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Author Topic: Spinning down server HDs when not in use?  (Read 1367 times)

Valiant

  • aka Sam
    • Radiance Audio
Spinning down server HDs when not in use?
« on: 14 July, 2008, 06:45:43 pm »
Our Dell PowerEdge 2400 is a loud fecker, tis got 6x high speed SCSI. It seems to be spinning all the time. Is there anyway to make it spin down the disks/sleep when no one is connected to it? It's running Red Hat Enterprise.
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Lonewolff

Re: Spinning down server HDs when not in use?
« Reply #1 on: 14 July, 2008, 07:30:09 pm »
It is not advisable to spin down high speed server drives. They take quite a long time to spin up again unlike desktop drivers.
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andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: Spinning down server HDs when not in use?
« Reply #2 on: 14 July, 2008, 08:03:32 pm »
Odds are those disks are in a bit of RAID anyway, no?
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Valiant

  • aka Sam
    • Radiance Audio
Re: Spinning down server HDs when not in use?
« Reply #3 on: 14 July, 2008, 08:06:53 pm »
They are, but they don't seem to have a problem when booting up, spinning up times are fast enough. There are two raid systems in there, one for system files and profiles, and one for samba shares. I think even spinning down the samba shares would make a big difference in audible noise.
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Woofage

  • Tofu-eating Wokerati
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Re: Spinning down server HDs when not in use?
« Reply #4 on: 14 July, 2008, 09:17:55 pm »
hdparm?

Warning: I am not an expert!
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arry_b

Re: Spinning down server HDs when not in use?
« Reply #5 on: 14 July, 2008, 09:55:05 pm »
It's definitely the disks is it?

I had problems with RHEL on Proliant servers spinning all of the fans at full speed all of the time. Solved by by loading the latest support pack.
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Valiant

  • aka Sam
    • Radiance Audio
Re: Spinning down server HDs when not in use?
« Reply #6 on: 14 July, 2008, 10:25:12 pm »
Tis fully upto date and definately the disk, bastards are spinning at 15k
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tiermat

  • According to Jane, I'm a Unisex SpaceAdmin
Re: Spinning down server HDs when not in use?
« Reply #7 on: 15 July, 2008, 07:40:27 am »
Ear defenders!

Seriously though on servers you do not want to be spinning the disks down, the tortional forces applied to the disks and bearing when spinning up is much much greater than when they are running 24/7, so the disks would fail quicker.  As you will know 15K rpm disks are not cheap so the cost of keeping the server running with the disks spinning is much less than having to replace a disk every 2 or 3 months...

BUT if you really really have to do it then hdparm would be your friend.
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Greenbank

Re: Spinning down server HDs when not in use?
« Reply #8 on: 15 July, 2008, 09:19:56 am »
I assume you don't have a server rooom, so stick it in a soundproofed 19" rack enclosure.
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Valiant

  • aka Sam
    • Radiance Audio
Re: Spinning down server HDs when not in use?
« Reply #9 on: 15 July, 2008, 03:37:07 pm »
I guess so, thanks all.
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