22 Dec
2000
22 Dec
'00
5:22 p.m.
Fellow CLASSICCMP'ers and NetBSD Port-VAX'ers,
I've reached the point where I need to make some decisions, and I would
appreciate some insights from those who have obviously been computing since
before I figured out how to pull apart my first alarm clock. ;-)
I'm getting ready to create my own 'server farm' to place the
bluefeathertech.com domain on. My ultimate goal is to be dependent on Qwest
(or whoever my ISP ends up being in the long run) only for:
--The DSL line
--DNS support
--Usenet (and maybe not even that if I choose to set up a caching news
server locally).
I want to take responsibility for everything else, including:
--Two mail servers (primary and backup)
--A web server (already up and running since last summer)
--An FTP system that can do double-duty as a local caching Usenet server
with a LIMITED (less than 50) newsgroups (I don't have a terabyte storage
array). ;-)
--A "maintenance" server that can be dedicated to netbooting other
systems, if need be, and that will also serve as a central recording point
for logging from the other machines.
Everything will run a version of NetBSD as its OS. This is not negotiable.
With all this in mind, and considering I have numerous retired systems
available, I'm looking for suggestions on which platform to use for which
purpose. Here is what I have active now:
SPARC IPC (Local DNS, intranet only).
SPARCClassic, 32MB RAM, 1 gig disk -- Web server.
Here are the machines I have available that have yet to be put to use.
--SPARC IPX with the Weitek PowerSPARC upgrade CPU, 32MB RAM.
--At least one, possibly two more SPARCClassics, 32MB RAM each (both under
consideration for mail servers).
--NEC RISCServer 2200, dual CPUs, 64MB RAM (Under consideration for taking
over as web server at a future point).
--Two MicroVAX 3's, 32MB RAM each.
--DEC 3000/600 Alpha system, 128MB RAM (under consideration as a future
workstation).
--VAXServer 3100, 16MB RAM (can possibly go to 24).
--VAXStation 3100/M38, 16MB RAM (can possibly go to 24).
--ApplicationDEC dual-CPU 486 system, 16MB RAM.
--DEC 5000/200 MIPS box, RAM unknown.
--Motorola MVME147 tower system, RAM unknown (at least 8, possibly 16MB),
under consideration for the "maintenance" node mentioned earlier.
So..... which machine gets to do what? Any thoughts? I have enough SCSI
disks to give all the machines a minimum storage space of between 520MB-1
gig. I do have one 9-gig Seagate that I'm reserving for the FTP/Usenet box.
Thanks in advance.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho, Blue Feather Technologies
http://www.bluefeathertech.com // E-mail: kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com
Amateur Radio: WD6EOS since Dec. '77 (Extra class as of June-2K)
"I'll get a life when someone demonstrates to me that it would be
superior to what I have now..." (Gym Z. Quirk, aka Taki Kogoma).
22 Dec
22 Dec
7:12 p.m.
At 08:22 PM 12/22/00 -0800, you wrote:
I'm getting ready to create my own
'server farm' to place the
bluefeathertech.com domain on.
Excellent!
My ultimate goal is to be dependent on Qwest
(or whoever my ISP ends up being in the long run) only for:
--The DSL line
--DNS support
--Usenet (and maybe not even that if I choose to set up a caching
news
server locally).
Personally if I were you I'd do my own DNS as well, especially if you're
going to be connected 24 x 7. So what you're doing is creating your own
"POP" (Point of Presence)
--Two mail servers (primary and backup)
--A web server (already up and running since last summer)
--An FTP system that can do double-duty as a local caching Usenet
server
with a LIMITED (less than 50) newsgroups (I don't have a terabyte storage
array). ;-)
--A "maintenance" server that can be dedicated to netbooting other
systems, if need be, and that will also serve as a central recording point
for logging from the other machines.
Everything will run a version of NetBSD as its OS. This is not
negotiable.
So design your network from the cloud out. Start with your backbone feed,
(this to your ISP) then, depending on your address space, fork your network
into the "public" network and the "private" network. Set up firewalls
between the two.
Generally I'd set up one machine as the web server, two as mail servers
(also doing double duty as DNS servers), and one as the FTP/News server. (5
machines total). Then use a couple of machines to serve disk pages to the
primary machines for extended storage.
Now firewall to your private network and have the firewall be locked tight.
If you want to set up a VPN tunnel point this machine can do that, PPTP
works with WinBlows laptops but setting up an IPSEC tunnel from your laptop
running NetBSD to the private network is much more fun.
On the "inside" you can have a file server with tape backup and of course
your workstation(s).
I've been hacking on my DSSI driver for NetBSD and was reminded of my Sun
days where I had a bunch of file servers serving up the source code, my
development machine, and the machine that I was putting kernels on and
rebooting and debugging. I've created that at home basically 10 years
later. Very weird when it comes right down to it.
--Chuck
8:35 p.m.
Personally if I were you I'd do my own DNS as well,
especially if you're
going to be connected 24 x 7. So what you're doing is creating your own
"POP" (Point of Presence)
I've got to agree here, while it's unlikely your ISP's DNS will fail,
having your own should allow for faster access I would think. OTOH, who am
I to talk. I've got web, FTP and mail going, but have been to lazy to
setup DNS. But then I lean towards one mondo Alpha running VMS for most of
my stuff (actually most of the exterior stuff is on one Alpha running
OpenBSD).
I see you've not mentioned a firewall, are you going to have all this
sitting naked on the internet? I *STRONGLY* recommend a Firewall running
OpenBSD!!!!!!!!!! Look at it this way, I'm a VMS type, not a BSD type, and
my firewall runs OpenBSD.
Zane
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
23 Dec
23 Dec
6:09 a.m.
At 23:35 22-12-2000 -0800, you wrote:
<snip>
I see you've not mentioned a firewall, are you
going to have all this
sitting naked on the internet? I *STRONGLY* recommend a Firewall running
OpenBSD!!!!!!!!!! Look at it this way, I'm a VMS type, not a BSD type, and
my firewall runs OpenBSD.
Permit me to clarify. I already have a very good hardware firewall/router
in place (Zyxel Prestige 312).
Thanks.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho, Blue Feather Technologies
http://www.bluefeathertech.com // E-mail: kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com
Amateur Radio: WD6EOS since Dec. '77 (Extra class as of June-2K)
"I'll get a life when someone demonstrates to me that it would be
superior to what I have now..." (Gym Z. Quirk, aka Taki Kogoma).
22 Dec
22 Dec
9:15 p.m.
It was thus said that the Great Bruce Lane once stated:
I'm getting ready to create my own 'server farm' to place the
bluefeathertech.com domain on. My ultimate goal is to be dependent on Qwest
(or whoever my ISP ends up being in the long run) only for:
I would recomend Velotel (http://www.velotel.com/) for the ISP portion.
For $65/month (high end, could be less) I get DSL, 5 static IP addresses,
and no restrictions on OS or services I can run from my network and their
customer service is outstanding (so far, I don't think I've talked to the
same person twice, but each person knew what I was talking about (and had
even heard of ISDN and the problems I would face in switching over from ISDN
to DSL in Bell South territory) and they keep good customer notes.
--The DSL line
--DNS support
Run your own. Velotel will even allow you to handle the reverse look ups
of your IP addresses (easy enough to set up on both sides). God, I sound
like a commercial for Velotel 8-)
Or better yet, arrange to use other DNS servers for your domain (register
those as authoritative name servers for your domain) and have them slave to
you. That way, you cut down on DNS traffic through your network, yet it's
easy to update the information on your side.
It's what I do for my own domain of conman.org.
I want to take responsibility for everything else,
including:
--Two mail servers (primary and backup)
You only really need one, the backup will simply queue the mail until the
primary is back up. If you are really anal about getting email, arrange to
have a backup mail server on another network. Again, this is something I've
done for my own domain (heck, my web server (a 486SX-33 with a 17G harddrive
8-) is colocated on a separate network from my primary DNS servers and
backup email servers, which are separate from my home network. If you want
advice on setting any of this up, or more details about my network set up,
don't hesitate to ask me 8-)
-spc (Sounds like a fun project)
10:29 p.m.
With all this in mind, and considering I have numerous
retired systems
available, I'm looking for suggestions on which platform to use for which
purpose. Here is what I have active now:
SPARC IPC (Local DNS, intranet only).
SPARCClassic, 32MB RAM, 1 gig disk -- Web server.
Here are the machines I have available that have yet to be put to use.
--SPARC IPX with the Weitek PowerSPARC upgrade CPU, 32MB RAM.
--At least one, possibly two more SPARCClassics, 32MB RAM each (both under
consideration for mail servers).
--NEC RISCServer 2200, dual CPUs, 64MB RAM (Under consideration for taking
over as web server at a future point).
--Two MicroVAX 3's, 32MB RAM each.
--DEC 3000/600 Alpha system, 128MB RAM (under consideration as a future
workstation).
--VAXServer 3100, 16MB RAM (can possibly go to 24).
--VAXStation 3100/M38, 16MB RAM (can possibly go to 24).
--ApplicationDEC dual-CPU 486 system, 16MB RAM.
--DEC 5000/200 MIPS box, RAM unknown.
--Motorola MVME147 tower system, RAM unknown (at least 8, possibly 16MB),
under consideration for the "maintenance" node mentioned earlier.
I just hope that electricity is cheap in you area. ;-)
Just my 2 Watts.
P-M
23 Dec
23 Dec
7:03 a.m.
On Fri, Dec 22, 2000 at 08:22:35PM -0800, Bruce Lane wrote:
Fellow CLASSICCMP'ers and NetBSD
Port-VAX'ers,
I've reached the point where I need to make some decisions, and I would
appreciate some insights from those who have obviously been computing since
before I figured out how to pull apart my first alarm clock. ;-)
I'm getting ready to create my own 'server farm' to place the
bluefeathertech.com domain on. My ultimate goal is to be dependent on Qwest
(or whoever my ISP ends up being in the long run) only for:
--The DSL line
--DNS support
--Usenet (and maybe not even that if I choose to set up a caching news
server locally).
I want to take responsibility for everything else, including:
--Two mail servers (primary and backup)
--A web server (already up and running since last summer)
--An FTP system that can do double-duty as a local caching Usenet server
with a LIMITED (less than 50) newsgroups (I don't have a terabyte storage
array). ;-)
--A "maintenance" server that can be dedicated to netbooting other
systems, if need be, and that will also serve as a central recording point
for logging from the other machines.
Everything will run a version of NetBSD as its OS. This is not negotiable.
With all this in mind, and considering I have numerous retired systems
available, I'm looking for suggestions on which platform to use for which
purpose. Here is what I have active now:
SPARC IPC (Local DNS, intranet only).
SPARCClassic, 32MB RAM, 1 gig disk -- Web server.
Here are the machines I have available that have yet to be put to use.
--SPARC IPX with the Weitek PowerSPARC upgrade CPU, 32MB RAM.
--At least one, possibly two more SPARCClassics, 32MB RAM each (both under
consideration for mail servers).
--NEC RISCServer 2200, dual CPUs, 64MB RAM (Under consideration for taking
over as web server at a future point).
--Two MicroVAX 3's, 32MB RAM each.
--DEC 3000/600 Alpha system, 128MB RAM (under consideration as a future
workstation).
--VAXServer 3100, 16MB RAM (can possibly go to 24).
--VAXStation 3100/M38, 16MB RAM (can possibly go to 24).
--ApplicationDEC dual-CPU 486 system, 16MB RAM.
--DEC 5000/200 MIPS box, RAM unknown.
--Motorola MVME147 tower system, RAM unknown (at least 8, possibly 16MB),
under consideration for the "maintenance" node mentioned earlier.
So..... which machine gets to do what? Any thoughts? I have enough SCSI
disks to give all the machines a minimum storage space of between 520MB-1
gig. I do have one 9-gig Seagate that I'm reserving for the FTP/Usenet box.
This mostly depends on the load on the mail, www and ftp servers.
When I ran some tests, a 486dx33 with a slow SCSI disk was able to deliver
3000 mail in an hour (this was with 1.3.x, I'd expect better perfs with 1.5).
So I guess the 2 classic could be valuable mail server if you don't need to
get/send more than a few hundred mails per hours (for the backup, and IPC
or even the vaxserver would be enouth).
I have a p100 with 32MB RAM, good UW scsi disks and a 100Mbs ethernet card as
web/ftp server (serving, amongs others, www2/ftp2.fr.netbsd.org).
pwebstat reported loads as higth as 11000 requests per hour (I have no
cgi running, though). Again this depends on what load you expect for the
www server, but the classic can do the job.
--
Manuel Bouyer, LIP6, Universite Paris VI. Manuel.Bouyer(a)lip6.fr
--
8589
days inactive
8590
days old
6 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
bouyer＠antioche.lip6.fr -
cmcmanis＠mcmanis.com -
healyzh＠aracnet.com -
kyrrin＠bluefeathertech.com -
Pierre-Michel.Ricordel＠imag.fr -
spc＠conman.org