Lenovo ThinkServer SA120 - Rackmount DAS

[IRAGEDandQUIT]

Has anyone been able to get AndrewsX192 fan control script working in Windows? I played with it a little bit, but I am not sure how Windows identifies the DAS. I tried SCSI address without any luck.

I have an SA120 in a small closet, so temperatures are an issue. I am using HyperV with the SA120 attached. I can control fans with the Lenovo utility, however they seem to spin up on their own to level 7, I suspect I am hitting a threshold and its going into panic mode. I really need a way to set the fans to level 1-2 at all times.

 

[j_h_o]

I upgraded to an LSI 9380-4i4e card and lost sg_ses control of the fans.

I connected the serial cable and found fan control:

0) connect 115200 baud
1) password: lenovo
2) Misc menu: 7
3) Force debug mode: 2
4) password: debug
5) set_fan_speed -all 40
6) set_ps_fan_speed -ps1 80
(repeat if you have -ps2 as well)

(at 40%/80%, I found the noise reasonable; your mileage may vary)

Looks like there's also
set_vtemp and enter_vtemp_mode but I didn't play with this further.

 

[kiteboarder]

Thanks for posting the info about fan control - much appreciated!
My only "easy" solution before this was to plug in both power supplies.

For anyone looking for caddies, you don't have to buy specifically for the 120. Lots of models will work, such as these:
3.5" HDD Tray Driver Bay Caddy for Lenovo ThinkServer RD830 RD340 RD440 RD540 | eBay

I think the most important thing is verbiage such as this:
Compatible with the following Lenovo part numbers:
03X3835 03X3969 31050780

The lowest price I have found is just below $6 each.

Cheers!

 

[Alfa147x]

I have a 10Gbe nic and an HP H221 (9207-82) HBA. The only external storage is a sparsely populated SA120. I have two nvme drives on the internal PCie x4 m.2 slots.

My motherboard has the following options:

• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)

Which card should get the x16 slot?

 

[kiteboarder]

I have a 10Gbe nic and an HP H221 (9207-82) HBA. The only external storage is a sparsely populated SA120. I have two nvme drives on the internal PCie x4 m.2 slots.

My motherboard has the following options:

• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)

Which card should get the x16 slot?

I'm going to make some assumptions in order to reply. Disregard my answer if any assumptions are wrong.

- Both cards are pci-e gen 3 x8
- Both slots on your MB are gen 3 and are connected directly to the CPU

A gen 3 lane is 8 Gb/s. So in the worst case x4 slot, that's 32 Gb/s. It's more than enough bandwidth for either of the cards, so it doesn't matter which card goes where.

But now let's say you move up to a 40 Gb ethernet card. Obviously now you want it in the x16 lane slot. That's what I would do anyway so you can quickly switch it out later in the future.

Cheers

 

[Alfa147x]

I'm going to make some assumptions in order to reply. Disregard my answer if any assumptions are wrong.

- Both cards are pci-e gen 3 x8
- Both slots on your MB are gen 3 and are connected directly to the CPU

A gen 3 lane is 8 Gb/s. So in the worst case x4 slot, that's 32 Gb/s. It's more than enough bandwidth for either of the cards, so it doesn't matter which card goes where.

But now let's say you move up to a 40 Gb ethernet card. Obviously now you want it in the x16 lane slot. That's what I would do anyway so you can quickly switch it out later in the future.

Cheers

Ah that makes sense. Thanks for helping out. I was a bit confused after reading this:

 

[kiteboarder]

Yes, it's a bit confusing. You have to pay very careful attention to the big B versus little b's. Unfortunately lots of people intermix them incorrectly.

Your chart is nice since it includes the effects of the encoding schemes. Thanks for sharing!