Dell PowerEdge Fan Control

A dynamic fan control solution for Dell PowerEdge servers (R730xd, R730, R630, etc.) running Proxmox VE or other Linux distributions.

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Problem

Dell PowerEdge servers often run fans at maximum speed (9600+ RPM) when third-party PCIe devices (like NVMe SSDs) are installed, causing excessive noise even when temperatures are low.

Solution

This script provides dynamic fan control based on CPU and NVMe temperatures, balancing cooling performance with noise levels.

Features

🌡️ Monitors both CPU and NVMe temperatures
🔄 Dynamic fan speed adjustment based on temperature
🔇 Disables Dell's aggressive third-party PCIe fan response
🚀 Automatic startup via systemd
⚙️ Configurable temperature thresholds

Requirements

Dell PowerEdge server with iDRAC
ipmitool package
lm-sensors package

Installation

One-Line Install (Recommended)

Using wget:

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Evil0ctal/Dell-Fan-Control/main/install.sh | sudo bash

Using curl:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Evil0ctal/Dell-Fan-Control/main/install.sh | sudo bash

Quick Install

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Evil0ctal/Dell-Fan-Control.git
cd Dell-Fan-Control

# Run installer
sudo ./install.sh

Manual Install

# Install dependencies
apt install ipmitool lm-sensors -y

# Detect sensors
sensors-detect --auto

# Copy script
sudo cp dell-fan-control.sh /usr/local/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/dell-fan-control.sh

# Copy systemd service
sudo cp dell-fan.service /etc/systemd/system/

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable dell-fan
sudo systemctl start dell-fan

Fan Speed Strategy

Temperature	Fan Speed	Scenario
< 55°C	30%	Idle
55-60°C	35%	Light load
60-65°C	40%	Normal load
65-68°C	50%	Medium load
68-72°C	60%	High load
72-75°C	70%	Heavy load
75-80°C	80%	Very heavy load
80-85°C	90%	Extreme load
≥ 85°C	100%	Protection mode

Usage

Check Service Status

sudo systemctl status dell-fan

View Logs

sudo journalctl -u dell-fan -f

Monitor Temperatures and Fans

watch -n 5 'echo "=== CPU ===" && sensors | grep "Package id" && echo "=== NVMe ===" && sensors | grep "Composite" && echo "=== Fans ===" && ipmitool sensor | grep Fan | grep RPM'

Manually Set Fan Speed

# Enable manual control
ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x00

# Set fan speed (0x1e = 30%, 0x32 = 50%, 0x64 = 100%)
ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0xff 0x1e

# Restore automatic control
ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x01

Fan Speed Reference

Percentage	Hex Value
15%	0x0f
20%	0x14
25%	0x19
30%	0x1e
35%	0x23
40%	0x28
50%	0x32
60%	0x3c
70%	0x46
80%	0x50
90%	0x5a
100%	0x64

Configuration

Edit the script to customize temperature thresholds:

sudo nano /usr/local/bin/dell-fan-control.sh

Tested On

Dell PowerEdge R730xd
Dell PowerEdge R730
Dell PowerEdge R630
Proxmox VE 8.x / 9.x
Debian 12 (Bookworm)
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

Warning

⚠️ Use at your own risk! Manual fan control can lead to overheating if not configured properly. Monitor your temperatures closely after installation.

Uninstall

Using the uninstall script:

cd Dell-Fan-Control
sudo ./uninstall.sh

Or manually:

sudo systemctl stop dell-fan
sudo systemctl disable dell-fan
sudo rm /etc/systemd/system/dell-fan.service
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/dell-fan-control.sh
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

# Restore automatic fan control
ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x01

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and feature requests.