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YEROC.US
Searching for Order in this World of Entropy

You Got Served

History and Specifics on Servers used at yeroc.us / CBLL.net / cbll.myip.org

From 2002 until 2009, I hosted all of my web pages myself using PC-based servers running Windows and Linux. A cable modem broadband connection was the hookup to the outside world, and the system worked rather beautifully. Some changes in the site, my personal situation, and my desire to eliminate the burden of the web hosting from the cable modem connection all played a role in the summer 2009 move to commercial hosting.

For historical purposes, descriptions of all of the machines I have used since I began my web presence will be described here - from production servers to development servers and development desktops. Enjoy!

Machine Overview:

  • Genesis - 1st production server
  • Davin - Dev desktop from summer 2002 until Mar. 2003. Production server for Mar/Apr 2003. Image server until Jan. 2004. Dev server until 2006.
  • Teighler - development server in early 2006. Intermittent use in 2007
  • Lars - laptop travel PC from 2003 to 2004 - dev server in summer 2006.
  • Andreas - production server from Mar 2003 until Aug 2009
  • HP Pavilion - has had various names - dev box from Mar 2003 until July 2006. Still in use (2009) as a home computer.
  • Centurion - laptop - development desktop/server since July 2006.

GENESIS Genesis

Genesis means "beginning". This machine was the first used to serve up cbll.myip.org in 2002.

Despite its wimpy system specifications, Genesis performed well. With only a few visitors per day, it supported their needs just fine. It ran two different pieces of server software - vqServer and Apache 1.3. Despite the fact that it was running Windows 98, it was rock-solid. It would run for months without needing a reboot. The setup was not the most secure, but I never had any problems with it.

Genesis ran on port 80 for its first four months, but in June 2002, PTD (our internet service provider at the time) blocked port 80, 25, 53, 443 so that no one could run a web server, mail server, or DNS server. I switched the ports from 80 to 8400 and continued serving. In September 2002, I registered the domain name cbll.net. It ran until February 8th 2003 when it was superseded by DAVEN.

Genesis Specifications:

  • Manufactured By: Biostar (motherboard). Machine assembled by Leading Electronics.
  • Operating System: Microsoft Windows 98
  • Processors: One Pentium CPU - 133 MHz
  • Random-Access Memory: 24 MiB DRAM
  • Data Storage: 1.0 GiB Quantum Fireball hard drive
  • Removable Media: 6x CD-ROM drive
  • Network Interface: SMC EtherCard 10 Mb with 10baseT and BNC connections.
  • Uninterruptable Power Supply: None

Genesis Photos

Inside of GENESIS Server  Front of GENESIS Server.  GENESIS Server with case off.

Genesis has been decommissioned, and the steel case has been recycled. I still have the internal components.

Davin Davin

Davin (or Daven...as it used to be) was the first Linux-based server to be used. The name Davin (also spelled "DAVEN") means "bright Finn", Linux was initially created by a Finnish man named Linus Torvalds.

(The meaning of the name DAVIN may be disputed, as the site BabyNames.com used to state "Bright Finn". As of August 8, 2005, it simply says "Finnish Person". Some other etymology web sites have different meanings...)

History

This machine was purchased on June 5th 2000 (I remember because this was the day after the last day of school that year). It was used until February 2003 as a desktop workstation running Windows 98 second edition. This computer did not like Windows very much, the Windows installation had to be reinstalled every once in a while. After being decommissioned as a workstation, the hard drive was wiped clean and RedHat Linux 8.0 was installed.

DAVIN was used as the primary web server of CBLL.net until April 2003. ANDREAS then replaced it as the primary server, but DAVIN was still used to serve up images, video, audio, and other static content. This was done as load balancing to utilize the cable-modem bandwidth at each location. DAVIN served images until January 2004, and then the duty was passed fully to ANDREAS.

NOTE: Davin has been decommissioned, and right now the machine is not doing anything.

Davin's Specs:

  • Operating System: Redhat Linux 8.0
  • Processors: One AMD K6 - 533 MHz
  • RAM: 88 MiB SDRAM
  • Data Storage: One Maxtor 30 GiB 7200 RPM Drive
  • Removable Media: 36x/4x/4x CD-RW Drive
  • Network Interface: Accton Ethernet Adapter
  • Uninterruptable Power Supply: None

Davin Photos

DAVIN Server when it was serving images.  Cable lines coming in to DAVIN server.  DAVIN Server.

TEIGHLER Teighler

Teighler was a revived Pentium 133 that was designed as a more energy-conservative web development-only server. The box was stripped of everything but a 15 GB, 5400 RPM hard drive, and a network card. It ran Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 and consumed about 25-30 watts of power. Reducing the waste was important, especially since this was only being used as a development box.

Teighler Specifications:

  • Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux 3.1
  • Processors: One Intel Pentium - 133 MHz
  • Random-Access Memory: 64 MiB DRAM
  • Data Storage: Seagate 8.4 GiB 5400 RPM, Quantum Fireball 15 GiB 5400 RPM
  • Removable Media: Floppy Drive, CDROM
  • Network Interface: Netgear 10/100 Mb Ethernet
  • Uninterruptable Power Supply: APC BackUPS ES500

The lowly specs of this machine do not mean that it is junk. It works perfectly for web development, even with the modest PHP/MySQL scripting that I use on CBLL.net.

Teighler Photos

TEIGHLER Server.

ANDREAS Andreas

Andreas is a name created by the Greeks, meaning "Manly or Strong". Just about every Western culture has a deriviative of Andreas (Andrew, Andre, Andres, Anders, etc.). The Server Andreas represents a vast jump in computing capacity and new capabilities due to the connection to a commercial cable-modem account.

Andreas Specifications:

  • Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux 4.0
  • Processors: One AMD Athlon XP CPU - 1250 MHz actual, 1800 MHz "equivalent"
  • Random-Access Memory: 512 MiB Double Data Rate
  • Data Storage: One Seagate 80 GiB 7200 RPM IDE Drive
  • Removable Media: 36x CD-RW Drive
  • Network Interface: Silicon Integrated Systems SiS900 10/100 Mb Ethernet
  • Uninterruptable Power Supply: American Power Conversion BackUPS ES500 (500 VA - enough for 30 min. off-grid power).

Andreas was used to serve my web sites up until August 2009, when I decided to abandon self-hosting (at least currently) for hosting space on a shared provider.

Andreas Photos

ANDREAS Server.  Cable lines coming in to ANDREAS server.  ANDREAS Server.

 

Last Modified: October 11, 2009. 20:12:47 pm