Yum Yum Yum
The advent of Scientific Linux x86_64 worker nodes (with Opteron CPUs) here at UW-HEP caused the need for a fair number of i386 shared library RPMs. That was the straw that broken the camel's back with respect to package management, so I finally set up a number of yum repositories to automate the installation of RPMs. It was a dirty complex job, but, like a lot of systems admistration work, it'll pay off big time in the long run.
New Login Servers: One becomes Three
Effective immediately, "login.hep.wisc.edu" is now a pool of three systems running Scientific Linux 3.0.4. They are all 1U "pizza boxes" with dual 2.4 GHz Xeon processors and 2 GB of memory.
Appropriate Use of the LoginXX Systems
The following message has been added to the login banner on the loginXX.hep.wisc.edu systems:
##################################################
Notice: do NOT use this system as a compute server.
Any CPU-intensive processes running on this machine
will be killed without warning or notification!
Please use Condor.
##################################################
New AFS File Server for Tier2
Our AFS "junk server" garlic has been overwhelmed with OSG jobs lately so I cranked out "rosemary.hep.wisc.edu"--the AFS file server for the CMS Tier2 Data Center project. It's a 1U dual 3.0 GHz Xeon, 4 GB mem with 4584 GB of AFS RAID file space via an Apple Xserve RAID. So we're migrating from a single CPU with 10/100 ethernet to two 33% faster CPUs with gigabit ethernet and from ~ 30 MBps disk read throughput to ~ 136 MBps disk read throughput. I think the thing will be a bit more speedy--even when not going down hill with a tail wind.
CDF Gatekeeper
I just installed Scientific Linux on "cdfgrid01.hep.wisc.edu", which I think will be used as a "Condor glide-in" head-node (not to be confused with head-cheese) so CDF can submit jobs to our cluster.
CMS Tier2 Servers
We recently received the batch of computers for the CMS Tier2 Server rack recently, along with a nice new rack and "7 TB" Apple Xserve RAID.
AFS Problems on Garlic
Our AFS "junk server" garlic has become unstable: twice this afternoon it stopped working--the RAID controller suddenly reported two drives missing.
As a result, we lost the root.atlas AFS volume. I started restoring it a few minutes ago.
Also, I've started moving the other volumes to other servers so we can take garlic out of service.
CDF Head Node
Looks like CDF is getting on the Condor bandwagon. I got a quote for a 2U dual 3 GHz Xeon system for a Wisconsin CDF "head node" today.
CMS Tier2 Server Order
The money had arrived for implmenting the University of Wisconsin CMS Tier2 Data Center. The initial need is for about 16 1U dual ~3 GHz Xeon computers with 4 GB of memory and RAID disk, and one Apple Xserve RAID for (afs) storage. I got a quote today, and I think the order will go out Real Soon Now.
CMS Tier2 Data Center Servers
We've scrounged a lot of hardware lately to cook up some servers for Tier2. They're serving up exotic stuff like dCache, pnfs, SRM and PHeDex. I have no idea what that's all about--I just provide the servers.
