Free Soyoustart dedicated bare metal server share with other LES folks?

Not_Oles · January 2020

Features of a full user level shell account on a dedicated bare metal shared server include:

-- every user typically can see the processor load averages,

-- find out how many other user accounts there are all together,

-- find out how many other users are logged in, and

-- even see some of commands that other users are running. For example, as many of you know, a quick overview may be obtained with the w(1) command.

-- When problems occur on bare metal, it can be helpful instantly to eliminate the virtualization layer as a possible trouble spot simply because, on dedicated bare metal, there is no virtualization layer (unless the user is running LXD, qemu or similar at the user level).

Hopefully, not everybody is trying to run heavy load, long run time programs simultaneously. Getting along can take a bit of inter-user co-ordination, and there's always the nice(1) command.

Recently, from an offer on LET, I snagged two Soyoustart servers: SYS-LE-1 - Intel Xeon D-1521 - 32GB DDR4 ECC 2133MHz - 2x 2To HDD SATA Soft RAID - symmetrical 250 Mbps. Multiple IPv4 addresses are available. The servers are in Canada at OVH's BHS datacenter.

Since the Spirit of the LET community has moved here to LES, I thought I might express my gratitude to LET here at LES. Would anyone like a free user account? Would anyone volunteer to help administer? Maybe Ubuntu 18.04 server plus LXD? For now, I'm just asking questions--no promises yet about who might be accepted, exactly when this might start, or how long this might last.

I hope to learn a lot. I hope to get to know some of you. And we'll have fun!

Thanks LES!

Iroshan464 · January 2020

I know I am new here. Infact only recently I bought a VPS from Anthony.
However I would like to check out a small vps to play around.
May be to install wireguard.

david · January 2020

Great Idea Tom! :-)

I would love to assist with administration. I got almost over 2 decades of experience in IT, recently more as an Softwarearchitect and Leader but I really want to get back to where I started, as an sysadmin.
I run and administrate multiple servers and got experience with Proxmox, LXC and LXD as well as shell-scripting and networking.

I would love to learn together and have a good time :-)

David

Not_Oles · January 2020

Welcome @Iroshan464 and @david !

Could you guys please email me an ed25519 ssh public key at the address shown on my profile? Also, please tell me the time zone where you are located and your cell phone number.

How about an introductory videochat? I am thinking Signal App. What do you think?

Not_Oles · January 2020

https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/15162503

Not_Oles · January 2020

Grateful to @david for admin help! He's faster than fast, super enthusiastic, and fun to work with. Thank you @david !!

billyw · January 2020

Tom,
]> @Not_Oles said:

Grateful to @david for admin help! He's faster than fast, super enthusiastic, and fun to work with. Thank you @david !!

I am glad that I read this post. I am sure that there are more Great ppl like yourself that needed to read how you are doing your part gto make the Internet and all that we now have enjoyable for others My Hat's off to you Tom. I'm sure that your Act of Kindness will Ripple down as that is what it's all about! Thank You

david · January 2020

Thank you @Not_Oles for the kind words. I really appreciate it and enjoy working with you.

@billyw Is right, it's not that often that you find helpful and kind people in the internet :-)

yoursunny · January 2020

This feels like the timeshare machine in university department.
If you have compilers, etc, installed, it can be useful for education.

Or, you can setup a batch system and let people submit (virtual) punch cards, which would be fun.

Not_Oles · January 2020

@yoursunny and LES community

We are trying to set up a mechanism for non-root, normal users to create virtual private server VPS containers which would be private from other users. Thus, accounts on the server would have the virtues of an ordinary shared machine and also the virtues of a a fully contemporary VPS. The goal maybe could be called a "bare metal VPS."

Yes, compilers are installed. Wireguard is about to be installed after having successfully been tested on another machine. LXC and LXD are installed. Additional IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are available for assignment to individual users.

Presently I am trying better to understand the container system. Probably the server will be wiped and reinstalled within the next day or two.

Years ago, when I first tried to serve a small website from a data center environment, people wanted to sell me a shared account without ssh access. When I politely asked about ssh access, people said no. But, when a shared machine with 500 accounts gets a bit slow, there was not much way to tell what was happening.

Eventually, I found a really nice guy who let me ssh into a shared machine for super cheap. By special arrangement, I even got access to the compilers. This wonderful arrangement lasted until the shared machine simultaneously blew up ^both^ its RAID disks in a weird power failure. The old machine then was replaced by a new machine running some version of GNU/Linux which placed limits on each user's everything, including file I/O. So, for example, it took forever to run a file integrity hash check on my newly uploaded teeny 6 GB backup archive. About that time OVH was running its World Tour. I met them. They were really great! I've been with OVH ever since.

Sorry for rambling. The point is: I got a great deal from OVH thanks to this community. Now I want to repay by trying to give people here what I myself wanted: ssh into a shared machine so they can run top and ls /home on the bare metal while also being able to launch their own private, maybe even encrypted, VPS containers.

Right now there are only three of us, myself == @Not_Oles, @david, and @Iroshan464 . We will have space for a few more new friends in a few days, after I mess with the server a bit more. Please join us if you wish!

If any of this sounds like something that might happen at a university, that's a big compliment. Thank you @yoursunny !

The idea of virtual punch cards is fabulous! I saw the Teletype 33, but punch cards were before my time.

Free Soyoustart dedicated bare metal server share with other LES folks?

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Free Soyoustart dedicated bare metal server share with other LES folks?

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