This semseter I took on a greater role in the COSI labs than in previous semesters. Here are the things I participated in this semester.
Late last semester, there was talk of changing up the COSI lab and the server room, with the goal of making the lab a nicer place to work and removing crufty machinery and furniture. In the beginning of this semester, the COSI directors and I took a proactive stance towards this project. We prepared a plan (thanks to Christian Mesh for drafting it in sketchup), acquired the necessary materials, and implemented our design. We relied on input from lab members and supervisors when creating this plan, and the final result was a good compromise between everyone's needs.
A great deal of legacy equipment and two undesirable pieces of furniture were moved out of the labs and into cold storage. All of it was documented on the the COSI wiki.
Along with the reorganization, lots of cleaning was performed in order to make the labs more presentable. There is now a definite kitchen area (hidden from immediate view, since it is the first to get dirty), a definite work area, and also desks off in the back (the "command center") where project machines can be left and people who wish to isolate themselves can work.
We also set up an area for the VR lab, and put two projector machines (one for the VR lab, one for COSI lightning talks) on a KVM so that it will be easier to hold classes and present at open house.
After seeing the labs in use after the reorganization, it's clear that it was a success. The labs are cleaner and more pleasant to work in, and I personally feel that getting so many people involved in a lab-wide project enhanced the feeling of camaraderie in the labs.
I have maintained the COSI lab build for some time now, and after consulting with other COSI members, it was clear that the Ubuntu lab build no longer suited most of us. We desired a less user-friendly lab build, one that would provide a challenge for members who may only be used to Ubuntu. I therefore created a new lab build based on Gentoo linux.
Since Gentoo requires more maintenance than Ubuntu, I was forced to adopt a weekly release cycle that has so far proven effective. Users' needs are addressed more quickly than before. I have also installed and currently support several window managers, so that users can try some alternatives. Users are of course also welcome to use a framebuffer terminal.
The legacy Ubuntu lab build will still be maintained (albeit with a much slower release cycle) for the VR-COSI machines we set up for those uncomfortable working on Gentoo.
Last semester, my wiki page regarding running SPICE on Ubuntu was very popular, following a link Todd Deshane posted to a KVM mailing list. I plan to keep it up to date with both SPICE and Ubuntu releases.
I maintain Storage, the COSI storage server. I was responsible for setting it up, and continue to be responsible for its maintenance. Storage maintenance will pass to Tim Kopp at the end of this semester.
I also maintain COSIwulf, a beowulf cluster running on the blade center machines. This semseter, I wrote a few scripts to administer it. It is currently running Folding@Home, a distributed comuting project, as well as acting as a set of Luxrender nodes.
I help keep the Labs' DNS servers up to date by filling requests for new entries.
I have also acted as a general go-to person to get things done in the server room. For example, I am setting up web space for Dr. Luttman to host some video content. I also respond to network configuration and new VM requests.
I am working with Dr. Wilke in the CU Psychology department to write software to track research credits earned by students enrolled in PY151. This is an ongoing project, and is currently undergoing refactoring for the sake of any student that wants to maintain it after I leave Clarkson. It has become much more robust as I have become more competent and mature as a PHP programmer. A goal I have in this project is to expose Clarkson faculty to the fact that COSI exists and that some members might want to take on projects in order to learn new things.
Current source code is available in SVN: http://svn.cslabs.clarkson.edu/svn/platekme/points2