Clarkson Open Source Institute
MP251 (1 Credits)
This semester I am enrolled in MP251 for one credit.
Roles & Responsibilities in the Lab
- Network Administrator
- Member of the CS Labs Administrative Board
Objectives for the Semester
- Fulfill my roles
- Set up one of the old ITL machines as a print server
- Finish the networking in the labs
- Tweak the internal network settings
- General lab maintenance and cleaning
- Fix the networking on the Blade Center
- Get the Blade Center on the internal network (Currently only on Clarkson and Server Room)
Mid Semester Accomplishments
Cleanup
- Moved all old ITL computers in COSI down to old VR lab
- Moved 3rd COSI rack from server room down to old VR lab to hold the old ITL computers
- Moved misc. equipment not needed in lab and server room down to old VR lab
- General cleanup
- Rearranged tables for new VR/COSI computers
Setup, Maintainance, and Misc. Other Things
- Set up new VR/COSI computers
- Reconfigured the internal lab network
- Changed the ports link aggregation is set to use
- Changed a few of the settings for multicasting
- Disabled Spanning Tree (Enabled faster DHCP lease)
- Wired the patch panel for all the computers in all three labs by myself
- Organized and helped run networking for all the computers from the ports on the wall to the computers
- Helped move righteous (COSI server) onto a smaller RAID unit
- Helped place order and get specs for new VR computers and new VR/COSI computers
- Acquired crux for COSI
- Helped maintain COSI servers and services
- Communicated with Physical Plant about AC problems in early May
- Worked on the Unisys server some (Got bottom half powered on and working)
- Ghosted the labs numerous times
End of Semester Summary
This semester I performed general lab maintenance stuff in COSI. I didn't manage to complete all of my objectives for the semester. Objectives that remain are the print server, finishing the lab networking, continuing to tweak the internal network, and to get the Blade Center on the internal network. Jeff and I worked on the print server but due to lack of time after Thanksgiving break it will be finished next semester. We will also be finishing the networking next semester now that we have the network switch to do so.
One objective that I did accomplish was fixing the networking on the blade center with the help of Zach and Todd. The major problem was that we were unable to get to the management modules web interface. We discovered that it was actually defaulting to the static IP that it gets from the factory. My best guess for why this was happening was due to the management module looking for an IP address before the module itself had initialized the network on the blade center which is what it was plugged into for its own network connection. After fixing this and setting the blade center to its static IP (10.0.1.3), we attempted to gain access to the management of each of network switches on the blade center; however, we were unable to get pass the username and password prompt. The plan is to try again next semester when Cyrus is back since he is the one who set the username and password and if we can't figure it out we might be able to reset the switches and reconfigure them correctly with his help.
My major project for semester actually ended up being setting up Nagios. Nagios is an Open Source host, service and network monitoring program. I figured it would be useful so that we know when there are issues with servers in the labs without someone discovering it by trying to use a service we provide. I also figured it would be good at identifying how much resources to give to each of Xen images since some might need more or less than what we currently allocate to them. So far I have made some decent progress. I made a bit of progress earlier in the semester but was delayed until the last 2-3 weeks due to waiting on a new 64-bit Xen image to run Nagios on. Presently we are running the latest Nagios beta and it is monitoring a few of our production machines and a few of the Xen images. Over break I plan to get it monitoring the rest of the production machines, all of the Xen images, and some of the networking hardware in the labs if possible. I also plan to set up contact groups so that the correct people get notified when things go down.
One of my other projects this semester was a website for the Applied CS Labs homepage which has never had a homepage. After numerous hours spent on a design which is a little bit different than normal I finally was able to produce a site that is worth showing to represent the labs. The site can be found at http://www.clarkson.edu/projects/cslabs/.
Documention Produced/Modified this Semester
- Nagios Setup Instructions~ Full instructions on how to set up Nagios for the labs.
- Setup a Remote Linux Server to be Monitored~ Instructions on how to set up a remote linux host to be monitored by Nagios.
- Nagios Xen Image Description~ Added more to the description of the Nagios Xen Image
- List of Static IPs~ I kept track of the labs Static IPs which was tough sometimes when people just grab them.
- Network Port Scan~ To check for ports that should not be opened.
- Network Setup~Added information to make sure the network setup description was accurate and up to date.
- Network Port Layout~ After Ryan created it for me, I verifed the information I gave him and updated it as needed and added more information like port info..
Plans for Next Semester
- Finish Nagios setup and maintain it.
- Finish lab networking.
- Run more networking over to the COSI side of the server room for numerous purposes
- Finish print server.
- Blade Center on internal network if possible.
- PXE Boot Server if I have time.
- Continue learning about Linux and virtualization.
- More ways to integrate Windows and Linux.
- Keep the CS Labs site up-to-date and add some more of the pictures that I have taken of the labs.