Accounts on my bastion host for test farm access

[Mark Atwood]

And while I was not specifically thinking about "benchmarking different
ntp.conf setups and measuring comparative offsets and jitter", I was
thinking that it is generally true that the unknown unknowns start turning
into known unknowns when actual reality gets to have a seat at the table.
I saw that there was evidence that there was quite a lot "we didn't know
that we didn't know", and also some evidence that there were "things we
knew that weren't so".

..m


On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 2:03 PM Mark Atwood <fallenpegasus at gmail.com> wrote:

> Please set an account up on thyrsus.com for me.
>
>
> You can grab SSH keys like so:
> curl -O https://github.com/<username>.keys
>
>
> So thus get mine at https://github.com/fallenpegasus.keys
>
>
>
> ..m
>
> On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 1:54 PM Eric S. Raymond <esr at thyrsus.com> wrote:
>
>> Really good plans have happy consequences one didn't foresee. But also
>> complicating ones.
>>
>> Mark encouraged me to work on the Microserver HOWTO as a recruitment
>> device for future time-service experts and, implicitly, so I would
>> learn more about how NTP works from the outside. Those were good
>> reasons.
>>
>> Now it's growing another use that Mark may not have foreseen -
>> benchmarking different ntp.conf setups and measuring comparative
>> offsets and jitter. For these purposes, having several co-located
>> machines with identical hardware/software configurations and the
>> same Internet connectivity is ideal.
>>
>> However, this also creates an implicit bottleneck.  Hal wants me to
>> set up a machine with both a HAT and a GR701W and use it to measure
>> offsets. It's a an excellent idea, but I can't do it in any
>> predictable amount of time - I'm working as hard as I can just keeping
>> the project-related backlog in my mailbox from overwhelming me. More
>> generally, Eric as the only person who can use the test farm is not
>> going to scale well.
>>
>> Accordingly, I'll make logins on the thyrsus.com bastion host
>> available to project developers.  The test farm is accessible from
>> there. I'll make myself available to plug and unplug hardware
>> on request.
>>
>> Current test farm inventory:
>>
>> au.local - Pi 2 with blue-wired SKU 424254
>> cu.local - Pi 2 with Uputronics HAT
>> fe.local - Pi 3 with Adafruit HAT
>>
>> All three have skyview good enough that they pretty much always have
>> lock except just after power-cycling. GR601-W or GR-701 USB GPSes
>> can be plugged into any of these on request.
>>
>> Soon to arrive:
>>
>> * an Odroid C2 (ordered)
>>
>> * 8-port Netgear switch because my existing one is run out of ports -
>>   going to dedicate this one to the lab. POE capable because that's
>>   part of the plan for the BeagleBone variant (ordered)
>>
>> * an Anker 10-port powered USB hub, because Mark turned out to be
>>   unsurpringly right that el cheapo unpowered hubs aren't stable
>>   enough (ordered)
>>
>> * two more Pi 3/Adafruit HAT combinations and a HAT for the Odroid
>>   (not yet ordered, but I know I have to for the ntp.conf comparisons)
>>
>> Currently planning for a maximum of 10 test machines and an actual
>> complement of 7 - 2 Pi2s, 3 Pi3s, an Odroid C2, and a Beaglebone Black.
>>
>> Sigh. I've spent years avoiding learning enough about network
>> management to run a server farm this size.  No longer, it seems.
>>
>> Funniest possibility:  If I need a rack for these systems,
>>
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq5nrHz9I94
>>
>> A functional rack made of legos. That's worth some geekery points
>> right there.
>> --
>>                                                 >>esr>>
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>> http://lists.ntpsec.org/mailman/listinfo/devel
>>
>
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