Reduce Intel Laptop CPU Temperature Overheating In Linux - ansible module package and Thermald

How to Reduce Laptop CPU Temperature Overheating In Linux?

I’m going to show you a live Playbook and some simple Ansible code.

I’m Luca Berton and welcome to today’s episode of Ansible Pilot.

See also: ansible.builtin.file Module: Manage Files, Directories & Symlinks (Complete Guide)

Reduce Intel Laptop CPU Temperature Overheating In Linux

Today we’re talking about the open source project “Linux thermal daemon” (thermald) that monitors and controls the temperature in laptops, tablets PC with the latest Intel sandy bridge and latest Intel CPU releases.

The thermald tool operates in two modes: • Zero Configuration Mode

For most users, this should be enough to bring the CPU temperature of the system under control. This uses a DTS temperature sensor and uses Intel P state driver, Power clamp driver, Running Average Power Limit control, and cpufreq as cooling methods. • User-defined configuration mode

This allows ACPI-style configuration in a thermal XML configuration file. This can be used to fix the buggy ACPI configuration or fine-tune it by adding more sensors and cooling devices. This is the first step in implementing a close loop thermal control in user mode and can be enhanced based on community feedback and suggestions.

It’s available as a package “thermald” for the most used distribution today.

Please note that this service might degrade laptop performance byslowing the CPU.

Ansible Install a package in Linux

• ansible.builtin.package • Generic OS package manager Today we’re talking about the Ansible module package.

The full name is ansible.builtin.package, which means it is part of the collection of modules “builtin” with ansible and shipped with it.

These modules are pretty stable and out for years.

Its purpose is to act as a Generic OS package manager.

See also: AAP 2.6 Upgrade Guide: RHEL 8→9, RPM→Containerized Migration Paths

Parameters

• name string — name or package specific • state string — present / installed/ absent /removed / latest The most important parameters are “name” and “state”.

In the name parameter you are going to specify the name of the package or the specific version you would like to install.

The state specifies the action that we would like to perform. In our case install is “present or installed”.

Links

• https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/builtin/package_module.html • https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=intel-thermald-tgl&num=1 • https://wiki.debian.org/thermald

See also: Ansible Set File Permissions 755: chmod with file Module Guide

Playbook

Let’s jump into a real-life playbook to install the thermald package and start the zero-configuration service in Linux using the Ansible Playbook.

code

---
- name: thermald Playbook
  hosts: all
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: thermald installed
      ansible.builtin.package:
        name: thermald
        state: present
- name: thermald running
      ansible.builtin.service:
        name: thermald
        state: started
        enabled: true

execution

ansible-pilot $ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/demo/inventory thermald.yml
PLAY [thermald Playbook] **************************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ************************************************************************************
ok: [demo.example.com]
TASK [thermald installed] *********************************************************************************
changed: [demo.example.com]
TASK [thermald running] ***********************************************************************************
changed: [demo.example.com]
PLAY RECAP ************************************************************************************************
demo.example.com           : ok=3    changed=2    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0

idempotency

ansible-pilot $ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/demo/inventory thermald.yml
PLAY [thermald Playbook] **************************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ************************************************************************************
ok: [demo.example.com]
TASK [thermald installed] *********************************************************************************
ok: [demo.example.com]
TASK [thermald running] ***********************************************************************************
ok: [demo.example.com]
PLAY RECAP ************************************************************************************************
demo.example.com           : ok=3    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0

before execution

[root@demo devops]# dnf list thermald
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Available Packages
thermald.x86_64                    2.4.6-1.el8                     rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms
[root@demo devops]#

after execution

[root@demo devops]# dnf list thermald
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Installed Packages
thermald.x86_64                        2.4.6-1.el8                        @rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms

code with ❤️ in GitHub

Conclusion

Now you know how to reduce Intel Laptop CPU Temperature Overheating In Linux using the ansible module package and Thermald.

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• Ansible Become Guide • inventory configuration in Ansible • with_items vs loop in Ansible