How do I implement wake up on lan (WoL)?

I’m running an old server at home, an IBM system x3400 m3, rocking two x5675 intel processors.

I currently have Windows Pro (NOT Server) installed on it and connected to it remotely through Parsec (opened a port on my router). I’ve tried using duckDNS to associate my IP with a domain, and got the service running on my server to automatically refresh the IP.

This server is my primary rig, used for gaming but also to host my family’s photos through Plex and backup photos from phones through Resilio file Sync.

However, the server doesn’t have the best power consumption, so I’d like to use WoL to remotely turn it on. I’ve enabled it in the BIOS, have checked the drivers to enable it, and tried using TeamViewer to use Wake on Lan, but it doesn’t seem to work.

Any suggestions on how to remotely turn it on? (the server also has KVM I think, or at least an apparently useless network port, tho I’m not exactly sure what that does)

SteveTech,

A lot of people are saying WOL doesn’t work over the internet, but I’ve got it working.

Basically port forward UDP 9 to your broadcast address (the last possible IP in your subnet), eg. 192.168.1.255. Then send the WOL to your public IP which will then get broadcasted out over your network by your router.

Typing this out, I realised this seems like a horrible security practice, so I’ll probably disable it soon anyway, now that I’ve got multiple servers and a failover VPN.

Gecko,
@Gecko@lemmy.world avatar

yeah, tunneling into your local network and then calling WoL from there is the way to go.

SteveTech,

Yeah, I only really used it when the computer running my tunnel wasn’t on, but that’s not an issue for me anymore.

lemmyvore,

It’s not that it doesn’t work, it’s that it’s anybody’s guess if any of the hops will pass it along. The odds are overwhelmingly in favor of it getting snagged somewhere along the way.

SteveTech,

Well it’s just UDP so isn’t that just how the internet works, but yeah when I did do it, I’d often spam a bunch of packets, sometimes just sending one didn’t work, but multiple always worked.

lemmyvore,

Well it’s just UDP so isn’t that just how the internet works

I mean… just because a packet can be routed doesn’t mean it will be. Don’t be fooled by “mainstream” packets like TCP on 443 which is practically guaranteed to be routed everywhere and prioritized because it’s HTTP. Not all packets get the VIP treatment (if they’re even routed at all), and WoL is a pretty obscure one.

SteveTech,

That’s sort of what I mean by “just how the internet works” where “it’s that it’s anybody’s guess if any of the hops will pass it along.”

Like yeah I understand TCP has protections against dropped packets, but that’s only because it re-requests the packets it thinks are lost or corrupt.

Also HTTP and WOL are at a different layer, they’re both TCP and UDP respectively, so it shouldn’t matter whether if the App layer is obscure or not. Heck the routers of the internet only look at the IP layer, so it can’t even tell if it’s TCP 443, and you could probably even write your own Transport layer protocol and route it over the internet.

Although I guess firewalls could do some prioritisation, and wouldn’t like this new transport layer, but they’re usually near the ends of the connection, not in the middle, and I was taught to prioritise VoIP stuff anyway.

TCP/IP model for reference:

  • Application (HTTP, WOL, Minecraft, whatever you want)
  • Transport (TCP, UDP, other ones too)
  • IP (IPv4 & IPv6 + older not used (X.25, CLNP, etc) / Sender and Destination)
  • Link (Ethernet and stuff)

*I have not much experience so I may have made some mistakes, but I’m currently completing a CCNA so it should be somewhat correct.

TechAdmin,

I suggest to read up on the way Wake On Lan works, it’s pretty neat. it has to send a packet to a local broadcast address. I don’t think that can route over the internet so you need some device to send the packet from on the network or over a VPN connection.

For the KVM part, that model server should have some form of remote control. I think they called it the Integrated Management Module (IMM) on those things. The IMM is running as long as the server has power, it’s a tiny independent system. They have various licenses/feature sets but at minimum it should get you a web interface to see status of the server as well as power it on & off. It may also have remote console and media options but those are add-on costs so not everybody buys them. The default login information should be somewhere on the chassis unless it was removed or got lost. The old defaults used to be username all uppercase ‘USERID’ with password exactly ‘PASSW0RD’ with a zero instead of the letter O. I don’t recall when they changed to newer methods but it’s worth a try.

Kidplayer_666,

Hey there! Thanks a lot, someone else has proposed using IMM and I’ve found an official IBM manual on Lenovos webpage for all of this. Only an additional question, what is the expected power draw when only the IMM is on? I’ve got no way to actually check it, and the main reason to use it is to save power

TechAdmin,

Unfortunately I don’t have any servers to test that anymore and power was never a major concern at the time. Also a different use case, for me I’ve always used IMMs to remotely setup and troubleshoot for servers that I expected to be up 24/7.

InvertedParallax,

You need to start learning about ipmi, try googling ipmitool and the name of your server.

qaz,

Is it possible to set up WoL on a normal desktop computer?

TechAdmin,

That varies depending on the computer/motherboard manufacturer and model. The manual may reference that feature but if not can go into BIOS/UEFI setup menu then browse through looking to see if there is any option to enable it. Also I’ve only used it with built-in NICs so not sure if it’s an option with add-on NIC.

brickfrog,

However, the server doesn’t have the best power consumption, so I’d like to use WoL to remotely turn it on.

When you say remotely you mean over the internet, right? Or did you mean remotely within the same LAN e.g. from your living room or wherever.

By default WOL doesn’t work over the internet AFAIK. The wikipedia page mentions it a bit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-LAN#Subnet_directed…

Like others said you may be able to get that going with a VPN or anything VPN-like that allows broadcasts between connected systems. Or if your motherboard supports IPMI / IMM you should be able to connect to the system & perform power functions that way.

In my case my motherboard doesn’t have those sort of management functions so in the end I settled on logging into my router remotely & initiated WOL through there. That could be another option for you if your network router is capable of sending WOL packets to the LAN.

However, the server doesn’t have the best power consumption, so I’d like to use WoL to remotely turn it on.

SheeEttin,

In my experience, you don’t, because it never works.

But the server should have an IPMI that allows power control.

Kidplayer_666,

What’s IPMI, how could I use it remotely? (preferably without an additional PC)

Atemu,
@Atemu@lemmy.ml avatar

You will need at least one computer running 24/7.

It doesn’t need to be fast but it needs to be up. An ARM SBC such as a Raspberry Pi would do.

If you need remote GUI access anyways though, something like the PiKVM might be for you.

rambos,

I was using windows desktop machines with teamviewer and anydesk and both could wol without port forwarding. Recently I switched to linux and rustdesk and I couldnt figure out how to do the same. So I got workaround, using upsnap docker container that has simple gui with button to turn on devices over wol. So i login to upsnap, turn on machine and then login with remote control. Still looking for all in one solution. I use wireguard to connect to upsnap (wg port open) but Im using it for other services as well.

Other than bios, I remember I had to enable WOL in windows to make it work, not sure is it different for win server.

Kidplayer_666,

I’m using Windows pro, sorry for not clarifying on the post, just regular windows. I use the server mostly as my personal PC, if I wanted to manage a server, I’d switch to Linux lol. Only reason for Windows is gaming. How would I implement wireguard without an additional PC?

rambos,

No way Im afraid, but if your mobo allows WOL you should be able to use it with windows and anydesk or teamviewer. Make sure you enable WOL in windows. Iirc you have to open network adapter properties to enable magic packets. Also bios settings, but you said that you enabled it there

Kidplayer_666,

Sorry, but where do I enable WoL in windows?

rambos,

In network adapter properties. Its been a while since I did that, but quick google gave me this

drudoo,

What I do is using OliveTin behind a reverse proxy (traefik with auth) on a Pi. I then have a button in olivetin that sends WoL commands through local network to turn in my ‘big’ server. You can probably run it without issues on a Pi0.

Alternatively, if you have a VPN to your home network, is using an app on your phone to send WoL commands when connected to the VPN. I have tested with both ‘Magic Packet’ and ‘Net Status’ on iOS through WireGuard.

Kidplayer_666,

I like your funny words magic man. Now more seriously, how could I create a VPN to my home network without having an additional computer to spare? Could I use a router for that? (Currently using the crappy ISP provided one just as a modem and using Google stuff to handle WIFi. To get wired to my server I use one of those Powerline things that is connected to the ISP stuff)

grahamsz,

I run a wireguard service on my Unifi Edgerouter and it works pretty well for that situations. I can also (in theory) send WOL packets from home assistant but i've never tried.

drudoo,

Some routers can act as a VPN, but I don’t think an ISP provided one can.

I would suggest you get a raspberry pi zero W or equivalent(like orange pi zero) and setup a WireGuard server on that. It’s only like $15.

That way you can vpn to your network and access devices / services without opening any additional ports.

thepianistfroggollum,

Yes, your router can likely act as a VPN server, but I would definitely have a hardware firewall if you’re going to be exposing ports to the public internet.

Also, a wifi adapter for the server is going to be better than a powerline adapter. What I did for my home lab was bought some cheap Netgear routers and turned them to bridge mode and hooked all 4 ports from the server to the router.

slazer2au,

Considering it’s an IBM wol will likely only work on the lan1 port or the imm port.

Kidplayer_666,

That’s very useful information. What is IMM (guessing Integrated Management Module), but what does it allow me to do?

slazer2au,

IMM is IBMs out of band management system if you have worked with HP they call it iLO and Dell calls iDRAC. You can get hardware diagnostics from a webpage when the server is powered off but power is still connected. You can also use the page to power on, reboot and shutdown the system. There is even a virtual console so you can see what the video is outputting without a monitor attached.

Kidplayer_666,

This is just what I need! Just found a manual on Lenovo’s website for my server. Thanks!

CameronDev,

Do the lights on the network card light up when it’s connected but off? I believe you should have blinking lights if the card is on. Might be some kind of power setting in the bios to keep the network card on/off?

I have had hit and miss WoL on some of my machines, one work around is to use a smart plug of some kind to turn the power on/off, and there should be a setting to boot the PC when the power reconnects? May not directly help you, but might also be easier?

Kidplayer_666,

Yes, that was an option I considered, but I’m first trying to find a solution with the stuff I already have. Unfortunately I cannot check, as I am away from home :| Also, it’s the integrated networking, not a dedicated card

CameronDev,

I think the integrated card can still be power saved off, but it might depend on the motherboard and/or bios.

Might also be worth seeing if the WOL magic packet is actually being sent properly, by running tcpdump/Wireshark on your server and triggering WOL. unix.stackexchange.com/a/537886Maybe try a different PC to send the WOL packet if it doesn’t arrive?

Kidplayer_666,

Also, when the server is shut off, it isn’t completly so, the powrrsupply clearly remains on (makes some noise) and some lights in the mother of boards remain on (which lights, what do they mean? I don’t know)

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