneguy]

# Set the fans to full #
SMCIPMITool.exe IPADDR USERNAME PASSWORD ipmi raw 30 45 01 01
#Set zone 0 to "27"
SMCIPMITool.exe IPADDR USERNAME PASSWORD ipmi raw 30 70 66 01 00 27
#Set zone 1 to "27"
SMCIPMITool.exe IPADDR USERNAME PASSWORD ipmi raw 30 70 66 01 01 27

Replace "27" with different values as needed and the fan speeds will be manually configured.

 

[DaveInTexas]

# Set the fans to full #
SMCIPMITool.exe IPADDR USERNAME PASSWORD ipmi raw 30 45 01 01
#Set zone 0 to "27"
SMCIPMITool.exe IPADDR USERNAME PASSWORD ipmi raw 30 70 66 01 00 27
#Set zone 1 to "27"
SMCIPMITool.exe IPADDR USERNAME PASSWORD ipmi raw 30 70 66 01 01 27

Replace "27" with different values as needed and the fan speeds will be manually configured.

That's good to know. Same methodology as the X11 boards. However, I'll caution that it can also depend on the BMC chipset version.

@im.thatoneguy which board model have you tested this on?

 

[DaveInTexas]

raw 30

or

raw x30

Depending on the tool, is consistent with ASPEED chipsets as the first value. On those BMC's, hex 30 indicates the "cooling" functions of the chip. It's basically always going to be the first part of a register's "address" per se when utilizing raw commands to control the fan speeds.

However, beyond that the remaining values vary depending on the chip and middleware implementation (by board manufacturer).

 

[im.thatoneguy]

Correct x30 is needed on *nix and 30 on Windows depending on the host. Also on some linux setups you can just use ipmitool and it'll connect directly without an IP Address or password if executed locally as root.

ipmitool raw 0x30 0x45 0x01 0x01
ipmitool raw 0x30 0x70 0x66 0x01 0x00 0x27
ipmitool raw 0x30 0x70 0x66 0x01 0x01 0x27

Tested on X12SPI-TF and H12SSW-NTR (Epyc 7003)

ASPEED AST2600 and AST2500 BMC (respectively)