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HETZNER server - high temperature of the disks
juniorrrrr
Member
in General
I have a server at HETZNER for backup.
Today, I started monitoring it with Zabbix and noticed the high temperature of the disks (2x 8.0 TB Enterprise SATA HDDs in software RAID 1).
Both are at 55°C, so Zabbix is triggering an alert.
Should I be concerned?"
Comments
Spin until they fry. Hetz will replace. Keep your backups in pocket.
As long as they aren't in your basement, there aren't too many things to worry about.
It is not great but it's not the worst ... as you are running Raid1 keep backups and if any issues get them to replace
as they are working I do not think they would do anything about it until you get any sort of failure.
55°C is normal for spinning hard drives
That specific disk model belongs to enterprise class HDD which usually states 60°C as the max operating temperature.
In theory it can work continuously only 5 degrees below its stated max operating temperature, but in practice it is far from optimal, because the extra heat will probably shorten its life span and increase the likelihood of failure.
Since Hetzner is a properly cooled DC, and I don't remember seeing any disk there go over 50°C, there might be 2 reasons yours are so hot:
I'd suggest to check CPU temperature, if it's over 90°C or so you need to contact support which will replace failed CPU fan, and everything will work better.
This is indeed an enterprise hard drive - an Ultrastar DC drive if I'm not mistaken. And 55°C is a bit on the warm side for this hard drive. You should confirm the model number, but if the model number is HUH721008AL5200 for example (the full model was obscured in the screen capture), then you can look up the specs and you'll find the tolerances and recommendations from the manufacturer.
https://documents.westerndigital.com/content/dam/doc-library/en_us/assets/public/western-digital/product/data-center-drives/ultrastar-sas-series/product-manual-ultrastar-dc-hc510-sas-oem-spec.pdf
Check page 34 for the limits of temperature and humidity. (Page 33 has altitude as well if interested.) Operating max look like 60°C with low humidity (10% relative humidity) so 55°C is right up there with about 15% relative humidity. Personally, I'd be slightly concerned to operate at that temp for an extended period of time, based on the published specs.
I'd check the CPU temp as has been suggested by @maverick and contact the data center anyway and send them that PDF above to have them check the server. It could be a failed fan or obstruction.
In other words, you are not paranoid.
Can't it differ depending on stuff like where in the DC the server is and where in the rack the server is, if there's many layers of servers on top/below and stuff like that?
I imagine even with the same configuration and load, there'd be a lot of difference between the hottest and coolest server in the DC.
Might be competely wrong though,
No, you're completely right, all the factors you mention can and in reality do affect what disk temperatures will be. Also the age of a particular server, CPU power usage, etc...
But, most importantly, when it comes to Hetzner DC specifically, I've seen high 2x°C disk temperatures, all possible 3x°C values, and many 4x°C values, depending on all the factors mentioned above + how hard are you hitting disk with workload. But, I don't remember ever seeing 5x°C under normal conditions.
You can easily have 55°C at home, during summer months, without A/C, on an uncooled WD Elements external drive (and people report that these die quite often, for numerous reasons, improper cooling probably an important one...). In a properly cooled DC? Not that easy, unless there some failure...
@maverick
Interesting, thanks! How many Hetzner server have you investigsted?😮
Believe me, more than enough to claim the above facts. Let's leave it at this, OK?
CPU maintains between 58-64°C
Oh ye that is in the danger zone.
Is the CPU idle at that temperature? If yes, then it's waaay too much.
If it's loaded a bit (10, 20, 30%), it might be perfectly fine, then I really don't know what's the problem there with your disks temperature.
If the CPU is idle give it some workout, and see what CPU temp is then.
Here's one possible and stupid test, but it could help:
My CPU is about 10% busy and is hovering at about 45 - 50°C.
But if I run: while true; do zstd -qb19; done then it goes to 70 - 75°C
The above temperatures are perfectly fine. Just to make this test complete, the HDD disk temperature in that server is 36°C, almost 20°C cooler than in yours!
If under such test (hogging a single CPU core) your CPU temp goes above ~ 90°C, then either your CPU fan has died, or needs to be properly cleaned.
If the CPU temp is still OK (70ish, maybe 80), I really have no idea why your disks are so hot, I'm afraid.
If it is a backup server and iddling, these temps are very high. I experience near same values under load.
My I7-6700 server near 30°C when iddling in FSN.
Yes, as it is a backup server, during the day it is not used, that ~60°C temp is completely idle during the day.
This CPU is an i7-8700, I did the test "while true; do zstd -qb19; done" and reached 99°C.
I will open a support request to check the fans.
Based on my training and experience, 99°C means the heat sink is attached with zip ties, and the thermal compound is solid dry Nutella. Instead, with peanut butter you'd get:
>
Based on my training and experience with other hosters , coming soon hetzner send all data in clouds , same at OVH
Regards
Nutella would be more thermally conductive that what OP current has in his server.
You probably mean in clouds of smoke, a la OVH.
This is not a really bad temperature. You may start cooking something over them.
I opened a ticket, the server was shut down for maintenance, but it came back the same.
@juniorrrrr that was a fast fix, I spent an hour today lubing and dusting the fans. There is always something that goes wrong when I do it. Sometimes the disks don't restart, one CPU is not detected or a RAM module needs to be re-seated. This time the UPS blew up a cold solder joint.
I think the crappy consumer computers at Hetzner are even less reliable than what I have. Half the reason I bought that UPS was to avoid having to cold boot this computer more than absolutely needed.