[rescue] Introduction + Cray Solaris questions

[James Lockwood]

On Tue, 7 May 2002, Skeezics Boondoggle wrote:

> Now, in a fit of insanity, I've taken my collection obsession up a notch.
> I've "rescued" a Cray CS6400... and a SparcCenter 2000... uh, and _two_
> 2000E's.  By any measure, that's a pile of iron there, mates.  :-)

Classy boxes.  I have done CS6400 admin but it was several years ago, so
take all of this with several grains of sale.

> Even with contract access, SunSolve is woefully short on clues about
> software support for the "cray4d"  (or is it officially "sun4d6"?  I've

sun4d6, though it's not very consistent.

> seen both) architecture.  I'm guessing that after the "2.3+Cray mods"
> release that Sun rolled support into the main Solaris distro, or at least
> that's what trace evidence suggests from various searches on docs.sun.com
> and the patch + bugs databases.  SSP 3.x software mentions that "E10K or
> CS6400" are options in "hostview"... there are mentions that on those
> platforms there *are* drivers to support DR/AP of the qe/qec/qfe drivers,
> which was not yet supported on the Exx00 line - in the Solaris _7_ release
> notes.  However, a quick grep or two through my Sol7 HW11/99 Jumpstart
> tree reveals only a few hits for sun4d, and no specific mention of Cray
> support...I should go check the 2.6 tree...

You want 2.5.1R, that's the latest release I am aware of for 4d6.  It was
a special cut of 2.5.1 with all of the CS goodies (and some early E10k
stuff) folded in.  I do know of at least one person who has a copy, though
getting it out of him might take work.

Do you have the complete SSP with JTAG card?  Those things are made of
unobtanium.

> In general, I try to run the "native" OS on each machine, and learn about
> and preserve the original software.  I have one friend who loves NetBSD
> and wants to put that on everything he owns; another is a Linux kernel
> banger who works on ports and runs Linux on anything he can get his hands
> on.  Having one OS to manage would have advantages, but I guess I'm a
> masochist.  If a modern-ish Solaris for the 6400 just isn't available,
> then reviving Sparc Linux on this box might be a fallback plan... or maybe

Sparc Linux kernel work was essentially spearheaded by Dave Miller, and
nobody has stepped up to the plate for true support of older machines.
sun4d is an order of magnitude easier to support, and that is still a ways
off.  Go with Solaris if you want the machine doing useful work within
your lifetime.

> For shipping large beasties, is there a general consensus about which
> companies are best?  In a former life I did a lot of shipping and

They all suck.  For something like this, do it yourself.

> But since the 2000E or the CS6400 don't offer "Energy Star" certification
> (wouldn't that be a hoot?) I'm wondering what folks do to cut down their
> energy bills.  Fuel cells?  Solar panels?  Stationary bikes with
> generators? :-)  Or do I just sell sponsorships or banner ads (bwaaaa ha
> ha ha ha ha) to help defray the costs?  Worse, do I just power them up on
> weekends for 'xconq' or MazeWars fests and to inflate my Seti at home scores?

If you have Real Work for these systems to accomplish, run them.  If you
don't, make them available somehow to those who do and find ways for them
to help with the cost.

> Anyway, the first step is clearing out the as-yet-unfinished half of the
> basement and dropping in a new 200A power feed so I can meter the new
> "datacenter" separately.  Then I'll at least be able to accurately measure
> the costs of my obsession.

You hardly need a subpanel for that.  200A is wild overkill for what you
have, though maybe that's the idea.

-James