MHF Impact Statement

Authors

• Zhen Elizabeth Fong, previous lead sysadmin - elizabeth@ugcs.caltech.edu
  
  
  
• Joshua Hutchins, lead sysadmin - jdhutchin@ugcs.caltech.edu
  
  
  
• Matthew Maurer, sysadmin - maurer@ugcs.caltech.edu
  
  
  
• Alex Roper, sysadmin - alexr@ugcs.caltech.edu
  
  
  

Overview

Since February 2007, the UGCS cluster has been completely rebuilt. We have completely replace the obsolete hardware that UGCS was using, and have made dramatic improvements to our lab space. Initial setup began during third term 2006-2007, and continued during the summer. At the end of the summer, the cluster was migrated to the new setup, and the lab cleanup began. Although the process took a lot of time, there were no major difficulties.

The bulk of this project was carried out by the current UGCS sysadmins- Elizabeth Fong, Joshua Hutchins, Matthew Maurer, and Alex Roper. The submitters of the original proposal completed the room remodeling, but have since left UGCS due to graduation or time constraints.

Finances

The original proposal was written 3 years ago. Since then, the prices of computer hardware have dropped significantly. In addition, the needs of the lab have changed- we have had some hardware donated, and the scope of the project changed. The old proposal sought to upgrade the then-current hardware, which has become completely obsolete since and needed to be completely replaced. While some of our purchases do not completely agree with the proposed expenses, we believe they are sound purchases that are in the spirit of the old proposal.

September, 2004 MHF grant (proposal): $21,500

• Initial room remodeling (March 21, 2005): -$2,048.60
• Uninterruptible Power Supply (March 29, 2005): -$1,068.71
• Additional room remodeling (April-July, 2005): -$2,707.85

These expenses total $5825.16, which is very close to the $6000 budgeted for room renovations.

Balance as of when current sysadmins took over in February, 2007: $15,674.15

Increased User Storage

• Hard disks in March, 2007 (Increased User Storage): $295.58 each x 12 = $3,547.00

The proposal budgeted $3000 for this. Since then, we had two storage servers donated, and we wanted to fill them with disks. These disks provide a net of over 7 terabytes of storage, and will provide the bulk of our storage for a long time.

Mail Server

• hermes (New Mail Server): -$3,276.48

The proposal budgeted $2500 for this. We spent a considerable amount more on the actual server- mail delivery is one of our most important and heavily used services. Our new server has the processing power to last a long time, and a reasonable but upgradeable amount of very fast disk space.

Upgraded Client Machines

• 9xMuses/Naiads (Replacement of Client Computers; $467 per system): -$4203.00
• 3xNVIDIA 8600 cards ($102.44 each): -$307.00
• 10x1gb Memory ($36.59 each pair): -$365.89

This totaled $4875, much less than the $6000 budgeted. The price of desktop machines has dropped drastically since the budget request, and we were able to complete this item well under budget. The remainder of this money went to the overruns in the mail server and user storage.

General Upgrades

• 3 Gigabit Ethernet Cards to upgrade file servers: -$113

Since we completely replaced most of our hardware instead of upgrading it, we did not have to do any other general upgrades as the original proposal intended. The rest of this budget request went towards the additional servers.

• charon (router / log server): -$1,463.10
• hephaestus (build server): -$1,122.25
• poseidon (webserver): -$1,122.25

The original proposal did not budget for any of these machines. At the time of the proposal, the cluster's system for webhosting, routing, and build machines was adequate. However, the old servers were not adequate for the new cluster's webserver, build server, or router and log server.

The planned purchase of a projector ($3500) did not happen, and the money went towards the additional servers instead. We are going to purchase a projector with other sources of funding within the next month.

The requests for a dedicated media workstation ($1500), and references and technical manuals ($1000) were not funded and were not purchased.

Advertising

We have worked to introduce new users to the cluster and ensure that members of the Caltech community are aware of the resources we offer. We had a booth at the annual Club Fair, where many people expressed interest in the cluster, and had 16 registrations that day. Several weeks later, the following email was sent to all undergraduates from Chris Gonzales, ASCIT President and resulted in 18 new account requests the following day:

The Undergraduate Computer Science cluster would like to encourage you to sign
up for a UGCS account.  It's free and the process only takes five minutes; you
don't have to be a CS major or have any extensive computer experience to take
advantage of your account.  You can use UGCS to keep in touch for years to
come without ever needing to change your e-mail address. It's very easy to set
up a personal website using your account and keep backups of your assignments
in case your computer fails.  UGCS is also an excellent sandbox for learning
about Linux without needing to install it on your own computer. For more
information about the cluster, you can visit https://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/ or
email sysadmins@ugcs.caltech.edu.  Feel free to drop by the cluster in the
basement of Winnett any time to work or hang out (you'll need a South Master
to get in). Most houses and ASCIT rely on their services, so I can vouch for
their reliability.

Overall, we have created over 90 new accounts since our migration in late September. Word of mouth is also spreading about our lab facility, and it is starting be used. Although we don't have detailed usage numbers, we are starting to see more users in the lab when we are working in it.

The Future

Although we have come a long way, we do not consider the lab complete and continue to work on it as we have time. There are several other improvements that we would like to make, and will be seeking MHF funding again to make several more large capital purchases. However, the cluster is functionally complete and the lab is very usable.

With our revamped lab, we were able to secure $5000 annually from IMSS to help with lab upkeep and hardware replacement. This funding has helped finish some lab improvements, and puts us on firm financial footing for the foreseeable future.

We are also starting a junior sysadmin program to make sure that we have enough people running the cluster. We currently have two junior sysadmins, both freshmen, and plan to advertise this program starting during the middle of second term. Junior sysadmins will spend a year or so learning the internals of the cluster. After this trial period, we will consider promoting them to full sysadmin.