On Sun, Sep 26, 2004, Shlomi Fish wrote about "Re: Proposal: Making for a Plea for
Donations for Upgrading eskimo's Hardware":
> OK, first of all, eskimo.iglu.org.il and beak.hamakor.org.il are two
> completely different servers. They reside in the same place (Actcom), but are
> administered by different teams, and serve different purposes. iglu.org.il is
> the older of the two, it's a Pentium III machine (500 MHz or more - can't
> remember), and we use it to host www.iglu.org.il, www.hackers.org.il,
> jlc.iglu.org.il, and other domains. It is also a Web/FTP server for various
> mirrors. It was originally donated by HP and Ligad. beak.hamakor.org.il is a
> newer P4 machine with a bigger RAID array. (200GB+, IIRC). AFAIR it was
> donated by IBM.
Thanks for the clarification.
> As for statistics:
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ df
> Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
> /dev/sda6 5619520 1898384 3721136 34% /
> /dev/sdb1 6717600 3158096 3218260 50% /iglu
> /dev/md0 70004400 38491712 31512688 55% /storage
What am I missing? Don't I see here that almost half of the storage space
is still free? Why does that constitute a problem?
> Nadav, if you'd like an account on iglu.org.il, I can gladly set one up for
> you and give you the root password. I can send you a message encrypted with
> your key with all the information.
No thanks. I will not have time to do that. I don't even have time for
the machines I already administer :( (as you already know very well from
our private stalker discussions).
>
> beak has too many mirrors anyhow. In any case, the philosophies behind the
> management of beak and eskimo are different. In eskimo, we give accounts
> relatively liberally, we install all the software we need, (even if it had a
> relatively poor security record) and we don't do chroot games. It is also
> (IMHO at least) more of a community server than beak.
Ok, so what's the problem? Keep huge mirrors on beak, and keep small (but
complicated and needing access of many users) on eskimo. Sounds like a very
good plan to me. Doesn't it to you?
If you feel that the mirrors on beak are not appropriate, or they mirror the
wrong things, it is certainly in our power, and in our interest, to change
that. Hamakor's board has full control over the content of these mirrors.
> So, what I'm saying is that we need to make sure eskimo is also a capable
> server.
I certainly have no objections to having more resources, especially if
you think that someone will donate it, but just remember that just like I
am asking you to justify the need, so will potential donors. You won't get
(and apparently, you or someone already tried and failed) Ligad or HP to
donate if you don't make a more convincing case, I believe.
> Well, I'm not sure eskimo even have an IDE connectors. And generally, the
> Linux kernel is rumoured to misbehave (or at least used to misbehave) in
> mixed IDE/SCSI environments. But if you'd like to buy an entirely new
> IDE-based server (with very large IDE disks - we need more than 160 GB) I'll
> be pretty happy to ditch the current machine hosting eskimo, and switch to
> it.
Does anyone on this list have the knowhow and some free time to go to Actcom
and look inside the eskimo machine to estimate if it's possible to plug IDE
disks?
I am not sure we even need SCSI disks - all the disks in the current machine
(according to your df) can be replaced by a single IDE disk! (of course having
two would be great for redundancy).
And I don't understand, why do we need more than 160 GB? It appears that
after several years of operation, we only filled 50 GB. Do you really expect
us to need more than 160 GB in the next couple of years?
Anyway, 160 GB (2*80) was just somethat that I bought for my own 1U machine
half a year ago. Today, it is likely you can get even more, for even cheaper.
Shlomi - potential donors will ask you the same questions I am asking.
Unless you are an extremely talented "schnorer" and can get us a brand-new
machine. And somehow, I am not very confident this is likely (but please,
someone, if you think differently, tell me - I don't want to be the party
pooper here).
> Right. Nevertheless, I'm a bit tired of keeping this between the circles of
> the IGLU-web mailing list and would like to put it in the open. (without
> accusing anyone, of course - just requesting donations).
Ok. I will not object. I don't even think that Hamakor legally owns Eskimo,
so it is may not be the Hamakor's board place to decide. I don't know who
is supposed to decide on it, though.
Maybe it's time we here from more iglu-web maintainers: do you also consider
it time for a complete replacement of "eskimo"?
> It has no physical space left. And like I said, I don't think it even has IDE
> connectors.
Ok. I didn't see the hardware. Often it is possible to take out the CD-ROM
drive, floppy drive, or old tiny disks (like that miniscule 10 GB disk) and
replace it with something bigger. I cannot make any informed comments without
seeing the box, though.
> I think it would be easier to buy a new IDE-based machine, than to try to
> convert the current eskimo machine into an IDE configuration. Either we buy
> new UW-SCSI disks for eskimo or we get a new machine (IDE or whatever).
> Trying to IDEize eskimo is A Bad Idea<tm>.
Easier, provided that you have the money. A new machine might cost 10,000
shekels, a new 200 GB IDE disk might cost 1000 shekels, and a new 200 GB
SCIS disk might cost ???? shekels. That's the *only* reason I'm even talking
about this option - it's much cheaper. If this option is not available, then
two options are left:
1. Getting donations for a new machine (Hamakor can cover part of the costs,
but it probably won't cover the entire cost, though I didn't discuss this
with the rest of the board yet, so this isn't a formal decision)
2. Move more features from eskimo into beak, which is a far more capable
machine. Make beak a much more accessible (to a number of volunteer
admins) than it currently is, and slowly phase out the use of eskimo.
I would like to hear opinions from more people, not just me and Shlomi...
--
Nadav Har'El | Sunday, Sep 26 2004, 12 Tishri 5765
[EMAIL PROTECTED] |-----------------------------------------
Phone +972-523-790466, ICQ 13349191 |Promises are like babies: fun to make,
http://nadav.harel.org.il |but hell to deliver.
