OVZManager

I have been working on a new project on-and-off for the past month, and I am happy that it is finally at the point where it might be useful to someone outside of CUGNet.  OVZManager is a python script designed to help build and manage OpenVZ containers in a more sane manner than vzctl.  Currently OVZManager is simply a wrapper around vtctl and ldap to tie information together specifically for the CUGNet project.  eventually the goal is to replace as much of the wrappings as possible and talk directly to the interfaces, however my python-fu just isn’t there yet.  As always, if you have any siggestions, code additions, etc, please feel free to let me know!

More info HERE

CUGNet has gone LDAP!

For a long time coming now there has been a push to goto LDAP for authentication on CUG. The benefits of doing this allow for a single point of authentication for not only system logins, but also tie in applications and web apps all under the same authentication model. There is still a lot of work to do to get all of the environment moved over, however the hard part of getting cugshell authenticating to it over the flat file is a definate start.

Thing ofcourse didn’t go as smoothly as we had hoped as the salted md5 hashes in the shadow file did t seem to take in the LDAP tree, forcing us to ask the users to file support tickets to reset their passwords. Most of the heavy users have already done so, and those that haven’t will likely visit the website and see the message on the main page.

Once we have completed the move, the next stage is going to the the website redesign. Something a little easier to manage and cleaner to the eye seems to be a must at this point.

As you can see we have been busy in CUG land and intend to be for some time to come. As always if you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to comment!

 

CUGNet 2.0 is Alive!

The new CUGNet is now in place and the old hardware has been deprecated, wipes, and sold off.  This new gear is a Dell Poweredge 1950 III with the following specs:

• 2 Quad Core 2.0Ghz Xeon Processors
• 8 GB Ram
• 750 GB Raid 1 (2 750 GB Western Digital 7200rpm Drives)
• Redundant Power Supplies

The machine is colocated at one of Chicago’s peering stations in the near-south side.  This location has highly redundant power and internet, so power outages should be a thing of the past.  If you would like more information as to how the system is built, go here.

CUGNet Donation Drive!

CUGNet is looking for new hardware to satisfy a lot of the needs that it currently has.  The new 1U server will cost approximately 3500 dollars and they are looking to (hopefully) raise the money quickly enough to basically do a drop-in replacement.

More information is available at CUGNet!