It's been quite some time since I have made a post - things have been pretty hectic around here lately.
Like most hardware geeks, each year I go through a round of hardware and software upgrades - this year was no exception. My long-time girlfriend (now fiancee) and I also moved in with each other around this same time. I am sure most of you can already see where this is going...
I sorely needed to upgrade the main switch to one that supported jumbo frames and VLAN tagging (particularly for gigabit UTP testing). Storage was also in pretty rough shape, and I needed to replace 6 of the 8 disks in the rack. Solaris 10 5/08 had been released (early) in April, further dating the 11/06 install on my primary server (which needed a complete overhaul). Compounding these issues was the absolute need for a new UPS; the Netra 20 was overloading the existing one on a regular basis.
I took the plunge and decided to upgrade everything at once despite already being overwhelmed with the move and the stress that comes with the merging of two homes.
I found out very quickly that my time is finite. Both the move and the upgrade was long and trying. There were (of course) a number of issues with the new hardware and a few kinks to iron out with the new software installs. Work with ON suffered due to a lack of time, and the extended downtime also affected others who use the hardware remotely. Time spent messing with the upgrade also put a strain on relationships I had (naively) not expected. On top of all of that, I managed to get pretty sick, which placed even more stress on my relationships and prolonged downtime even further.
That said, everything is finally finished, relationships patched up, bodies healed, and everything is now approaching some modicum of normalcy. I am finally able to return to work with ON (post forthcoming).
I believe this post (and the last month, for that matter) can be summed up as follows:
moving + marriage + hardware + software = A Really Bad Idea(TM)
Update: For the curious, I have uploaded a few pictures of the upgrades here.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Not Dead Yet!
Labels:
General,
Hardware,
OpenSolaris
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You did all that in a month? impressive. Did you take time off or change jobs or something?
ReplyDeletehttp://web.Ivy.NET/~carton/ivy/
not all of that crap is my problem, but most of it is, and it's a crumbling disaster. noisy too. I feel like it's crushing down me. which possibly it literally is since I live underneath it now.
How is the SMC switch? Have you run into many bugs in its OS? Does it do QoS on L3? Does it have RED, and have you tried it out at all?
I get along with the Extreme, but it is way too noisy.
Thanks! No time off from work, although things were moving a little slow.
ReplyDeleteThat is a pretty big mess on your hands! I haven't been quite brave enough to run fiber throughout the house, but I have been playing with the idea of running fiber to the demarc - I sorely need a better uplink.
The SMC has been a pleasant surprise. It does support L3 QoS, but not RED (as far as I can tell). It has been humming happily for 6 months now with no resets.
Cheers!