Just want to chime in here for a moment and answer some questions - sorry if I haven't fully/properly parsed everything.

The name of the server will indeed be "oscar."

We will definitely keep the old server (thumper), which with all its many drive spindles is perfect for taking over the functionality of our older file server ptolemy (which in turn we'll probably decommission since it is certainly flaky).

For this new server we don't need bigger drives as much as spindles. Even then we're not sure if we just want to throw more spindles into one giant database RAID which may only serve to increase our failure vulnerability. Nevertheless, the donation totals increased over the weekend so discussions continue about what to spend this extra money on. Just get more drives and make a separate RAID? Will a second drive controller actually help? Should we get a couple solid state drives for increased i/o on less critical database functions (or make it swap space)?

In any case, we're pretty much good to go on this server once we decide if and how to spend this unexpected extra cash. We could always keep the server as is, maybe with an extended warranty, and then use the surplus thousands of dollars to go towards new server #2 (new web server? new mysql database server? who knows?) or towards another 12 drives to fill the empty bays if it turns out we do need them right away.

And, of course: thank you all, even if you weren't able to donate anything this time around!

- Matt

You ARE going to upgrade the processors, yes?

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A kitty keeps loneliness away.
More meowing, less hissing. I speak meow, do you?

Have made friends in this life.
Most were cats.

Regarding upgrading processors: that's also on the discussion table, but really our main bottlenecks by far is memory and disk. The system processor specs are double what our current science database has, and should be more than adequate. However, Jeff pointed out getting more physical processors might result in a different motherboard with more memory slots (and therefore higher memory ceilings if we populate those slots), so there's that positive side effect.

- Matt

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-- BOINC/SETI@home network/web/science/development person
-- "Any idiot can have a good idea. What is hard is to do it." - Jeanne-Claude

Regarding upgrading processors: that's also on the discussion table, but really our main bottlenecks by far is memory and disk. The system processor specs are double what our current science database has, and should be more than adequate. However, Jeff pointed out getting more physical processors might result in a different motherboard with more memory slots (and therefore higher memory ceilings if we populate those slots), so there's that positive side effect.

- Matt

It also allows the RAM that you get to run at full speed, instead of being limited by the processor's bus.

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A kitty keeps loneliness away.
More meowing, less hissing. I speak meow, do you?

Have made friends in this life.
Most were cats.

Mark, let the guys catch their breath and think about this. I think we overwhelmed them. I'm sure the guys with the boots on the ground will have a better picture of what they need than us sitting out here in the peanut gallery.
:-)


I'm excited too but they need some time!

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PROUD MEMBER OF Team Starfire World BOINC

Mark, let the guys catch their breath and think about this. I think we overwhelmed them. I'm sure the guys with the boots on the ground will have a better picture of what they need than us sitting out here in the peanut gallery.
:-)


I'm excited too but they need some time!

I know......the kitties get a bit rambunctious sometimes.....

I put a lotta time into the fund drive, and I just wanna see it happen now.

Like RIGHT now......LOL.

I am sure that they will do whatever is best for the project overall, regardless of my own zeal.

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A kitty keeps loneliness away.
More meowing, less hissing. I speak meow, do you?

Have made friends in this life.
Most were cats.

Why do I get a picture of you knocking over the Christmas tree fighting to get at the presents? :-) You've done more than your part now let them do theirs!!
(and let us know as soon as possible) Remember...WE WANT PICTURES!!!

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PROUD MEMBER OF Team Starfire World BOINC

Why do I get a picture of you knocking over the Christmas tree fighting to get at the presents? :-) You've done more than your part now let them do theirs!!
(and let us know as soon as possible) Remember...WE WANT PICTURES!!!

Because it's true.....LOL.
Even when the presents are meant for somebody else.

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A kitty keeps loneliness away.
More meowing, less hissing. I speak meow, do you?

Have made friends in this life.
Most were cats.

Ok. We have the funds (sorry I couldn't donate anything at the moment, hoping to change that on pay day), we have the name.

How long will it take to finalise the order, get the system installed, and finally up and running?

Not trying to rush things at all, but curious because I have no experience of server systems. I'm pretty much ok on desktops, but have never had the chance to configure or set up a server for a large project. The last one I tried to do was back in 1993, using a version of Netware.

It was an unmitigated disaster, as I wasn't told what it would be used for or how, so I installed it blind, which was really no help to anyone. I'm sure the first thing done when it was installed was that it was blanked and started again.

So, if anyone can give a rough idea on the lead times of my questions above?

Giz.

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A proud GPU User Server Donor!

I can be a bit slow at times. I am correct in assuming that this new server will be able to handle nitpicker functions as well as the science database?

And opinion from what I have seen.. Thumper could use a week off with some TLC before being re-assigned.

And yes we are over eager. But we do hope this helps staff relax a bit too in the long term.

Now fund raisers can go back hopefully to actually paying staff for a bit.

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Janice

All this fun and they want paid too???? :-)

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PROUD MEMBER OF Team Starfire World BOINC

Thanks for the updates Jeff and Matt,

Any chance of bringing Seti Beta's upload server online?, no uploads have gone through since the AC outage.

Claggy

Err, small typo on the thread name... I think you meant "Donation"... Have a nice day! :-)

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for the safety of all the datas of the project , have you think of using some OS that can use the ZETTA FILE SYSTEM ( ZFS ),
this FS has some very nice fonctions like
auto repair like ECC in memory bank,
some raid5/6-like with out the need of hardware
infinite snapshot,
and it can't be posibble to reache it's limits

the os that can use it directly are : open solaris , freebsd
and indirectly linux via the project FUSE ( file system on userland )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS
http://zfs-fuse.net/
http://zfsonlinux.org/


(sorry for bad english it's not my natural language ;) )

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Howdy Matt...Can We get a new update?

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I Desire Peace and Justice, Jim Scott (Mod-Ret.)

Except for a couple of minor details, we have decided on the new science database machine. We again want to thank the donors very much for making this purchase possible!

Awesome sounding machine... Hopefully it will end up in a server closet that has a working air conditioning system. [grin!]

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Sic semper mortem tyrannis.
Marc Lewis
Sursum Corda!

It would also be nice if you all posted some pics of the progress of the new server being installed. Before during and after. Kinda like you did when you moved / overhauled the server closet awhile back.

Just my $0.02.

Thanks,
-W

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Eric promised us Pics and he is a man of his words.

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Pluto will always be a planet to me.

Seti Ambassador

The machine we are getting is around $13K with tax and shipping.

Tax? You're a university / government agency. You shouldn't have to pay tax. I'm not sure on the law in California but I didn't think that any state in the US charged tax on purchases for a university.

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yes, sales tax. Only exception is if purchased for resale.

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Janice

Curious as to what the final specs on Oscar were as ordered..........

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A kitty keeps loneliness away.
More meowing, less hissing. I speak meow, do you?

Have made friends in this life.
Most were cats.