PowerManagement help needed

English Hardware
1

Please move this thread to a different location if needed. There seems to be no good fit for this topic.

I am trying to reduce my uptime of my servers. I would like to have a way to bring the systems down during off hours, an come back online during first use. I know about WOL (wake on lan) found in the bios, but it seems as if the OS is missing something to complete the configuration.

Are there any good docs (of which I havent found any yet, which is why I ask) on this topic? How about best practices to assist in power management?

Thanks,
John

2

as far as i know WOL is not dependent on the operating system in
anyway…that is, the BIOS gets the signal that something is hitting
the net-card, and starts the boot process just as if you pushed the
power…so, if the bios and WOL is setup and working correctly on your
hardware it should just work to light up the machine…

as for shutting down, if the “off hours” are predictable, just set up
a cron to shut down at the desired times…

no “good docs” other than man cron and man shutdown needed…well, you
have to dig around and find out how to setup and manage your bios/wol
according to your hardware/bios docs…

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 10.3]
Be it ever so humble, there is no place like 127.0.0.1.

3

As you do not tell what you found, read, did about WOL, it is difficult to start from there. Both the NIC and the system must support it. Are you aware of ethtool (see it’s man page).

4

Well, it appears that WOL is not working on my systems as I went to the bios to enable it on the NIC. But I am unable to wake the system. Just assumed I was missing something in the OS. Didnt think it could be that easy. How would the bios be able to determine the IP address thats being pinged or recieving packages is its. Only thing on that is the ARP table in the switch would know to send all traffic for that box IP down the port the machine was plugged into. So the NIC could just assume anything tickeling its nic is ment for it and turn on the machine.

As far as other reading. I found a bunch of outdated and useless stuff. DenverD brings up good points, and clarify’s the mess I wasnt sure about on WOL. Then I have to try to figure out why its not working. As far as shutting down, I am trying for a bit more flexability. I would like more dynamic based on usage, and not times. Is there a software based WOL where the OS can detect nic activity and come back to life. Maybe not go so deep to sleep.

The other thing I am trying to sort out is how to get my systems to turn on when the space bar is hit. Again, I tried configuring it via BIOS on one system with NO Success. Once linux shutdown, it wouldnt come back up. The reason this would be nice is my servers are far back in the room. And it would easier to tell my wife or kids to just hit the space bar in the morning to bring them back online for a days use.

The machines in question are Dual proc P3s server boards, and I would suspect that they should be capable. Since this is not a Intel form, I am looking for more Software Solutions provided by SuSE.

John

5

Johnfm3 wrote:
> How would the bios be able to determine the IP address thats being
> pinged or recieving packages is its.

at the very minimum you need to understand WOL better than you do
now…you might start here (and, don’t overlook the magic packet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-LAN

> As far as shutting down, I am trying for a bit more flexability. I
> would like more dynamic based on usage, and not times.

as far as i know every modern machine (say, made in the last five
years or so) has power management built in…it can, for example
detect low need for CPU cycles and throttle back to idle; or detect no
keyboard input and turn off the monitor; or detect no hard drive usage
and spin down the drive…

ALL of that is “dynamic” and quite effective in saving power…but is
not the same as to “the bring the systems down during off hours” which
is what you asked about…

> Is there a software based WOL where the OS can detect nic activity
> and come back to life.

sure, it is in the software known as ‘firmware’ which the BIOS runs…

> Maybe not go so deep to sleep.

which do you want: shutdown, sleep, hibernate, or idle

> The other thing I am trying to sort out is how to get my systems to
> turn on when the space bar is hit.

that would be a hardware issue…if you buy the hardware which
supports that you can have it…if you don’t buy the hardware which
supports that then you can’t add operating system software to fix it…

> Again, I tried configuring it via BIOS on one system with NO
> Success. Once linux shutdown, it wouldnt come back up.

how did you configure and send the ‘magic packet’?

> The reason this would be nice is my servers are far back in the
> room. And it would easier to tell my wife or kids to just hit the
> space bar in the morning to bring them back online for a days use.

maybe i just too cynical, but couldn’t they be shown where the power
button is and told to press it?

> The machines in question are Dual proc P3s server boards, and I
> would suspect that they should be capable. Since this is not a
> Intel form, I am looking for more Software Solutions provided by
> SuSE.

now you are talking apples and oranges, again!

WOL is built into the hardware’s motherboard/BIOS combo and if it
works it works, it will boot Linux or Windows or Unix or BSD or Mac or
an Atari game machine no matter which shuts it down…if it gets a
magic packet…

on the other hand, if you want the system to NOT be shut down then
openSUSE has the ability to turn off your monitors, idle the CPU, and
spin down the drives…its called power management and readily
available if your hardware supports industry standards for ACPI
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface>

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 10.3]
Be it ever so humble, there is no place like 127.0.0.1.

6

Adding to DenverD’s remarks and questions, you did not answer mine.

Did you use ethtool to see what sort of WOL the NIC supports?