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Zeus

Among the server stuff we've got in the space we have several IBM x3590 M2's.

4 of them can be linked together to form a single computer, with the bits we've got this will have 64 cpu's and 512Gb ram.

This page is for listing the uses to which we would put such a machine.

Short term usage

play around with it for a week or so

Test the BSD's on it and make it available to *BSD developers for kernel testing - NetBSD at least has only recently had support for > 32 cpu's and may not scale well at 64 CPU's giving developers access to a machine of this size will enable them to test scalability.

Try to get on the steam linux beta and run steam/source on it.

muck about with it cos we can.

We'd then sell it...

Long term usage

Zeus would *not* be left on 24/7. We would use a remotely controllable PDU to power it off when not in use, and could charge for the power used.
We could set up password protection for the PDU.
We cannot use large amounts of internet bandwidth with it - the spaces internet connection isn't up to it and it would not be fair to other members.

Render farm

There is some interest from the graphics hackers (?) for a blender/yaffray render farm
Could also be used for video rendering.
Data would have to be transferred from/to Zeus with external HD's or by copying over the hackspace lan.

Charitable use

For charitable bodies who have computing-intensive jobs (from the occasional BARJ (big ass R job) to rendering); or
for educational institutions in developing countries who have bona fide research projects that require computing power they cannot afford - this is a *good* idea, but there are so many complications that need to be ironed out, including: getting the data here, export/import controls, verifying the projects, export/import controls, delivering the results, export-import controls... did I mention export-import controls?

Very large dataset processing

There are a few hackspace members interested in space and photogrammetery. We could get Lunar & Martian photographic datasets from NASA/JAXA/ESA and process them into virtual planets and then go on virtual moonwalks and mars walks with Project:OculusRIFT.

Internet Simulator

Using lightweight process isolation (e.g. FreeBSD Jails + dummynet, usermode Linux, etc..) set up a system that approximates the internet with e.g.:
- many virtual isp's
- with end-users with realistic bandwidth
- an 'Atlantic' and a 'pacific' with appropriate latency

We can then use this to:

test out the various network topologically aware bittorrent schemes and see how much of a difference (both in terms of bandwidth usage over backbones and in terms of download speed) the different schemes make.
setup our own isolated versions of some of the proposed distributed p2p social network and darknet systems (e.g. freenet, bitcoin, tahrir), and
- try to break them:
  - can they be tampered with in transit?
  - can they be persuaded to ddos people?
  - can they be poisoned with false info?
  - and so on.

Games

Biggest ever minecraft server

Project:Zeus

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