Well, it was matter of time.
An hard drive in the server died during the latest thunderstorm.
It is time to do some maintenance to the system, very probably rebuild it from scratch, a good time to reinstall only what is really needed and a full upgrade to the latest version of Linux.
After 7 years of continue service 24/7 I would say it is time 😁
Update
Well, long long time working to fix the System76 problems and no time/resources to fix them.
In the end I was able to update and revive the server, however I ended up with a problem related to the fans (see the Fan noise problem article)
They basically were partially controlled by the BIOS but not completely, i.e. the fans basically were always running at the maximum speed.
The fans of the original System76 server could reach more than 26000 RPM generating an incredibly loudly noise.
Impossible to stand close to the server and of course the noise could be clearly heard in all the house !
I did run many test trying to have the BIOS control them as before but in the end I was forced to give up for lack of time and resources.
I did run many test trying to have the BIOS control them as before but in the end I was forced to give up for lack of time and resources.
I will publish an article about that anyway however I decided to change server altogether.
On eBay I did find a HP ProLiant DL360p Gen8 and I decided to buy it and substitute the entire server.
Buying the new server also :
- solved the fan problem (the new server is incredibly quiet)
- solved the original problem with the System76 motherboard (an HP one too) unable to handle graphic. Now I was able to install on it the Ubuntu 22.04 LTS desktop edition.
The console now has also a GUI - has a 128Gbyte RAM, two 20 core processors
- has double power supply redundancy
and - dulcis in fundo the new server has a complete functioning KVM (iLO 4).
So some articles I wrote about the "Server chronicles" are now obsolete even if I thinnk something useful is still valid.
Articles obsolete or that contains some obsolete information will be marked so, mainly with the System76 in the title.
Articles obsolete or that contains some obsolete information will be marked so, mainly with the System76 in the title.
Overview
The first thing to do will be to clean up physically the server area in order to easily access it.
Then would be nice to improve the system adding :
- a KVM to IP to remotely control the console
- more RAM, at least 16 GB if possible
- two new bigger hard disk (4TB)
The KVM is a useful option if not too much expensive since would allow to connect the console remotely.
Then install the latest Ubuntu server edition or maybe the Pop!Os from System 76.
After that, having the server back up and running, work on these areas :
- Infrastructure
- install Docker - every time exists the choice to use docker will be used in order to shield as much as possible the service from the current machine
- Security
- install different programs and set IpTable to increase security
- Communications
- install Asterisk to restore my PABX system
- Streaming
- install Plex to stream music and movies from my collection
- install Squezebox if possible
- HA
- install Heyu to control my X10 appliances
- install HA-Bridge to associate X10 to Alexa
- create HA scripts to some operations
- Websites
- install LAMP to support different websites like Apkh based on Joomla
- reinstall all the websites
- System
- rebuild a set of functionality to monitor the server environment, controlling cooling fans and de-humidifier
Whenever possible all the services will be running in docker, in order to have a backup of the images and restore them fast in case of problems or future rebuild of the system.
Specific articles will define these operations.
KVM to IP
The server is not in an easy location and usually has not keyboard and monitor connected since is inside the wall.
A KVM (Keyboard/Video/Mouse) allows to be able to connect to the server console at any moment, to monitor when things happens, to install the system, to diagnose the system.
All this without being in garage in impossible locations trying to hook up a keyboard and a monitor in a crammed space.
There are basically different ways to achieve that :
- KVM extender
The KVM is composed by two modules, a transmitter to be connected to the server and a receiver to be connected to a keyboard and monitor.
A dedicated cable (typically a Cat5e) must be wired to connect the two units - KVM to IP
The KVM connects the server and act as TCP/IP server.
From a webpage is possible to see the video and digit like on a keyboard connected to the server - Serial to IP
Like above but there is no "video" involved in that, is a way to remote a serial connection, assuming of course the server has a serial port connected to the console.
The ideal solution would be the number 2 because will be possible to access the server console from ANY computer in the network, including a Chromebook.
Unfortunately can be quite expensive.
The better solution, although little bit expensive, is the open source pikvm project.
Basically a KVM to IP open source.
In the worse case scenario this solution can cost around 250$, against 5-600$ for a commercial KVM to IP.
More RAM
Currently the server has 4 GB RAM.
It would be nice to increase it up to 16 GB (the server can support up to 32 GB).
More memory is needed for newer versions of OS and to speed up some operations, like the streaming.
The server has 4 slots and each slot can host DDR3 modules up to 8 GB (for a total of 32 GB)
The possible module to be used (remember, the server is at least 7 years old !!) is the Micron RAM 8GB DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 2Rx8 ECC Unbuffered Memory.
The plan is to acquire 4 of them to bring up the total available memory to 32GB
New Hard Drive
Of course, the current hard drive (2 TB) need to be changed since they are damaged.
Since the dropping price, at least 4 TB HD will be used, connected in RAID.
The original drives were set in RAID 1.
Probably the new ones will be set in RAID 2 or above if more HD can be supported physically.
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