AaronandSarah.net Blog!: January 2005

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My thoughts on a new OS... (Monday, January 31, 2005)

Well, it's official. I've had Debian (Sarge) installed on my system for a weekend. What are my thoughts about this finely-made OS? Well, I thought you would never ask...

I fine-tuned the appearance of Gnome with the Bluecurve theme. I know, I know, that's a Redhat thing. But seeing as how that's where my experience is, it's what I felt most comfortable with. It's almost as though I'm not using anything different than what's on my other servers... until it comes time to install another application...

Fedora Core will ask me to insert my CD (it'll even tell me which of the four it's looking for), and it'll happily install the program I want. Debian is a bit different. I chose FTP for installation (does anyone know if Fedora can do this too? I'm sure it can, but too lazy to look), so I download the program I want. Upon opening the Synaptic Package Manager, I'm greeted with a list of 14,878 (as of now) available packages. So after scooping my jaw off the floor, and putting a towel over the little bit of drool that managed to escape, I patiently scroll through the list, selecting the packages I want, and clicking the "Apply Marked Changes" option. I then stare in awe as the programs I selected begin downloading from an FTP mirror, and immediately begin installing themselves. Can anyone say easy?

The only downside to Debian, is there is no handy dandy GUI config for Apache, iptables and SELinux (although I don't think Debian currently has SELinux built in). So getting Apache to work right was a bit fun, considering it's a customized version of Apache and there were a few things amis. After I figured out where things were, I managed to get it working (check out http://cajunman4life.sytes.net to see what I mean). You'd think, coming from a console-only install of FreeBSD (btw, Beanie is getting upgraded to FreeBSD 5.3-Current sometime this week, and will serve as a back-up HTTP server), I'd have no problems with a few missing GUI front-ends to easy to configure programs. See what getting used to being GOOEY (GUI) can do to you?

Anyways, enough rambling. This site looks like crap in Linux (font is a bit too small), so I may adjust that sometime this week if I get time... btw visits to my site on Windows and Linux are running just about neck and neck... I'll post the full stats after the first of next month. Firefox is beating the pants off of IE however, with the traditional Mozilla suite coming in at a close second.

-Aaron

posted by Aaron and Sarah at 12:25 AM | 0 comments
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New box in the house!!! (Saturday, January 29, 2005)

Well, earlier in the week I brought home an IBM PC 300PL, which was to replace my IBM PC 300GL, which was my previous FreeBSD-based web server (affectionately called Beanie). However, seeing as how the CD-ROM didn't like any of the CD's I had burned with Fedora Core on them, I decided a floppy/net install was in order. Still no luck, was having problems getting the driver for my integrated ethernet port to work. Solution: bring home a separate ethernet card from work. Problem: solved. I am currently in the process of installing Debian-Testing (Sarge) on the box. I figured it was time for a change in scenery, nothing against Fedora though. I love Fedora, but I'm curious enough to try Debian. Hell, maybe sometime soon I'll put Gentoo on it just for kicks.

You know, I just realized something... I've got seven computers living in my apartment, and five of them are running free, open source operating systems; the other two run Windows. And I have perfectly good excuses for that. One of them, our old desktop, we hardly use. Another, my laptop (which I always use), I'm just too lazy to install anything other than the default OS (however, my choice of browsers, e-mail apps and office suite are free and open source). Plus I want to ensure that the wireless networking will perform beautifully. I've heard good things, but until I have something I can test it on that I can afford to turn into a paperweight if need be, Windows is on it to stay (at least until Longhorn comes out and M$ ends support for XP... I'll be damned if I buy another version of Windoze). Anywho, enough ranting.

As a side-note, I recently started a business. More details to come later...

-Aaron

posted by Aaron and Sarah at 12:41 AM | 0 comments
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Server back up... (Tuesday, January 25, 2005)

Ok, well I fixed all the problems on my Compaq server. I re-configured the drive array, and fixed the problem with the bios (the kernel wasn't detecting multiple processors, even though the SMP kernel was running... turns out it was a simple setting in the bios). Now it's running like a dream and I'm running all the updates (again). It's churning out SETI@home workunits at a pace of about 2 to 4 per day (I only have it running while I'm at work). I brought home another box today that is similar to Beanie (remember him?). It is an IBM PC 300PL, and it will be my dedicated webserver as soon as I can get an OS installed on it (it doesn't like my CD-RW images, so I need to buy plain CD-R's to install). I selected it because it is quite and draws about the same amount of power as a light bulb (and puts out less heat), so it'll be extremely easy to run a 24x7 webserver. Stay tuned for more updates!

-Aaron

posted by Aaron and Sarah at 10:48 PM | 0 comments
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Minor glitch (Thursday, January 20, 2005)

Well, it seems my two 36.4GB HD's are Ultra3 SCSI, and my server will only support Ultra2. However, the RAID controller re-configured itself, and now I can't un-re-configure it to recognise the new Ultra2 drives I put in the Ultra3's place... I will get a disk tomorrow to re-configure this, however, the fix will probably have to wait until the end of the weekend.

Meanwhile, I'm re-imaging my other server, and should have it into production in a few hours. Stay tuned!

-Aaron

posted by Aaron and Sarah at 6:21 PM | 0 comments
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First migration (Wednesday, January 19, 2005)

Ok, though the server hasn't quite been up a week, there is already a planned migration. I acquired four new hard drives for my compaq server today. 2x36.4GB, and 2x18.2GB. So the plan is tomorrow when I get off work, I will be "making the switch". I am chosing to do a fresh install again, as opposed to moving the data I have now over (which really isn't much). More details to come later, as well as an update as to how everything went tomorrow.

-Aaron

posted by Aaron and Sarah at 4:40 PM | 0 comments
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Closer (Tuesday, January 18, 2005)

It's getting closer... I received my KVM in the mail today, and got it all set up. I ordered a switch tonight, and should receive it by Friday, so then most everything should be in order. I've got all the power supplies set up. You can see where I'm at so far by visiting the site, which is http://cajunman4life.sytes.net/. Although you'll see there isn't much there right now.

Currently the webserver is running off my Compaq 6400R, which is also crunching on SETI@Home work units on two of the four processors (two different instances of SETI running). All I've done to the other server (so far) is install the OS. Which I'm going to redo before I put it into production. Then, I haven't decided yet, but I may migrate the webserver over to it. Either way, I will have SETI@Home running on at least one of the two processors in it. And if I don't migrate the webserver, then it will have two instances running. But chances are I will migrate the webserver. Anyways, enough babbling for one night.

-Aaron

posted by Aaron and Sarah at 7:11 PM | 0 comments
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Progress... (Friday, January 14, 2005)

Last night I finished building the shelf that will hold my servers and related equipment (rather than spending $1,000+ for a server rack, I bought a shelf from Lowe's for $45). And today, while at work, I stumbled upon a 4 port KVM switch with cables on eBay. So I bought it. The shelf is set up in a corner of my bedroom, so I'll need to get some kind of soundproofing material, or at least some noise reduction material. Other than that, everything else is falling into order. If you've got any ideas on soundproofing material I could use, let me know!

-Aaron

posted by Aaron and Sarah at 12:44 PM | 0 comments
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I'm sorry, what was that? (Monday, January 10, 2005)

I can't hear around here because this server is extremely loud. Today at work I pulled an I/O fan from a Compaq 6400R, and placed it in my own earlier this evening. I am currently installing Fedora Core 3 as we speak. You can hear this thing all over my apartment.

DHL attempted to deliver my HP NetServer LPr today. Too bad I was at work. I called them, and I arranged a pick-up tomorrow. I'll go get it after I get off work tomorrow. Until then, I'm slowly going deaf!

-Aaron

posted by Aaron and Sarah at 5:55 PM | 0 comments
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Servers, servers, everywhere! (Tuesday, January 04, 2005)

Well, if you remember a little while back, I mentioned that hosting could be coming back (which means I was looking at buying a server). Well, here's an update...

I'm getting two. That's right, two new servers. One, an HP NetServer LPr, and the other a Compaq Proliant 6400. The NetServer has dual PIII 500MHz processors, half a gig of RAM, and two 9.1 GB hot-swappable hard drives. I spent last night downloading and burning copies of Fedora Core 3 (which I plan to install on both servers). I know, I know, what happened to my FreeBSD craze? It's still there, but I have other plans for these two servers.

Anyways, the second server, which is the Compaq, comes with quad (that's right, 4!) Xeon 550MHz processors, about 1 1/2 gig of RAM, 1 18.2 GB hot-swappable HD, and 3 9.1 GB hot-swappable HD's! It's a screaming monster of a system. It can churn out about 12 SETI@home work units per day. That's impressive, considering my best is one work unit ever 30 hours.

So hosting should be coming sooner than you think!

-Aaron

posted by Aaron and Sarah at 5:05 PM | 0 comments
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Happy New Year! (Saturday, January 01, 2005)

Welcome to 2005 everybody! Can you believe it, another year down. Amazing.

Everything is going great at (i)Structure. I love my job (granted, I only worked 3 days this week due to a holiday, but all in all, it seems to be something I will really enjoy).

I'm also eyeing a brand new server (well, not new, but based off the current equipment I've got, it's new). So hosting may return very very soon. Along with buying Sarah her very own iPod, which should take place next Friday, I may purchase it. Or maybe I'll wait until a week after that. I don't know yet. Either way, I'll be sure to let you know when hosting is available. I'll probably start out simple, with maybe hosting just blogs. I'll move up to hosting websites, and eventually I'll set up game servers. But let's not get in over my head...

I think that's about it for now, since I'm pretty tired and all. I'll be sure to get back to you soon for more updates. Once again, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

-Aaron

posted by Aaron and Sarah at 12:51 AM | 0 comments
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