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Making a Linux home server sleep on idle and wake on demand (2023)

dgross.ca

51–60 of 115 posts

Re: Making a Linux home server sleep on idle and wake on demand (2023)

#51
post #28

Seems to me that if you want to waste time and money engineering your setup more net efficient, just buy a few solar panels and LiFePo4 batteries to buffer. You can run other stuff off of it, too. I always choose “make more money” over “pinch pennies”.

If that were the case you wouldn’t waste valuable time posting snide responses to hn posts.

Re: Making a Linux home server sleep on idle and wake on demand (2023)

#52

for ideal I need port knocking for wake up

Nothing to stop you setting that up on the secondary device to trigger the listen/wake scripts, but if someone malicious is on your local network and has permission to trigger WOL, chances are you have bigger issues.

Re: Making a Linux home server sleep on idle and wake on demand (2023)

#53

Well done. But note: you can grab an ATX control board, or configure the RPi as a USB Gadget to wake the machine via power button or keyboard.

This seems like a smart option, that would also allow power cycling the machine remotely I’m assuming, in case it goes totally out to lunch.

Re: Making a Linux home server sleep on idle and wake on demand (2023)

#54
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously. You can get running states around 1W these days.

What to do about this? https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/phantom-rtx-5090-high-...

If one can afford a GPU with a MSRP of $1999 and was scalped for $2999 during the initial craze, you are probably not struggling to pay your electric bill.

Re: Making a Linux home server sleep on idle and wake on demand (2023)

#55
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously. You can get running states around 1W these days.

Running states around 1W? How?

1W is a unicorn as just plugging in a power supply with no PC parts hooked up will register 1W. <10W is more realistic. Select a PC that can run off a laptop charger. Check manufacturer spec sheets for the idle power consumption. Don't install any PCIe cards or hard drives. Use powertop --autotune.

Re: Making a Linux home server sleep on idle and wake on demand (2023)

#56
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you accurately measure how much current a PC is drawing at any given time? Do you have some kind of measurement device inline with the power cord?

You can use "smart" plug such as the Sonoff S31 (flash ESPHome to make it cloud-free).

And for one-off testing there's the standard P3 Kill-a-watt.

Re: Making a Linux home server sleep on idle and wake on demand (2023)

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Running states around 1W? How?

1W is a unicorn as just plugging in a power supply with no PC parts hooked up will register 1W. <10W is more realistic. Select a PC that can run off a laptop charger. Check manufacturer spec sheets for the idle power consumption. Don't install any PCIe cards or hard drives. Use powertop --autotune.

> Select a PC that can run off a laptop charger.

(looking at my 330W laptop charger)

I’m not sure that is the constraint you think it is.

Re: Making a Linux home server sleep on idle and wake on demand (2023)

#58
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only put the RAM you need in the box, use peripherals with working ASPM, attach them to the northbridge PCI ports instead of the CPU's root ports, use wireless instead of wired networking, and don't attach a display.

I do basically all of that, CPU idles around 5% but still consumes over 100W. (Minus the Wireless part) (5800X + 64GB) I can enable Eco Mode in the BIOS, which will bring down the CPU to about 65W max although its still at about 100W total system.

Chiplet based Ryzen CPUs inherently have higher idle power draw. Monolithic chips like 5600G have lower idle power draw. The motherboard, power supply, and internal peripherals all need to be carefully selected to get a really low idle figure.

Re: Making a Linux home server sleep on idle and wake on demand (2023)

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1W is a unicorn as just plugging in a power supply with no PC parts hooked up will register 1W. <10W is more realistic. Select a PC that can run off a laptop charger. Check manufacturer spec sheets for the idle power consumption. Don't install any PCIe cards or hard drives. Use powertop --autotune.

> Select a PC that can run off a laptop charger. (looking at my 330W laptop charger) I’m not sure that is the constraint you think it is.

To be more specific a 65W or 90W laptop power supply.

Re: Making a Linux home server sleep on idle and wake on demand (2023)

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many European countries electricity is quite expensive. In the U.K. for example, running 20 watts nonstop for a year will cost you around $65 on a typical tariff. If you have more than one home server the savings can quickly add up.

Also 20W is fairly low for idle draw right? Like I think you can get proper machines down that low if you know what to look for but most stuff bigger than a mini PC is gonna be drawing 40+? I might be slightly miscalibrated though. Anyway it's not about the money for me it's any the aesthetics. Burning power for nothing is yucky. Edit: just been Googling around. OP is running one of these HP mini PCs. They are pretty…

My home server is a pig and draws about 100 watts idle.
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