xref: /openbmc/phosphor-pid-control/tuning.md (revision c612c051)
1# PID Control Tuning & Logging
2
3The openBMC PID control daemon, swampd (phosphor-pid-control) requires the user
4to specify the sensors and PID coefficients. Determining good coefficients is
5beyond the scope of this document.
6
7**NOTE** The steps below may not be applicable if you are using D-Bus based
8configuration.
9
10## Tuning Fan PID Using a Fixed RPM Setpoint
11
12Flag `"-t"` can be specified to enabled the daemon to read the fan RPM setpoint
13from a file `/etc/thermal.d/setpoint` instead from D-Bus.
14
15The value in the setpoint file is expected to be a normal decimal integer, such
16as `4000` or `5000`, and is in RPM.
17
18## Tuning Fan PID Control Parameters
19
20`phosphor-pid-control` reads PID control values from
21`/usr/share/swampd/config.json`, one can modify the PID parameters in the config
22file and restart the daemon to make the new values effective.
23
24```
25systemctl restart phosphor-pid-control.service
26```
27
28## Logging
29
30Flag `"-l \<path\>"` can be specified to enable the daemon to log fan control
31data into `path`. The log output is in CSV format with the following header:
32
33```
34epoch_ms,setpt,fan1,fan2,...fanN,fleeting,failsafe
35```
36
37`phosphor-pid-control` will create a log for each PID control zone.
38
39## Core Logging
40
41For even more detailed logging, flag `"-g"` can be specified to enable the
42daemon to log the computations made during the core of the PID loop.
43
44The log output is in CSV format, in the same directory as specified with the
45`"-l"` option. Default is the system temporary directory, typically `/tmp`.
46
47Two files will be created, for each PID loop configured. The `pidcoeffs.*` file
48will show the PID coefficients that are in use for the PID loop. The `pidcore.*`
49file will show the computations that take place, to transform the input into the
50output. The configured name of the PID loop is used as the suffix, for both of
51these files.
52
53The `pidcoeffs.*` file will grow slowly, updated only when new coefficients are
54set using D-Bus without restarting the program. The `pidcore.*` file, on the
55other hand, will grow rapidly, as it will be updated during each PID loop pass
56in which there were changes. To prevent needless log file growth, identical
57logging lines are throttled, unless it has been at least 60 seconds since the
58last line.
59
60## Fan RPM Tuning Helper script
61
62`https://github.com/openbmc/phosphor-pid-control/blob/master/tools/fan_rpm_loop_test.sh`
63is an example script on how to sweep through available RPM setpoints and log the
64fan responses.
65
66## Thermal Tuning Example
67
681.  Create initial `/usr/share/swampd/config.json` used for PID control
692.  (Option 1) If using a fixed setpoint, write the value to
70    `/etc/thermal.d/setpoint`, run swampd manually with
71    `swampd -l ${LOG_PATH}&`, and kill the process after desired duration.
723.  (Option 2) If sweeping fan setpoint, using the tuning helper script
73    `fan_rpm_loop_test.sh` to configure fan setpoint in steps and collect logs
744.  Parse logs from `${LOG_PATH}/zone_*.log` and analyze response data
755.  Modify `/usr/share/swampd/config.json` as needed
766.  Repeat from step 2 or step 3
77