New server is up

The new server (still named “rupaul”) is in place. It is quite a bit smaller and quieter than the old server (“pangloss”), and it figures to save us a few bucks on the electric bill. All told, the upgrade project cost around $75.

Both parts I ordered (PCMCIA USB 2.0 card [link] and an external USB 2.0/eSATA hard drive enclosure [link]) arrived Thursday, so I shuffled some local services, brought pangloss down, and extracted the drive with all the /home data. Once the drive was in the enclosure — and yes, it is a snug fit — I took it to work and archived the data to my office box. That particular drive had also hosted /usr and /var, and I wouldn’t need to host either on the new box, so I re-partitioned the drive and put a new XFS on there before putting the data back.

After the “hardened” profile fizzled on me — it is still in beta, after all — I re-built the laptop’s OS from the normal G3 profile over the weekend. Had a couple false starts on the kernel, thanks mostly to some issues with battery modules, but after I got those taken care of on Saturday afternoon the process really got under way. Rebuilt world overnight with a few altered USE flags, and got my basic services covered on Sunday morning.

Sunday afternoon we brought the home network down to clean up the rat’s nest of cables in the utility room. While we were at it, we re-arranged connections to the UPS and found a more efficient layout for all the different components back there. Since that room contains the furnace as well, it is a tad warmer than the rest of the house, but nothing is getting too warm yet. (I’m not concerned about heat in the summer, as that room also has the exchanger for the A/C.)

As of now rupaul is serving files for authorized users (local and remote), managing DHCP and DNS for the home network, and keeping my work box’s portage tree up-to-date. Later on, I may add more services or upgrade the data drive (enclosure supports either IDE or SATA for that reason), but for now I’m quite satisfied with how that little laptop is handling things.

Now I just need to find somebody to exchange encrypted backup space with, and we’ll be all set.