[MLB-WIRELESS] Server Virtualisation - (was RE: possible vpn

[mw at freenet.net.au]

Good morning,

OK, I won't need it, but I'm sure that if someone else would like to take advantage of the offer, then they will let us/you know! :-)

I have this little IBM pizza box here that I intend to run up as an ESX platform as per recent email.  It has a 1.4GHz P4 and a gig of ram.  I'd have to check to be sure, but I suspect it probably has a pair of 100gig disks of some description.

If I can get some extra RAM into it and maybe bigger disks, then we'll have something that should be able to support a half dozen linux VMs of various descriptions.  I'd like to take on a project to load up a copy of the current MW system, and then make it available as a dev platform for volunteers to have a go at.

Over time, we should be able to build up enough expertise to give you and the original coders a bit of a well deserved break - perhaps take on a more supervisory role, or maintainer role, rather than one of actual coding.  With this kind of setup, all we need is a code update submission process so that updates can be conducted on a dev platform, then updated to a staging platform, before final submission to the maintainer to load onto the live system.  And If that live system is also (perchance) a VM, then it we could take a snapshot of the running system prior to update, and roll back in a pinch if something goes wrong.

"What say you?" ;-)

Cheers,  Mike.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steven Haigh [mailto:netwiz at crc.id.au]
> Sent: Wednesday, 17 March 2010 10:39 AM
> To: mike at viewbankrise.net.au
> Cc: Melbourne Wireless
> Subject: Re: [MLB-WIRELESS] Server Virtualisation - (was RE: possible vpn
> 
> I have no idea on the RAM or HDDs in this system.
> 
> I'm pretty sure it has 2 x SCSI (probably 50 pin?) drives and a hardware
> RAID controller. It is a proper compaq server - so swapping parts in and
> out is possible but not very easy.
> 
> I don't have a great deal in just parts - but I do have this box that
> would be about ready to go as is - just drop on an OS.
> 
> On Wed, 17 Mar 2010 10:06:14 +1100, <mw at freenet.net.au> wrote:
> > Nice! :-)
> >
> > Great to see some real offers coming out of these discussions!
> >
> > What kind of disk, how large and how many?  And what kind of RAM and how
> > much?  Would you consider donating just parts if someone else wanted to
> > build up a server with higher specs?
> >
> > Cheers!
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: melbwireless-bounces at wireless.org.au [mailto:melbwireless-
> >> bounces at wireless.org.au] On Behalf Of Steven Haigh
> >> Sent: Wednesday, 17 March 2010 9:24 AM
> >> To: Rob Brittain; Tim Hogard
> >> Cc: Melbourne Wireless
> >> Subject: Re: [MLB-WIRELESS] Server Virtualisation - (was RE: possible
> vpn
> >>
> >> I also have a dual P3 400mhz rack mount compaq server that can be
> >> utilised
> >> to so something - somewhere. CPU wise it isnt enough for the website
> etc
> >> etc but is plenty of horsepower for experiments in radius or vpns etc
> >> etc.
> >> As long as it is used for MW purposes...
> >>
> >> If anyone wants it, contact me off list. Pickup from Craigieburn.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Steven Haigh
> >>
> >> Email: netwiz at crc.id.au
> >> Web: http://www.crc.id.au
> >> Phone: (03) 9001 6090 - 0412 935 897
> >>
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Rob B <rbritt at gmail.com>
> >> Sent: Wednesday, 17 March 2010 9:14
> >> To: Tim Hogard <thogard at abnormal.com>
> >> Cc: Steven Haigh <netwiz at crc.id.au>; Melbourne Wireless
> >> <melbwireless at melbournewireless.org.au>
> >> Subject: Re: [MLB-WIRELESS] Server Virtualisation - (was RE: possible
> vpn
> >>
> >> On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 12:01 AM, Tim Hogard <thogard at abnormal.com>
> >> wrote:
> >> >> > And some responses...
> >> >
> >> > The only thing in Steve's reply I have a gripe about is Steve has
> >> > odd ideas what "Load Average" is. He runs one of two (that I know
> >> > about) MW servers. I run (ignore?) the other which is owned by
> >> > Rob.
> >>
> >> Please note Rob's server does not belong to me and was donated to
> >> Melbourne-Wireless for their use as they saw fit. I no longer have any
> >> claim on it. So maybe a better name could be found for it, since it is
> >> small and purple you could call it cute!
> >> Regards Rob B
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Melbwireless mailing list
> >> Melbwireless at wireless.org.au
> >> http://wireless.org.au/mailman/listinfo/melbwireless
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Melbwireless mailing list
> > Melbwireless at wireless.org.au
> > http://wireless.org.au/mailman/listinfo/melbwireless
> 
> --
> Steven Haigh
> 
> Email: netwiz at crc.id.au
> Web: http://www.crc.id.au
> Phone: (03) 9001 6090 - 0412 935 897
> Fax: (03) 8338 0299