« Setting up Subversion as an xinetd process | Main | gmail »
Next time you reboot your remote server in a datacenter accross the country remember things like a months-ago-scheduled fsck (for that next reboot) before you panic over how long it takes the server to come back online.
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Advice for remote server admins:
» Of course, adult males playing from
Of course, adult males playing massive multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG) like EverQuest have received the most attention. [Read More]
Comments
This is why I remain eternally grateful for HP's awesome remote "lights-out" management stuff. I can reboot our servers halfway across the planet and actually be on the CONSOLE while doing it. Windows or *nix. That one time that the kernel upgrade screws up the NIC driver and leaves you with a dead database server 3000 miles away in an unmanned data center makes the extra cost worth every penny.
Posted by: Brian | June 17, 2004 10:24 PM
Many hardware providers already have remoting solutions..lots and lots to choose from in the market now.
I can still imagine days biting my nails mentally upgrading a kernel..
Posted by: david | June 18, 2004 04:06 AM
This is where the background fsck in FreeBSD 5.x comes in handy ;)
Posted by: mich | June 18, 2004 09:28 AM
Many hardware providers already have remoting solutions..lots and lots to choose from in the market now.
True, true. But HP is definitely one of the most impressive I've tried. Virtual console, virtual serial port (very handy for Win2k recovery console), virtual CD and floppy that are both bootable for OS installs, etc.
Plus, their OS integration (especially on the Windows side, but on Linux as well) rocks. You can forward SNMP traps from the OS through the remote board (very handy if your server is on a DMZ network and you don't want inbound SNMP), you can rdesktop or telnet to the remote board IP to access the OS TCP stack, etc.
Posted by: Brian | June 18, 2004 10:32 AM
Brian: Are you talking about x86 servers? I have managed remotely PA-RISC and SPARC servers through the GSP and RSC card respectively, but I haven't found x86 hardware with that feature. Could you give a link?
Posted by: Ocasional reader | June 19, 2004 08:41 PM
Of course, that was long ago, but at the time it seemed like the present.
Posted by: P.Steiner | June 21, 2004 05:21 AM
Occasional reader: yes, x86 HP servers running Red Hat Enterprise or SUSE Enterprise. Check out any of the Proliant DL series. The magic words are "Integrated Lights Out". They also have the Remote Insight Board, which is an add-on PCI card that does similar stuff.
Posted by: Brian | June 21, 2004 03:54 PM
(a different Brian than has been posting on this thread)
shutdown now -f -r will reboot without fsck (the -f)
Posted by: Brian | June 26, 2004 04:53 PM