(I really like MSPaint.exe far too much.) This is what it would look like with an IPMI card in there.
[image: Inline image 1] On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 10:47 PM, chris kluka <[email protected]> wrote: > These are basically IPMI cards; They plug into a PCI slot and provide > remote on/off/reset, KVM-over-IP, and virtual media (either over IP or by > putting ISO images on a USB stick plugged into the card). > > http://www.kvm-switches-online.com/eric-g4.html > > $400. > > This is one thing I don't think we should do a DIY project for (i.e. the > management card). Either we should get a KVM over IP and an IP-PDU bar, > or, just get one of these cards. > > The features we will not be able to do with a DIY solution: > - "safe" power on-off (press the power button and wait for shutdown, > rather than hard power off > - external modem connection (we could hook up a 56k dialup server to use > this server as an access point to dial in and troubleshoot ISP or router > issues) > - Virtual Media --- LOCAL virtual media (we can proably find a way to do > virtual-media-over-ip, but this could be horrendously slow; It'd be much > better to FTP ISO images to the USB key in this card, then run the boot > sequence from there). > - 15 concurrent views of the same console (so we can troubleshoot in > groups/etc...) > > > -- Chris > > > On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 9:38 PM, Mark Jenkins <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Chris wrote: >> > I see it has a Core 2 Q8200 in it. I have a Core 2 Q9550 laying >> > around I would trade 1:1 for. >> >> Great to hear that this offer is still being made -- not quite sure how >> our wires got crossed the last time I tried to follow up on it. >> >> But, I think we'll be moving on to a new motherboard right away. Kenny >> has kindly offered us a DDR3 based motherboard and CPU that he has with 8G >> (2x4G) of RAM, with 4 DDR3 sockets which is upgradable to 32 or 64G, so I >> think it now makes sense for us to switch to that. If his CPU isn't VT >> capable we'll buy one and then start looking to bring it up to 16G and >> beyond. >> >> I hope to partially support those part costs by selling off the current >> board after the switch: >> >> * Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 @ 2.33Ghz] with 4M shared L2 cache >> * Gigabyte-EP45-UD3L motherboard >> * 2x2G + 2x4G (2G total) of DDR2 RAM in dual channel configuration, can >> upgraded to 4x4G (16G) >> >> What do folks imagine the market value of those three parts is (Perhaps >> $400?) What's the best marketplace for it? Does it make sense to break them >> up or sell them together? Would anyone like to volunteer to be in charge of >> the sale once we have it available? [such as Adrian, an acomplished ebayer] >> >> Any other funds we need to complete this upgrade beyond our estimated >> sale price for the old board I'll try to fundraise from the members and or >> beg the organization to allocate. >> >> Does anyone have 2G or larger DDR3 sticks lying around to donate? >> >> -------------- >> >> I remain confident that we could consolidate *all* of the non >> infinite/indefinite stuff in the server room with this. >> >> There are 12 machines right now, only 9 are powered on. (including the VM >> server) >> >> Two of the 3 powered off are in decomission mode and just need to be >> pulled from the racks. The project aleph server is the third one that's off >> and is only powered on when that project is using it. (well done Mak and >> Colin -- I thought it was on at one point tonight one because of one little >> green LED but I'm an idiot for thinking that) >> >> 2 of the 9 machines powered on are prime hunters. >> (Andrew, in light of the fact that we no longer have free electicity, I'm >> wondering if you'd consider taking these offline? I'm not sure how they're >> really serving the members or even further your personal hacking endevours?) >> >> One of the 9 machines is Ayecee's Freenet server, which I think is a very >> worthwhile service to have available to the members. It's on a dedicated >> server and should probably remain on one for now because there are bugs in >> the Freenet application which cause it to chew up max CPU, which I find >> pretty surprising for a network application. >> >> I'm considering doing some analysis on Freenet's cpu ussage for the Free >> Software Day Bug Squash event (September 16 hackathon) to see if those bugs >> can be either squashed or at least profiled enough to help the Freenet >> developers nick it in the bud. >> >> One of the nine is the VM server itself. >> >> >> So that leaves only *5* other servers that aren't obviously on >> infinte/indifinte high loads and just need to be assessed to be sure and >> then undergo consolidation negotiations. >> >> Justin's web server is of those 5 and I now have the go-ahead from him to >> migrate it tomorrow night. Thank you Justin. >> All it was running was >> http://takaji.ca >> and >> http://takaji.ca/blog >> >> Serriously, I'm only going to give that 256 or 512M -- and such a thing >> will take up even less someday if we we launch an internal shared hosting >> service to cover cases like these that don't actually need a dedicated >> virtual machine. >> (A wordpress php process only takes up 40M) >> >> Ben's server is another one of the 5 and we're already in discussions on >> the possibility of him moving over. >> >> The remaining three are: >> * 2x Jackal/Craig >> * 1x Vobster / Mak / Dave (runs FreeBSD, so we'll need VT extensions >> before I can even give them a donstration pitch ["look at how much faster >> your ports compile on here"] ) >> >> I'll try to initiate discussions these folks to understand thier loads, >> but I imagine they're not super high CPU and RAM wise. (let me know?) >> >> Both systems may have large storage needs as well (let me know?) -- I >> notice that Craig seems to already have a NAS present -- if it made sense >> in both cases I think it would be cool to demonstrate that a one-two punch >> of VM server + NAS could cover the needs of folks who need always on >> storage but not a crazy amount of CPU and RAM to serve it up. (that is, in >> ways that the NAS can't serve up directly) >> >> >> I'm still looking forward to having a debate night or two with Chris on >> what we should aim for in the next generation system. Someday (not now!) we >> will want more than this board that Kenny has offered and I think $2500 >> isn't an inconcievable fundraising goal over the course of a year or so. >> >> One thing Chris mentioned was lights out / IPMI ish stuff. I'm in full >> agreement on that -- remote power control and remote virtual serial ports >> are super awesem for the worst case scenarios when all other remote access >> daemons on the host OS drop off. When I price out a truely high end, >> non-blade $2,500 system for that debate I'll try include that feature. >> >> Perhaps we could even do the equivilient on the cheap for this 2nd >> generation system that Kenny is donating. Does anyone know if there are >> there uninterupped power supplies or power bars out there that that allow >> you to turn the power on and off toa a device via RS232 or USB? If so, we >> could buy some kind of really small embedded system like a Raspberry PI, a >> wall plug computer, or single board system like an Alix or beagleboard to >> control this. Such a thing could also have a dedicated RS232 or USB link to >> the VM server as a backup serial console. >> (but this backup serial console feature would only work with the >> bootloader [GRUB] and the operating syste -- you need a special >> firmware/bios/CMOS to have support for controlling firmware features via a >> serial port -- lights out / IPMI systems come with that) >> >> Guerrilla baby! >> >> >> Mark >> ______________________________**_________________ >> SkullSpace Discuss Mailing List >> Help: >> http://www.skullspace.ca/wiki/**index.php/Mailing_List#Discuss<http://www.skullspace.ca/wiki/index.php/Mailing_List#Discuss> >> Archive: >> https://groups.google.com/**group/skullspace-discuss-**archive/<https://groups.google.com/group/skullspace-discuss-archive/> >> > >
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