For those who think the computer is smarter than you, move along. This add-in isn't for you. For the rest of you, the fine folks who know what's best for their computing equipment, pull up a chair. I'll show you a simple, yet very handy add-in that will put one of the oft-overlooked, but extremely important components of your HP MediaSmart Server back into your control - the fans.

The real PC geeks out there know what I'm talking about, but those not nose deep in computer technical manuals may not be aware how important those fans are. Think about it this way, the HP MediaSmart Server is a pretty small box crammed with a computer processor, power supply, and up to four hard drives. Slap all that in a tight space and you're looking at potential for some serious heat, and that spells trouble for computing components. It's the fans and other cooling gizmos that keep your computer alive.

HP, maker of the MediaSmart Server, knows this. That's why there are perforated metal panels and a couple of good size fans built in to the case. As the temperature of the interior fluctuates, the fans adjust their speed to keep things cool. But...

That's where my faith in computers falls short; I just don't trust automatic systems. What if there were a bad sensor in there, or something else that could prevent those fans from spinning up to their max when needed? Or, even prevent them from spinning down when it's not necessary to have the jets on full blast. In either case, I want the option to get those fans under my control, and that's just what Alex Kuretz (goes by yakuza here and on his site MediaSmartServer.net) has done.

Alex's add-in is called MSS Fan Control, and like the name suggests, it's just for HP MediaSmart Server owners. MSS Fan Control gives you the ability to manually control the speed of the upper and lower exhaust fans of the MediaSmart Server, as well as let you configure thresholds that determine how the fan speed should adjust as the CPU temperature changes.

Let's take a closer look at how to get it, then how to configure it based on your needs:

Download and Installation

First, you'll need to download the MSS Control Fan Add-In. Unzip it, then move the msi installer file it to the \Software\add-ins share on your MediaSmart Server. 

Launch the Home Server Console, and go to the Settings area. Choose Add-ins and click the tab for Available. You should see the option to install MSS Fan Control in the list. Click the install button and wait for it to finish.

After you get all set up and back into the console, you should see the MSS Fan Control tab in the Settings area. Give it a click, and you'll see your new fan controls

Using MSS Fan Control

There are two modes for how you can adjust your fans. You can't use both modes at once.

The first mode relates to the top two sliders. Using these you can change the fan speed of the upper and lower fans as a percentage of their max speed. So, if you kick each up to 100 and click apply, each fan will run at max speed. If you want the fans at half speed, put it to 50.

The second mode is a bit more complicated, but if you like to get down and dirty with your settings, you first need to check the advanced box. In this mode you can redefine where the upper temperature threshold is (the default 0 = 51C) is and how the fans should react when it reaches that temperature. For example, if you wanted the fans to be quieter, you could set the RPM down 100 (0 in the middle = 1200 RPM) to 1100RPM and set the upper threshold down 10C degrees. So when the temperature hits 41C, the fans spin at 1100RPM. 

Follow that? Don't worry if you didn't quite get mode two. Just click the optimized defaults button, which sets the upper threshold back 20 degrees. This is a pretty good tradeoff between the fans running constantly and getting cooler temps.

As a note of warning, any time you go messing around with your fan settings, make sure you monitor your server's temperatures. Alex has built in a safety net in case your temps get out of hand, but the whole point of controlling your fans is to do better (not worse) than what your server can do on its own.

Review

My experience with MSS Fan Control thus far has been very positive. The author admits that it hasn't been extensively tested yet, but I didn't run into anything that seemed like a deal breaker. The HP MediaSmart Server does freeze for 5 to 10 seconds after applying changes to the fan speeds, but this was called out as a known issue in his documentation. It would be better if it didn't freeze at all, but a few seconds wait time for the changes to take effect isn't bad.

If I had to make two suggestions for improvement, I'd say that the labeling on the sliders is a bit tough to understand, particularly when it comes to the advanced adjustments. '+200' doesn't mean a whole lot when you're not sure what the normal RPM speed of the fan is. At the very least, adding the phrase RPM on there some where would help. The same goes for the threshold sliders, though there may not be a better way of labeling those based on their function.

The MSS Control Fan should be on the add-in necessities list of every power user. Download it here.

What do you think of MSS Control Fan? Post your comments below or add them to the MSS Fan Control discussion board.