[tech] Moving of all Servers to 2 Racks

[Matt Didcoe]

On reflection, in relation to having a rack out in the clubroom, for  
now, I think we're better off keeping it in the machine room where the  
noise can be contained and the temperature controlled slightly better.

We also have to work out a time to sit down and glean all we can from  
trs80 so he can have a well deserved break before we jump into this so  
that date (13th) is very tentative at this point.

The point of this exercise being to make the best use of space we can  
and to have a clean machine room that can be cooled efficiently and  
worked in without the fear of inadvertently killing something/someone.

At this early stage, the idea is that the two servers on the bench,  
merasu (commissioned by JCF I believe) and mermaid be rack mounted to  
improve their ventilation and to free up bench space, network cabling  
for the servers be marked and tidied so it's a little less spaghetti  
like and that machines such as mudcat (CJS' play box - not that I'm  
specifically targeting you Chris :) ) be converted to VMs as they  
really don't need to be their own physical boxes (even though we do  
have many exFugro servers to spare).

Mitch is doing up some diagrams now and will post to the list shortly.

Matt [MRD]

On 06/09/2009, at 5:06 PM, mitch at ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au wrote:

> Hi All.
>
> Today Matt Didcoe and myself where at UCC working out what servers  
> we have and what they do.
>
> Next weekend we are planning to colsolidate the servers into 2  
> Racks, One located in the MR and one located in UCC (Probably where  
> the tool cupboard is, And move that nearer to the Project/dump bench  
> where it used to be)
>
> What we are planning is to work out what boxes are currently used  
> and what they do, Those what are general purpose.. Or have no  
> purpose will be turned off or Moved into the "General/UCC" Rack and  
> the more critical servers/tape library such as Mooneye/Madako/Mussel  
> etc etc put into a Rack in the MR. Also the MR Cleaned to the extent  
> its possibly empty on the day.
>
> The UCC Rack will be a locked rack, With a Door that can potentially  
> be opened by dispense, Similar to the UCC door.
>
> The Date: We are hoping for Next weekend, Probably Sunday morning @  
> 9:00AM (13th) With all servers being powered down. This would tie in  
> with the "TRS80 Extraction night". (dd if=/dev/trs80 of=/dev/other/ 
> members)
>
> Why?
> The MR is a mess at the moment with unknown servers taking up rack  
> space and creating heat that in the near future is gong to be a big  
> issue on warm days.
>
> Other ideas: One idea was to create a 3-4Box VMware Cluster (To keep  
> is easily manageable and not have rely on others to manage it) This  
> would host the Virtual pool Including some member boxes that run  
> their IRC session and not much else...  I Understand this may  
> irritate some but if you have a better idea, Please post to the list.
>
> If anyone else has suggestions please post away. Over the next 5  
> days Matt and i will draw up a final plan for the rack space and how  
> it can be used.
>
> Mitch
> UCC Wheel Member
>
>