FreeSide On The Web

Part of Reboot! 2008 was to get some form of server monitoring installed and online, so we can work out whats what, rather than just poking in the dark.

So nearly, 2 months later, this is really only just starting to be properly implemented.

Phoenix made a start a couple of weeks ago, but then didnt have chance to finish it.

Putting a new server on nagios is certainly a treck round the houses (unfortunately, we cant just do a basic apt-get install nrpe nagiosplugins :()

So, after phoenix finally giving me some basic instructions on how to setup a box for monitoring, and also a link to the proper manual, i gave it a go

And it took ages! Loads of commands to enter, 2 guides to partially follow - Not Fun!

The logical answer, was therefore, to write a basic bash install script (to at least semi-automate the process). A bit of fiddling, and combining the 2 guides, has brought about a shell script that works

It is listed at http://wiki.freeside.co.uk/index.php/Admin:Nagios_Plugin_Install

So, copy and paste that into a script on the server, make it executable, and run it

Currently, unless something goes wrong, you’ll only need to enter 2 bits of detail, 1, being Y to accept the extra apt-get package installs, and the nagios user password (enter it twice)

It will then do all the client side configuration (to a basic form). Any other services to be monitored, must be manually added (see wiki for more details)

Then, when thats done, you’ve just got to hop onto gaia, using a copy of the basic client monitoring config, change the few needed parameters, paste into the config (as root), check it, and restart nagios

Give it a few minutes and you’ll have the server listed as monitored in Nagios

Jobs a good ‘un

Reedy

First off, not quite a new addition, but the version of WPMU that FreeSide uses for its blogging system how now bee updated to version 1.5.1 which has quite a lot of new features. For those of you who have used it before, the most notable change is the admin panel which has had a lot of work done to it.

If you find any issues / bugs etc. with the update, please tell us in the #freeside IRC channel.

Main new addition is the installation of Outcast. A new webserver which is being prepared for ASP.NET application requests. This server is still in the installation phases as we try to work out what the best way to get it to work is and how to properly roll it out to all of our users. This may take some time, however, we hope that it will be sooner rather than later.

Watch this space!

Over the last couple of years,  FreeSide has grown substantially both in production machines as well as the amount of consumed space. Also, by adding and removing servers and terminals over that time, the network (and the room) has become a bit of a mess both physically and systems wise.

As such, Reboot!, the total FreeSide rebuild “event” will be taking place in the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately, this will cause some major downtime over the space of a few days (probably a weekend), while we rebuild each server system and tweak server hardware to be more efficient, add new (and some improved) services and sort the general infrastructure of the room using the new server/network racks.

Anybody who is part of FreeSide is welcome to help out (http://www.freeside.co.uk/content/join), however, keep in mind that there is limited space in the room as it is, let alone with  lot of people shifting things around, so if you would like to help out, pass us an email to admins[-at-]freeside.co.uk to say, and we will see what can be arranged.

The day should be quite fun, but there is a lot of work to be done. This will be good experience for anybody who enjoys (or has an interest in) Linux servers, network infrastructureand generally how things fit together.

See http://wiki.freeside.co.uk/index.php/Reboot!_2008 for more information on what specific changes we will be making to FreeSide.

 Reboot! is now taking place this weekend (weekend starting 11th April), we will be meeting in the Sun Cafe down Cottingham Road at 10am, have a coffee and head in to get started.

Some people (specifically those with usernames containing underscores) may have noticed that they could not log into the FreeSide wiki (http://wiki.freeside.co.uk). This was due to MediaWiki stripping out underscores from the username before authentication.

This has now been sorted and all users can now log in as expected.

Thanks.