[ale] linux infrastructure advice, opinions, suggestions

[Jeff Hubbs]

On Thu, 2004-06-17 at 19:45, Jay wrote:
> What is distcc?  I'm not familiar with that...distributed computing 
> cluster?   

Distcc is a loosely coupled clustering mechanism specifically for
aggregating computing power for compiles.  It is mentioned in the Gentoo
Installation Handbook.

> And how is gentoo on a fairly new Linux user?  

Rough!  But, the things you'll learn!  Gentoo is a "metadistribution"
based on a source code control model called Portage, which was adapted
from the BSD ports system.  I think it's worth doing, even for a
newbie.  

> I've heard 
> good things, but I'm a relative newcomer to Linux.We've got a bunch of 
> old PIII machines floating around, since the University replaces all the 
> desktops after 3 years, and they are in fact running a linux cluster for 
> the physics department, which is great, and I'm hoping to seize some of 
> the other free machines for my linux lab project. 

Grab as many as you can!  Whereas you can do Gentoo installs working
entirely from source, almost entirely from pre-built binaries, or
somewhere in between, a lot of the day-to-day updating and adding of
software will involve compiles.  A distcc farm set up as a standing
resource wouldn't be a bad thing to have around.  I deal with Gentoo so
much here at the house that I've got one 1GHz T-bird doing distcc duty
and I plan to have some more machines to throw onto the hamster wheel in
the near future.

> What sorts of things with file serving might we be able to make good use 
> of at the school?  The only thing I can think of that we use file 
> serving for currently is the student storage drives.  Any other things 
> you can think of that would be really cool or useful to serve to the 
> general student population?  I'd love to come up with anything that we 
> could do to prove how valuable this could be...my boss did exactly that 
> with the email spam filters, by setting up two PIII machines to do the 
> job, then telling them he needed to buy real servers, or take his 
> computers back home with him and lose the spam blocking they were all
> enjoying...

The school's library probably has a number of CD-ROM-based things lying
around that people can only use by taking hold of the platter and
stuffing it into a CD-ROM drive, one machine and user at a time.  If the
licensing permits, you can copy those to drive space and share them
out.  There may be little videos and stuff.  I used to do this kind of
stuff all the time when I've run file servers in an organization.  Oh,
and don't forget to serve up Linux distributions!

> 
> I'm also thinking of some ways we might be able to use Linux to help 
> mitigate the virus outbreaks and such on campus.  We get hit pretty hard 
> by sasser/blaster/welchia and so forth due to stupid computer users, and 
> I was thinking maybe we can find a way to use Linux to help with that?  
> Just an idea, not even fully formed, I'm hoping someone can suggest some 
> more specifics that might help shape it into something useful.
> 
> -Jay
> 
> Jeff Hubbs wrote:
> 
> >Supplanting MS stuff at the infrastructure level is one of the more
> >straightforward paths you can take - DHCP, firewall, file serving, etc. 
> >I am a big fan of file serving as a way to demonstrate just how much
> >power you can wield with a junker box.  
> >
> >Make sure people understand that there is not only no license cost
> >associated with the server but that there is no client access license
> >cost either.
> >
> >You can try dropping some desktop Linux machines here and there.  If
> >your Exchange server is set up to handle it, you can use Evolution as
> >your Exchange e-mail client, and of course there's OpenOffice and
> >Mozilla.  
> >
> >If you have access to a fairly large number of old desktop machines
> >(i.e., PII/PIII), set up a distcc compile farm out of them for doing
> >Gentoo installs.
> >
> >- Jeff
> >
> >
> >
> >On Thu, 2004-06-17 at 14:00, Jay wrote:
> >  
> >
> >>I work as a student worker for the systems admin of my school, and part 
> >>of my job with him is to sort of research various ways we can use linux 
> >>to leverage the schools' tech infrastructure and bolster the system.  
> >>Currently the school is MSed to death, and I and my boss are two of 
> >>maybe four or five real linux-nuts at the school.  He wants to get more 
> >>linux use on campus, since a large percentage of the servers are windows 
> >>and the rest are mostly HP Unix.  For my part, I am working on putting a 
> >>linux lab on campus that all students are allowed access to, and where I 
> >>can leave distros of linux on CD for people to borrow/take/copy.  I also 
> >>would like to get us set up as an ftp mirror for linux.  My second day 
> >>on the job I was able to set up an ftp server serving linux isos, but 
> >>it's only a (very old) desktop PC with linux on it, and I'd really like 
> >>to see something more useful that can handle downloads from a lot more 
> >>people. 
> >>
> >>For your own uses, feel free to download from it at 
> >>ftp://metafero.elon.edu/  and if you have some further suggestions for 
> >>distros you'd like me to add, contact me at jay at elon.edu and I'll see 
> >>what I can do!
> >>
> >>So far, we've set up spam filters using two linux servers, but we'd like 
> >>to find some more ways to take advantage of linux.  The only exception 
> >>is e-mail.  There is absolutely no chance we would ever move off of MS 
> >>Exchange Server for e-mail.  We would like to get linux running to do 
> >>things like automate mailing list creation, possibly run our Blackboard 
> >>server, etc.  So, what I am looking for is some advice and suggestions 
> >>you all have on cool things and useful things we can do with linux.  
> >>Give me some application ideas, such as mailman for listserv, etc.  
> >>Anything you want to throw at me, you've probably all got at least one 
> >>suggestion that's worth hearing. 
> >>
> >>While I'm on topic, does anyone know how well you can interface with a 
> >>Net App storage device for use with apache (for student webspace, 
> >>because I would love to get this school off of windows server for at 
> >>least the student web server).  Additionally, does anyone know any 
> >>caveats or helpful advice in implementing mailman with our Exchange server?
> >>
> >>Thanks!
> >>
> >>-Jay
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> >>    
> >>
> >
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> >  
> >
> 
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