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Project: Rackmount Overkill

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Are they hiring where you work? :D
Well, I have money conveniently returning to me at the same time. I recently got a raise, I'm getting paid back for a computer I built for a friend and I've been selling computer parts. I actually have spent very little of the money outside my Paypal account -- only about $100 or so. I'm basically just upgrading my servers. The 2650's are going to be parted out, along with the Pentium 3 systems. It just isn't worth it to run hardware that old.
 
Well, I have money conveniently returning to me at the same time. I recently got a raise, I'm getting paid back for a computer I built for a friend and I've been selling computer parts. I actually have spent very little of the money outside my Paypal account -- only about $100 or so. I'm basically just upgrading my servers. The 2650's are going to be parted out, along with the Pentium 3 systems. It just isn't worth it to run hardware that old.

Yeah I bought an i5 setup to replace my DL380 but haven't gotten around to it yet.
 
I just put in the bid for three sets of rails and messaged the user that posted the servers to see if he is putting them up again. I want one more server.

EDIT: Transaction is done, I got three sets of rails.
 
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I'm surprised the fans are only 1.1"h2o, I figured it'd be higher. I love the wall'o'fans setup :D
 
I'm surprised the fans are only 1.1"h2o, I figured it'd be higher. I love the wall'o'fans setup :D
They are stacked two thick and push quite a bit of air going full out.
 
I got the Icinga server up and running in a virtual machine. Now that I'm following the proper guide version, it went a lot smoother. I have all the main servers switched over to it now and I'll add virtual machines later. They have released a new interface that is a lot better and a bit slower than the "classic" one. The layout is better, but I'm still undecided on the speed difference.

I'm on the fence whether this should be run in a virtual machine. On one hand, having a backup of the server would mean I could easily get it back up and running on any system, but it is susceptible to the host going down -- which defeats the purpose. I could hang onto one 2650 and run it on that.

icinga_new_interface_2012.png
 
I decided to keep the Dell Poweredge 2650's for now. Being a standalone system and having 6gb RAM each unit frees up a lot of space on the virtual machine server (IBM x3650). I pulled out the database server and I'm formatting it now. I didn't know it had CentOS 5.6 on it - thought it was newer than that. I can also changed the names while I had it out. The Icinga/MySQL/database server is going to be called "Perl" and the twin is going to be "Java" once I find a use for it. While I was formatting the system, I noticed that the fans sounded a bit off. Upon further inspection, I found one of the fans had started failing, so I ordered a replacement for it.

I've torn apart the Compaq DL360's as they have been completely unplugged for over a year now and I literally have no use for them. The parts are scattered throughout the room and the cases are already in for recycling. Next is the Dell Poweredge 2550.

I'm updating the first post to reflect hardware changes.
 
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I updated the first post and the table of contents.
 
The new Icinga server is up and running. This install went a lot better now that I knew what I was doing and I was following the guide for the version I was installing!

I realized recently that I'm not doing proper backups for my Documents folder on my main system and laptop. This is actually a two part problem. For some reason, I've been using rsync to go to a mounted folder on the local system. With the current setup, my backup script is ineffective if the drive is not mapped for whatever reason (laptop mainly has this issue). I'm running an rsync server through xinetd and not using it. I modified the scripts on the desktop/laptop to backup properly. In addition, the server has been duplicating the rsync folder to the other array, but it hasn't been making proper backups/archives. I modified my backup script so it archives on a weekly basis.

Desktop/Laptop script:
Code:
rsync -a --delete --password-file=[redacted] /home/thideras/ thideras@server::Corey_Rsync/home &> /dev/null
Updated server script:
Code:
#!/bin/bash
#This script contains all of the rsync commands that are run daily on
#Thideras' file server.  The main use for this script is to backup to
#alternate locations, such as an external drive or remote location.

LOG=/mnt/hitachi/logs/rsync/rsync-$(date +%m-%d-%Y).log

#Give the date and time started
echo ----------LOG START---------- >>$LOG
echo This log started on `date +%H`:`date +%M`:`date +%S` >>$LOG
echo ----------LOG START---------- >>$LOG
echo >>$LOG

#Set the current time
STARTHOUR=10#`date +%H`
STARTMIN=10#`date +%M`
STARTSEC=10#`date +%S`

#============================================================================#
#Check drive mounts
#============================================================================#
#Test to see if the drive is mounted and available
#To add a drive, simply create a new line with an incremented variable
#If a drive is not mounted, exit for data safety reasons

MOUNT[0]=/mnt/hitachi
MOUNT[1]=/mnt/hitachi10

#Get the number of variables in the array
n=${#MOUNT
[*]}

#Loop through each drive mapping
for ((i=0;i<n;i++)); do
        if [ `mount | grep -c "${MOUNT[i]} "` -eq "1" ]; then
                echo "${MOUNT[i]} is mounted." >>$LOG
        else
                echo "WARNING: ${MOUNT[i]} is not mapped." >>$LOG
                echo "If this path is incorrect, please correct it." >>$LOG
                echo "Script is stopping to prevent damage."  >>$LOG
                echo >>$LOG
                exit 2
        fi
done

echo "All drives are mounted correctly." >>$LOG
echo >>$LOG

#============================================================================#
#End drive check
#============================================================================#

#============================================================================#
#This section is the daily rsync section
#============================================================================#

#Copy the files
rsync -av --delete /mnt/hitachi/backups /mnt/hitachi10 >>$LOG
rsync -av --delete /mnt/hitachi/rsync /mnt/hitachi10 >>$LOG
rsync -av --delete /mnt/hitachi/torrents /mnt/hitachi10 >>$LOG

#============================================================================#
#End daily rsync section
#============================================================================#






#============================================================================#
#This is the archive function, runs on Monday only
#============================================================================#

echo >>$LOG
echo ----------------------------- >>$LOG
echo Weekly archive start >>$LOG
echo ----------------------------- >>$LOG
echo >>$LOG

if [ `date +%u` -eq "1" ]; then
        echo Starting weekly archive >>$LOG

        #Set the backup source locations
        COREY_DESKTOP="/mnt/hitachi/rsync/corey/home"
        COREY_LAPTOP="/mnt/hitachi/rsync/corey/laptop"

        #Set the backup destination locations
        COREY_DESKTOP_GZIP="/mnt/hitachi/backups/Documents/Desktop/Documents-$(date +%Y-%m-%d).tar.gz"
        COREY_LAPTOP_GZIP="/mnt/hitachi/backups/Documents/Laptop/Laptop-$(date +%Y-%m-%d).tar.gz"

        #Tar the files
        tar -cf "$COREY_DESKTOP_GZIP" --exclude-from='/home/thideras/tarexclude' --use-compress-prog=pbzip2 "$COREY_DESKTOP" >>$LOG
        tar -cf "$COREY_LAPTOP_GZIP" --exclude-from='/home/thideras/tarexclude' --use-compress-prog=pbzip2 "$COREY_LAPTOP" >>$LOG

        echo Weekly archive complete! >>$LOG
else
        echo Weekly archive is not set to run today >>$LOG
fi

echo >>$LOG
echo ----------------------------- >>$LOG
echo Weekly archive end >>$LOG
echo ----------------------------- >>$LOG


#============================================================================#
#End weekly archive
#============================================================================#

#Get the current time in minutes and seconds, assign to variables
ENDHOUR=10#`date +%H`
ENDMIN=10#`date +%M`
ENDSEC=10#`date +%S`

#Compute the difference between the start and end time
HOUR=$(($ENDHOUR - $STARTHOUR))
MIN=$(($ENDMIN - $STARTMIN))
SEC=$(($ENDSEC - $STARTSEC))

#If the time goes under 0, correct the time
if [ $SEC -lt "0" ]
   then
        SEC=$(($SEC + 60))
        MIN=$(($MIN - 1))
fi

if [ $MIN -lt "0" ]
   then
        MIN=$(($MIN + 60))
        HOUR=$(($HOUR - 1))
fi

if [ $HOUR -lt "0" ]
   then
        HOUR=$(($HOUR + 24))
fi

#Add the end date and time
echo >>$LOG
echo -----------LOG END----------- >>$LOG
echo This ended on `date +%H`:`date +%M`:`date +%S` >>$LOG
echo Runtime: "$HOUR"h "$MIN"m "$SEC"s >>$LOG
echo -----------LOG END----------- >>$LOG

exit
Assuming that my documents don't get much larger, a year's worth of backup will be 1.4 TB.
 
I just had the rails arrive for my servers. Installed to the rack just a few minutes ago. IBM has the best rails. I have three pairs of them and they weight 50 lbs total. They are built like tanks and are incredibly smooth to pull out of the rack. With my Dell ones, I have to hold the rack so it doesn't move, but with these, they just glide. I can see why they are so expensive.

x3650_railed_1.JPG



x3650_railed_2.JPG



x3650_railed_3.JPG
 
I could give that to the name of the P3 that is offline. :shrug:
 
IBM has always made good, strong rails. HP has been decent, and Dell's new stuff is pretty good.
 
My rack rolls very easily. It isn't that they are difficult to pull out, but the IBM rails feel like I'm not moving anything at all. It literally just glides with no resistance.
 
I decided to get the iSCSI up and running tonight, so that is live. Each of the VM servers have ~115gb of local storage and 250gb of remote storage for a total of 365gb per server for VMs. To create a VM on the remote store, I simply have to save them in the "remote" folder, just under my normal VM storage.

This thing is pretty quick.
Code:
[root@fortran remote]# dd if=/dev/zero of=./test.iso bs=100M count=100
100+0 records in
100+0 records out
10485760000 bytes (10 GB) copied, 84.168 s, 125 MB/s
I think the number is a little skewed because it was doing around 110 constant, but that is still pretty good.
 
Hey Thid, interested how you'll be parting things out. Will you be doing it on ebay?

I've always opted to take a loss selling locally cheap vs part things out. If you make out good on those P3 servers, I'd be glad to hear it... Probably dig up some of my old equipment to do the same.

Was always a bit confusing to me. Sometimes some odd ball motherboard from the early 90s (seriously, nothing special) will be on there for like $200. I'd be interested to know your prices and success rate.


My rack rolls very easily. It isn't that they are difficult to pull out, but the IBM rails feel like I'm not moving anything at all. It literally just glides with no resistance.

Get some locking casters?
 
I think I might have some of those rails sitting at home - if you need more let me know. Killer might be the postage due to me being in Australia but if you're interested send me a PM and I'll get some photos etc..
 
Hey Thid, interested how you'll be parting things out. Will you be doing it on ebay?
They will be going on eBay, but I would sell them through the forums here if someone was interested. Obviously, we can't discuss that in the public forums. ;)

I've always opted to take a loss selling locally cheap vs part things out. If you make out good on those P3 servers, I'd be glad to hear it... Probably dig up some of my old equipment to do the same.
If there were people here to buy stuff locally, I'd do that. Please remember where I live. I'm guessing it would be hard to give them away.

Was always a bit confusing to me. Sometimes some odd ball motherboard from the early 90s (seriously, nothing special) will be on there for like $200. I'd be interested to know your prices and success rate.
Most of the parts that I'm going to sell are listed, but not many have sold. It doesn't matter if the motherboard is posted for $5000 if it doesn't ever sell. ;)

Get some locking casters?
Easier said than done, my friend. I'm not sure what the bottom looks like, but I'd be surprised if I could find caster that could fit without getting stuck and that I'd be able to reach when the rack is loaded.

I think I might have some of those rails sitting at home - if you need more let me know. Killer might be the postage due to me being in Australia but if you're interested send me a PM and I'll get some photos etc..
Is this a question for me? If so, send me a private message.
 
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