Next week we expect to begin setup of the new systems room in 328C.
The first machines installed will be the 20 new Dells for porcupine.
The detour group has ordered 6 more Dells. The existing clusters in 328A,
used by spin/gms/porc/detour/webcache/smt will also move into 328C.
I anticipate other assorted piles of PCs around the dept will also wind
up in the new room.
My proposal includes that existing hosts going into 328C will have
their IP address and hostname changed.
Identifying it all
------------------
Considering the large quantity of computers that will be in the new
room, I am proposing a plan to organize things. The objective is to
have well known, simple way for users and administrators to
identify everything.
Machines currently get assigned to projects and users by me and everyone just
knows what they can use. And the admins try to remember the entire list
of who uses what.
User names in the .sys subdomain
--------------------------------
I propose to manage cluster assignment with a new .sys subdomain in the
department DNS name space. Clusters assigned to groups and users will
use their login or project name, eg.
spin1.sys to spin12.sys
mef1.sys to mef4.sys
Unassigned generic cycle servers would become OSx.sys, eg.
linux1.sys, fbsd1.sys, dunix1.sys
Admin names and IP assignment
-----------------------------
At the wiring level, entropy has set in on the existing rack.
Machines, X10 plugs, hub ports, serial ports, cybex ports, myri ports,
are no longer in numerical order. This makes equipment tracking tough and
identifying cables a huge pain. Also we have moved hostname stickers
as hardware has been upgraded.
There will be hundreds of cables in the new room. Keeping things
arranged in numerical order will make it all simple and predictable.
The new room will be served by the new 128.95.219/24 subnet. The top half of
that address block is mine to assign to the hosts that go into the array.
Existing hosts going in there will have their IP address and hostname changed.
We have promised lab to keep them informed about the hosts in 328C
so their host-rec inventory is correct. If C&C or an outside
organization, say MCI, complains about a host being a bad netizen, the
news goes to lab and they need to be able to respond to the problem.
To assure this, lab will be managing the primary DNS entries for every host.
I propose to assign IP numbers by position in the rack and set the
authoritative hostname to be the IP number. The first host on the rack
will be sys128.cs.washington.edu with IP 128.95.219.128.
When I assign that host to a cluster, I will update the sys subdomain so
CNAME porc1.sys.cs.washington.edu points to sys128.cs.washington.edu.
The intent is that equipment WILL NOT MOVE. However...
removals - Hosts removed from the rack will lose their 219 IP
address and hostname. Lab does not plan to have wide access
to the 219 subnet, so the IP change is inevitable.
additions - Hosts moved into the room will be assigned an IP
based on the next slot in the rack they fill. Lab will
be informed of the new host in the usual manner
(/usr/local/bin/newhost) including the new IP addr and hostname.
I will update the sys DNS table to assign the host to
its cluster with a CNAME alias.
moves - There will be no moves. OK, moves will be a removal and
an addition.
Please send me any feedback. This will go into effect as soon as next week.