[UCIMC-Tech] chambana.net server plans [was: The Bike Project Web
Down again]
Barry Isralewitz
barryi at ks.uiuc.edu
Thu Jun 11 15:22:13 CDT 2009
Hi Josh,
On Jun 11, 2009, at 1:52 PM, Joshua King wrote:
> ...
> [much info on IMC server/net situation, plans, and cost limitations]
Thanks for all the info! Zabbix looks way good, likely way better
than Argus.. The server reliability solutions you have in the
pipeline look great; I like where you are going with the increased
bandwidth on the offsite-dedicated box. All really impressive, and
considering the available budget ... double-plus-impressive. Thanks
again!
>
> Since this was a rather lengthy explanation, I hope you don't mind
> me CCing it over to IMC-Tech for documentation purposes.
Heh, no problem. I was busy enough earlier that I somehow didn't
check but assumed the thread was _already_ on IMC-Tech (I guess habit
from all the other tech related mail threads we're both on). I'd
really meant that 'what do you all think?' for IMC-Tech list folks and
the other individual addresses, this is probably too much computer-
geekery for just bikecoop list.
Cheers,
Barry.
On Jun 11, 2009, at 1:52 PM, Joshua King wrote:
> Hi Barry,
>
> The problem with the site was that we had a power flicker sometime
> last evening, and the webserver doesn't start back up correctly on
> its own (it wants you to hit F1 on boot, and because it is a very
> old Compaq Proliant it doesn't have BIOS settings to change that.
> I'm working on tracking down and modifying the old floppy image you
> need to tweak those boot settings).
>
> There is already a monitoring platform (Zabbix) set up on
> Chambana.net, it's just that a lot of stuff (servers, IPs, etc) have
> changed since it was first installed. I just need to updated it and
> reconfigure it. Once I do that I'll probably be looking for people
> to be on the notification list if you're interested.
>
> Unfortunately, almost all of the things you mention exceed the tech
> budget for the IMC. We're still pursuing switching network providers
> if we can do it in a cost-effective manner. We're already in
> Comcast's business service class, and can't afford more from them
> (and they don't offer anything higher in a standard package). Co-
> location tends to be expensive. The options I'm pursuing for offsite
> failover are:
>
> Our offsite virtual server is low on space and extremely overloaded.
> However, our offsite dedicated server (hosted for free) was until
> recently on too narrow of a pipe to be anything more than useless.
> However, it just got moved to a fatter connection, so now we can
> start using it for hosting. I am in the process of upgrading it and
> setting up virtualized jails, so that we can provide service
> failover offsite. This might not be instantaneous and fully
> automatic in the case of some sites (circular master-master offsite
> MySQL replication is _extremely_ problematic) but will provide us
> with more options.
>
> Besides that, I'm working on creating a greater amount of failover
> options within the IMC itself, which will partly be facilitated by
> the inclusion of new gigabit switches within our server network that
> I'll be installing this weekend. This will let us do synchronous
> database queries and serve webfiles over NFS between servers without
> bogging down the building's network, thus improving reliability.
>
> Since this was a rather lengthy explanation, I hope you don't mind
> me CCing it over to IMC-Tech for documentation purposes.
>
> On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 1:14 PM, Barry Isralewitz
> <barryi at ks.uiuc.edu> wrote:
> Hi,
>
>
> The site is back up now. Thanks, Josh! (And thanks for mailing on
> this Todd.)
>
> Short comments: 1) how about we install Argus or other monitoring
> software for chambana.net . I'll have time to help with setup after
> July 10. 2) What do you all think is overall best strategy to improve
> site aceess reliability? Including but not limited to: change network
> provider, upgrade service class, move to server co-location,
> virtualize
> servers, implement cheap multi-site failover.
>
>
> Details:
> Judging only from thebikeproject.org accesss logs,
> there's a roughly 20 hour gap ...between 10/Jun/2009:16:01:54 and
> 11/Jun/2009:12:19:33 . Could have been less time, but not much less
> --
> thebikeproject.org gets hit many times per hour 'round the clock,
> thanks
> to crawler bots and insomniacs.
>
> If this is comcast's fault, we gotta complain and get something
> changed, or somehow switch services. A services monitor can help
> clarify the problem -- I think chambana.net does not have one right
> now.
> . I'm willing to help install Argus for chambana.net after July 10 --
> but abandon monitoring to others / shared list after it was at an
> acceptable level of alert issuing. Would be good to have auto-
> detection
> and notification of problems as they arise, and to have good downtime
> records for the various services.
>
>
> CHeers,
>
> Barry
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 09:51:51AM -0500, Joshua King wrote:
> > Hi Todd,
> >
> > I'll be at the IMC this afternoon and can take a look.
> >
> > On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 8:34 AM, Spinner, David Todd
> > <spinner at illinois.edu>wrote:
> >
> > > Just to let everyone know, the Internet is working at TBP but
> it seems
> > > the Bike Project Website is down again. We couldn???t use it
> last night
> > > during open hours and I can???t access it from work this morning.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Todd
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > D. Todd Spinner
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Josh King
> > --
> > "I am an Anarchist not because I believe Anarchism is the final
> goal,
> > but because there is no such thing as a final goal." -Rudolf Rocker
>
> --
> Barry Isralewitz, Ph. D.
> Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group
> 3043 Beckman, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
> Office Phone: (217) 244-1612 Home Phone: (217) 337-6364
> email: barryi at ks.uiuc.edu http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~barryi
>
>
>
> --
> Josh King
> --
> "I am an Anarchist not because I believe Anarchism is the final goal,
> but because there is no such thing as a final goal." -Rudolf Rocker
--
Barry Isralewitz
Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group
3043 Beckman, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Office Phone: (217) 244-1612 Home Phone: (217) 337-6364
email: barryi at ks.uiuc.edu http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~barryi
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