[Babase] A babase project server at Duke

Susan Alberts babase@www.eco.princeton.edu
Sun, 28 Nov 2004 09:06:45 +0300


Sorry to be so long in replying to this. My slow and unstable network 
connection makes it hard to explore on the web and I usually have a 
list of things I need to access that take some time to get to.

I've now read the departmental policy on servers and it looks good, 
it does seem that this will serve our need. I am prepared to buy a 
server for our project and follow the guidelines laid out in the 
policy. I am still a bit concerned about whether we will encounter 
problems that we don't have the skills to cope with but my mind is at 
rest about the major concerns I had -- hardware and the most 
important basic set of software. I'll talk with jeanne about this 
when she arrives in Kenya in a few days but I don't think there will 
be a problem with us getting a server.

Thanks,
Susan

At 12:12 PM -0500 11/22/04, Hunter Matthews wrote:
>On Sun, 2004-11-21 at 07:04, Susan Alberts wrote:
>>  Hello all, especially Karl and Hunter,
>>
>>  I do see that getting our own server will solve (has solved) a number
>>  of important problems associated with getting our new database
>>  functional.
>>
>I'm glad this is working better for your project.
>
>
>>  I don't see that it resolves the problems that Hunter raised when we
>>  talked about this last year. He pointed out that he can't maintain
>>  servers dedicated to "private" databases. This made sense. He also
>>  pointed out that maintenance is not trivial. No one in my lab has
>>  these skills or the time to do this, and Karl will not be around
>>  forever. I am very concerned about this and need some one to explain
>>  to me how we will deal with this.
>>
>Maintaining the server, operating system, and basic software would fall
>to me - but you are correct that I can't maintain the actual babase
>software/database parts.
>
>
>>  I was unable to view the policy on departmental servers, the address
>>  Hunter sent
>>  (http://www/resources/administration/policies/projectserver.html)
>>  didn't connect to anything, and when i went to the biology website I
>>  couldn't find this one.
>>
>Sorry,
>http://www.biology.duke.edu/resources/administration/policies/projectserver.html
>
>should work from anywhere.
>
>>  I am happy for us to buy our own server in principle but concerned
>>  about getting into a situation where we have a nonfunctional database
>>  because the skills involved in maintaining it are beyond our time
>>  resources and expertise.
>
>I'm copying Susan Gerbeth-Jones on this email - she may have
>suggestions.
>
>>
>>  Regarding the borrowed server, it will be best from my perspective to
>>  buy a new one in mid Jan when I am settled back at Duke. Can we have
>>  this one until then Hunter? If not, I will try to make this happen
>
>Yes, that will be fine.
>
>>  from here but will need help from Hunter and Karl. Off hand, I am not
>>  very interested in renting a managed computer, we know that this will
>>  be long term and I think we need to have control of the box in a way
>>  that we might not with a rented one.
>>
>>  Susan
>>
>>
>>
>>  >Hi Susan, et-al,
>>  >
>>  >I had a long phone conversation with Hunter before lunch today.
>>  >He says the best way for him to support us is if we get
>>  >our own server, and I belive him.
>>  >
>>  >He is loaning us a server temporarly until we figure out
>>  >what to do.  It sounds like something you will have to
>>  >deal with as soon as you return in Jan.
>>  >
>>  >Our server is named: albertslab.biology.duke.edu
>>  >
>>  >Hunter says he'll have it up by 6 tonight.
>>  >
>>  >Which is great!  Should get us converted now and
>>  >carry us through to going live.
>>  >
>>  >This means spending money.  We'll know more of
>>  >what our hardware requirements are as we get
>>  >the data converted, and then again as we try
>>  >out new programs.
>>  >
>>  >If we spend less than $5000 we have to give an additional
>>  >50% to Duke (!), as the $5000 line determines
>>  >"capital expendature".  Hunter says he can come up
>>  >with something for as little as $1,200 (pre duke tax).
>  > >We also have to get maintenance from Dell on the
>>  >hardware.
>>  >
>>  >An alternative would be to rent a managed computer from the
>>  >pros, something like this:
>>  >
>>  >http://rimuhosting.com/index.jsp
>>  >
>>  >They want ~$40/month for a (virtual) box with 256MB of RAM, which
>>  >likely is not enough, but we'll see.  For 512MB we'd pay $120/month,
>>  >which would likely take care of it, or $140/month for 576MB.
>>  >($20/month/60MB RAM)
>>  >
>>  >This is probably worth it compared to $5,000, dunno.
>>  >
>>  >On advantage of hosting at Duke is that Hunter will keep
>>  >up with security updates and, I suppose, even OS upgrades
>>  >and other stuff.  We'd have to automate that, which is easy,
>>  >but it's always nice to have a person looking after things.
>>  >Also, Hunter will deal with recovery should somebody break
>>  >into our computer.  The hosting company will only deal with
>>  >recovery from hardware failure.  Hunter has a better backup
>>  >system in that he keeps multiple days so if we destroy something
>>  >they'll be an old backup available to recover the data.
>>  >We would need to set something up to do this.  Not a big
>>  >deal, but Hunter already has.
>>  >
>>  >Another alternative is re-purposeing some old computer
>>  >and running it ourselves.  (Hunter would not be involved.)
>>  >This is _not_ a good long-term solution but if there are
>>  >zero dollars available it would buy time.  We could keep
>>  >backups and it it probably would not break before we came
>>  >up with the money to replace it.
>>  >
>>  >Right now we're running on a 1.8GHz Pentium 4 with 256MB
>>  >RAM and what looks like a 7200RPM ATA drive.
>>  >
>>  >Karl <kop@meme.com>
>>  >Free Software:  "You don't pay back, you pay forward."
>>  >                   -- Robert A. Heinlein
>>  >
>>  >_______________________________________________
>>  >Babase mailing list
>>  >Babase@www.eco.princeton.edu
>>  >http://www.eco.princeton.edu/mailman/listinfo/babase
>--
>Hunter Matthews                          Unix / Network Administrator
>Office: BioScience 145/244               Duke Univ. Biology Department
>Key: F0F88438 / FFB5 34C0 B350 99A4 BB02  9779 A5DB 8B09 F0F8 8438
>Never take candy from strangers. Especially on the internet.


-- 
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Susan Alberts, Department of Biology, Duke University, Box 90338, 
Durham NC 27708
919-660-7272 (phone), 919-660-7293 (FAX)