Bargain Hardware Thread

[VBCurtis]

So I spent a few days researching the Dell C6100 server mentioned above. I decided I would like to learn to set up a headless server, tinker with RAID on old smallish disks, and have 32 cores of Xeon (hyperthreaded, I do believe) of NFS firepower. I'm just not sure it's worth $800 for a toy.

I mention the C6100 to a techie pal. His reply: "Those are great servers, I've used them at like 4 different employers. Hey, I have an older one in my garage. Want it?"

So, 32 x 2.5Ghz cores of Xeon will be here for Christmas. Thanks for the idea, bgbeuning!

Going to try LinuxPMI for thread migration, see if I can run a single instance of factmsieve.py with 32 (or 64!) threads and have the processes migrate to the other nodes automagically.

[Chuck]

Originally Posted by xilman

Extremely rare that you see network cables that tidily arranged. Usually looks like a plate of spaghetti.

When the Dept of Navy data center I worked for starting in 1989 moved to a new building, the network racks were extremely tidy (though not color-coded). However, over ensuing years it turned into the spaghetti version with additions/changes etc.

[Mark Rose]

Originally Posted by xilman

Extremely rare that you see network cables that tidily arranged. Usually looks like a plate of spaghetti.

https://www.reddit.com/r/cableporn/

I spent hours ogling the first time I cam across that subreddit. It's SFW.

[Madpoo]

Originally Posted by xilman

Extremely rare that you see network cables that tidily arranged. Usually looks like a plate of spaghetti.

My installs typically start out fairly tidy (nothing like that pic above... that was SEXY). But then after a few years of adding/removing equipment without being able to take things offline at all, you shortcut here and there to avoid accidentally unplugging the wrong things, and next thing you know you've got bundles of wires draped where they don't belong.

I've likened it (swapping out gear) to changing a tire while the car is still going down the highway... that it can be done at all is impressive, so I'm not terribly concerned if the cabling isn't as pretty as it used to be. Besides, when it's in a remote datacenter, out of sight = out of mind. Just so long as I don't block the fan outlets and trap excess heat back there, I'm happy.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by Madpoo

My installs typically start out fairly tidy (nothing like that pic above... that was SEXY).

Indeed. But then try to replace a bad cable or a connector in that bundle...

Note that in the picture there were zip-ties. Dumber than bricks.

[Mark Rose]

Originally Posted by chalsall

Note that in the picture there were zip-ties. Dumber than bricks.

Zip-ties are cheap. I've actually started using them for my own cabling needs.

[Madpoo]

Originally Posted by Mark Rose

Zip-ties are cheap. I've actually started using them for my own cabling needs.

I use zip-ties just to be lazy. But then, bear in mind my particular installs are currently a handful of servers in a single cabinet in a remote datacenter I visit maybe twice a year. :) There isn't a lot of churn.

In the past when I've done local setups where I might be in there on a regular basis doing things, I'll use those velcro strips you get by the roll and cut to size.

Otherwise I just leave a bag of extra zip-ties and a pair of nippers on site so when I inevitably need to do any work, I snip off all the old ties, do my cabling, then re-zip tie.

I'm a tidy person... I pick up all the snipped ties and throw them away. I can tell from looking around the datacenter that not everyone is as clean... in front of other leased cabinets or cages I see piles of snipped ties that get swept into the nooks and crannies and are left there.

I don't know how many folks on here have had a chance to visit an honest-to-goodness colocation facility, but at first glance it looks really clean and tidy, but with customers coming and going and working in their space, the corners of the room and random spaces on the floor get cluttered with crud like that.

It's usually the self-run facilities where they don't have customers coming and going that are either a total pigsty or spotlessly clean. The rest of them are "clean enough" so that even after 5-10 years, you might only find a very thin film of dust on the internals of a server.

[Madpoo]

Originally Posted by chalsall

Indeed. But then try to replace a bad cable or a connector in that bundle...

Note that in the picture there were zip-ties. Dumber than bricks.

The cable labeling was pretty slick though. I think I mentioned before that I used adhesive cable labels that I picked up at Home Depot. Nice little booklet of labels that were just numbered zero through 100 or something like that. Wrap around the cables.

Awesome for me because if I'm rewiring, I can just unplug stuff and know which switch port it goes back into. Otherwise I have to do one at a time, remember where it goes, and risk screwing it up. (Same with power cables... smart PDUs and all that with per-outlet control).

Sadly, the humidity at one of the colos was high enough that the dumb things just became a gooey mess, especially considering these are all on the hot-aisle side of the cabinet, so they warm up quite nicely. On my next trip back to that location, they had all unraveled and some had even "dripped" right off the cable. Grrr...

In our other location they do fine...lower humidity there even though ambient temps are about the same.

So those cable ID's in the picture...that's what I need. No more of those adhesive goopy things for me. I've seen those before but I have no idea where to get them...probably easy to find online if I bothered to look.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by Madpoo

In the past when I've done local setups where I might be in there on a regular basis doing things, I'll use those velcro strips you get by the roll and cut to size.

Yes, that's what I meant... The problem with zip-ties is they can pinch and/or inadvertently cause a cut or break of the fibre when being installed, moved or removed.

In every submarine fibre landing station I've ever been in (three) all cables were laced AKA sewed. Heck, NASA still uses this technique rather than zip-ties or velcro.

[LaurV]

Originally Posted by xilman

Extremely rare that you see network cables that tidily arranged. Usually looks like a plate of spaghetti.

Yeah, "huston, we have a problem with the black cable, is not connected properly"...

[kladner]

Originally Posted by LaurV

Yeah, "huston, we have a problem with the black cable, is not connected properly"...

May I suppose that cable piracy is rampant, wherever this is?