FreeNAS Power Consumption Optimizing??

[Ykno]

So i need help setting up my NAS to run at lowest power consumption as possible.

My usage:

It will run 24/7 ish, by that i mean it will auto shutdown on a schedule when I'm at work and start up when I get home from pre set times which i believe i can do in bios but if not it can be done inside FreeNAS i believe.

It will be used to store media and just basic storage, and i send my PC's backup to it but speed is not my concern more redundancy which it has. it will only be ever used by 1-2 people at a time. (that i can see for the foreseeable future anyways)

I do use plex server on it but again i hardly use that maybe on weekend if i sit down to watch film.

(Hope this info help if you need more just ask

)



What i have already done:

Under clocked my cpu and turned all but one core off and turned off hyper threading.

Set up my disk standby time and APM (Not sure if this is correct but i set Standby as 30 and APM as Level 1)



I will be upgrading the PSU to a lower watt and more efficient one



What else can I do on software level??



Any advise is great cheers.

 

[wblock]

Under clocked my cpu and turned all but one core off and turned off hyper threading.

Underclocking has been discussed elsewhere. There also, I said I would not recommend it because that is not how these processors are designed to be used. Maybe not a problem. Does turning off hyperthreading have any power benefits at all?

As far as power saving, this might limit the maximum power used by the CPU by limiting processing ability. The tradeoff is that anything that needs processor power will take longer, and it might use less power but for a longer period of time. The only way to really test this is with an accumulating power meter like a Kill-a-watt.

It is unlikely this will actually save any power in total. Current processors are very good about power saving when idle, and getting things done quickly when in use. Actually... these measures suggest maybe the current CPU is just too powerful for the application.

Be aware that power supply maximum efficiency is when loaded to about half capacity. Too large a supply wastes several percent of efficiency, yet a big enough supply is needed to provide all the drive startup current.

 

[Ykno]

I agree I was just playing about with this to see if it made difference to cpu heat mainly ha, might turn all that back on.

Any advise with settings inside FreeNAS?

 

[wblock]

Enable powerd in System -> Advanced.

 

[tvsjr]

Keep in mind that FN does a lot of things... scrubs, SMART tests, etc. on a scheduled basis. It's really built to be a 24x7 system, not something you turn on when you need it. If you do this, make sure you're getting all of these tests in.

 

[nojohnny101]

As @wblock mentioned, modern CPUs are extremely good at managing power at idle. Other biggest power draw is from the drives and messing with settings or forcing them to sleep or things like that can adversely affect the multitude of background tasks that FreeNAS uses to keep everything healthy. IMHO, any benefits you get from tweaking settings with the CPU or drives are minimal and I feel are outweighed by potential adverse affects (slower access to your data, messing or inhibiting FreeNAS background maintenance tasks, etc).