From Ubuntu Server to Debian...

I have had a few issues with Ubuntu's 16.04 release, notably on the server side, when removing the physical network wire on one connection, it would stay connected on another, reconnecting the wire it'd not come back up.

I tried this with wireless connections, with physical RJ45 and virtual devices in various guises, none of them worked right for my needs.

And loathed as I am to change to anything else, I'm currently in the middle of setting up and using a new purely Debian based server... Watch this space....

PC Overhaul

I've decided that with my main PC being down and out, I'm going to refurbish it.  Its two years of age, and though mighty powerful has come physical problems.

You may recall I fitted silent fans to the system, well one fan system which was never silent was the power supply unit, so I am looking at replacing that, I bought a quite powerful high spec unit (an OCZ 1000w unit), but I bought it for my prior machine my old Core2 Quad, apart from the case the power supply was the only unit I carried over into my Core i7 build.  So its time for an update.

I'm looking for a modular, constant, power supply giving a constant 850w or more, I'd like 1000w for surety and the possibility of adding a third graphics card into my SLi configuration later.

The other problem is, though I added the fans, and sorted the air flow optimisation it seems I also optimised how much dust would get pulled through the machine, so I'd like to look for some micro-mesh screens or filters to go between the case and the fans to filter out the junk on the inbound side of my air loop.  The trouble is, this might increase fan noise once again.

It'll also be a good chance to look at my storage options and update some of my drives, not least as I just had a Hitachi 320GB hard drive (stamped on top with the date of Oct 2007) die on me, I don't know whether it was taken out as part of the motherboard going down, or it itself contributed to the motherboard failure, all I can tell you is plugging it now results in hearing it clunk and it get very very hot very very fast.  Its on my desk wrapped in a big red plastic bag labelled DO NOT TOUCH ON PAIN OF SMOKE ALARM as we speak.

I may look at two small (32gb) SSD drives, as they're sub £30 now.  And just put the OS on that.  Then add a larger SSD drive to host games on my Windows boot, and add other hard drives to host the Linux portion of my data and virtual machines.

I do have dual USB 3.0 external facing ports on the rear of the machine (when connected to the motherboard supporting them) so I may also look at a pair of external USB 3.0 caddies, or purpose built drives, to hold my virtual hard disk images.  This is also the new part of my way of working, I'm going to start separating my data from my programs more thoroughly, I'm often adding new virtual drive images to my Virtual Machines.  You can even mount the same Virtual Disk Image (though not at the same time) on two different Virtual Machines, so I can create a new NTFS drive, create code on it on Linux, then check the same code cross compiles correctly on Windows.  A very useful trick.

Also backing up a single (or multi-part) VMDK file is easier to manage than having to back up the individual files being controlled for code, obfuscating the work I am doing by an added layer on my subversion server.  Using an encrypted virtual disk also means I can opt to carry the whole of my work around on a virtual encrypted compressed drive image, and keep working from any device mounting it, rather than worry about multiple files or backups or importantly fragmenting my work across multiple devices; how many times have you changed a file on one machine (say at the office) think you've submitted it to your server, then gotten say home and found its still on the machine at work, and you either re-do the edits at home on your working copy or you leave the work until the morning?... I do that on occasion and it annoys me as dead time.  Now, carrying my whole virtual drive, and leaving a back up at work, and a back up at home, I can sync the two easily and bring hundreds of thousands of code changes/work alterations with me wherever I am without the risk of missing X file of Y changes... There can be only one changed file, only one latest... the oldest dated disk image, simple.

So, those images on external USB 3.0 drives... I sense a plan coming together.

Server Server Server Everywhere

The last 24 hours have been a pain in the bum, firstly because I've got man flu and keep coughing hunks of lung butter, but mainly because I've been in a quandary about servers.  Specifically I've an idea to design and build a system, which uses a server to host a database on the back end to store the data, I've been playing with MySQL for this very purpose and am happy to proceed on technical ground.

But, and its a bit But... I'm not entirely sure what to do about a server in general, I have set up a virtual machine hosting the server on my laptop, so wherever I go I have the server on a local looping back address, great for development.  I can copy this virtual machine to other physical hosts.  I could even place the development virtual machine (after a security check) on the final host system showing the whole thing to the world at large.

My trouble comes when I think about that final host... Will it be a box in my front room attached to my anaemic cable modem?  Will it be one of my physical Dell servers, which I buy hosted rack space for at a data centre?  Will it be a hosted server I buy/rent from a data centre?

These questions have no easy answer.  Especially as my project has £0 financing until at least in the late alpha stage, when I intend to tout it to a few known interested parties to see if they want to run with it as a concept and pay the bills at my end.

Certainly to host it myself on a box in the front room is free, I can even select to set up the linux server as "Free Software Only".  To demonstrate the system on such a slow uplink however could be detrimental, so what about the hosted offerings?

To rent 2U space (this is two wrack slices in a data centre) was not too bad in London, with unlimited I/O with the server for customers, and a simple sign up process the two hosts I looked at were decent enough... but you could not bring the machine yourself, you had to ship it to them, and it had to pass safety checks and power checks and be of a certain age.  Neither of my servers passed any of these checks online, let alone in person, they're slightly battered, old, Dell 2650's.  Running a vulnerable (to hack) version of Ubuntu Server... Plus, to ship the machine to them for checking would cost almost as much as I paid for the machine in the first instance.

To rent a hosted solution seemed to be the way to go, a little more expensive per hour of operation then using my own machine, but with the advantage of their support and their network behind it.  My only concern was to ask whether the data on the machine remained wholly and under my sole ownership.  They said it did, but reading the small print of two different hosting solutions I noted phrased such as "access to your data, files and programs, maybe deemed necessary at any time and shall be left accessible to the root or administrative users by your assigned administrator".  Essentially, saying they're going to look at the files at any time...

Is this a problem?  For my purposes 99% of the time, no, I only planned to place compiled binaries and a database on the machine, none of my intellectual property (IP) would be at risk.  Though, its not he IP we're worried about, its that pesky database.

Specifically the users database, these days you have to be very careful storing other peoples personal information, and in a secured database or not, if the machine is not physically on your premises you have you be very careful with your EULA wording to ensure that those signing up to your service know where the box is.

All very tedious, and means I need to go run around checking legal loops before committing to a hosting plan, for what should be a simple enough progression of a small, un-funded, project.