IPCop v1.4.19 and 1.4.20 are released

[sven]

Hello Dave,


tonight IPCop v1.4.19 and 1.4.20 are released and with a raqcop.com-kernel there is no chance to upgrade, because of the raqcop kernels e.g. for a raq4 is in bz2 format and the official update will be declared as "unauthorized" by the raqcop distribution.

Do you release the updates v1.4.19 and 1.4.20 for raqcop too?

Thousand thanks!


Regards,
Sven

[Davesworld]

Yes, tonight when I get home from work. I will also be releasing CF images in all sizes now that we got the ramdisk setup method working in a Raq. I started the final build as I was heading out the door. Over the last two weeks, a lot of work was put into cleanups, the lcd indication on boot and better, more automated fsck on first boot. The LCD will tell you if it's so bad you need a serial console cable. I really recommend using a CF to IDE adapter and CF card rather than the 20GB drive that comes in these. They really run better on CF since you are using a ramdisk to read logs and graphs and not the actual hard drive. To use the updates I supply, you will have to sftp them over to /tmp, untargzip them and run ./install. I have everything in there relevant to a Cobalt between the two.

BTW, the new build will also work on a Raq 550 but the bandwidth meter doesn't work on startup, the lcd texts during boot work fine though on a 550.

[sven]

Hello Dave,

thank you very much.

Regards
Sven

[Davesworld]

You're welcome Sven! I'm curious what kind of load you get and what kind of throughput you are getting. I'm only on a 3mbs line and Brian is around 16mbs so we aren't really taxing it. Weizen_42 stated a method to test involving pc's on green and red. Hadn't tried it yet.

[sven]

Oops!
Dave, I forgot to put an answer here...

I'm on a 3 mbps "line" too, but only on the paper.
My local internet service provider only serves connections via WLAN, my local telephone provider only 64 kbps or 2x 64 kbps (ISDN).
Unfortunately the WLAN connection is very terrible, TCP/IP packet loss is on the average 30 to 50 %! So my internet connections / sessions are very slow and disappointing in general if you recognize that all the housewifes and kids are surfing around and loading down games and videos (or trying it).
Very, very rarely the connections are good and fast (perhaps depending on various daytimes). Updating Solaris with smpatch or Debian / Ubuntu with apt-get always becomes a waiting game (apt-get often counts in bytes per second); fortunately there is an addon called update accelerator, which speeds up the update for the other following machines...


Load? Hm, I got 100% cpu load at my RaQ for weeks and didn't recognized it (because of my disappointing internet connection).   But I think there was no problem with your raqcop version 1.4.21, rather than my absence of mind...
The cpu load seems to be there since I put a (mistyped) tar command to my cobalt before putting 1.4.21 to work - and forgot the hanging tar process... 

For now I think all works fine. Perhaps I should search for something...


Regards
Sven

[Davesworld]

Wow! Well, you do have the longest running -cobalt kernel on the Coptime page. Mine was interrupted by a small power outage that lasted a second. I really should have a UPS and have my Raqcop, voip box, cordless phone base station and dsl modem on it, everything else I don't care about uptime so much.

You had a tar process running all this time? Well, that cpu is well proven now!

[sven]

Yes, ist is!

Let's go off-topic now :
I've got a donated 3kVA UPS (Compaq R3000h) and in the meantime it's supplying only my RaQ4, a Summit4 Switch and my Sun Netra T1 Server (which has replaced all the ProLiants shown in the linked picture in coptime list). I believe that there is not much load for the UPS and it will be running a pretty couple of minutes in case of power failure. The batteries are very old now (I don't have changed them and I think its owner before me did replace the UPS without changing the batteries) and supported my equipment for more than one and a half hour in case of power failure some weeks ago.
Ok, it is _not_ intended for holding up the uptime. Because of poorly software support for the R3000h UPS in conjunction with its rarely protocol and the used operating systems Solaris and/or GNU/Linux (and IPCop), actually I have no software control for shutting down IPCop or Solaris. I believe that there is only a free and OpenSource software called NUT (network ups tools) for GNU/Linux, which may control this UPS too. Apcupsd does not support this UPS protocol. But I'm not a developer and I don't like to compile a software for using on a firewall while don't knowing what I'm doing there. So at least it is very easy and useful for me that there are 3000 VA supplying only a couple of watts used and resuming a long time in case of power failure for shutting down the machines by hand in case of need.


Regards
Sven

[Davesworld]

Did your killing of that runaway tar process lower your loads a lot?

That UPS you have sounds perfect for what I run into, I don't want it to shut anything down right away anyway. Here in the Pacific Northwest (a lot like the Black forest) we have trees everywhere and every time we get strong winds, trees fall on power lines. Many areas went to underground power. When asked, the local utilities talk about the cost of switching. How many millions does it cost for repair three or four times a year when lines are downed all over the region? They need to be a little less short sighted.

[sven]

Hello Dave,

yes, killing of that runaway tar process lower the loads a lot:
cpu load with this runaway tar process was 100%, now, after killing it, only three to five % in the average with addons advproxy, urlfilter and update accelerator running.


Returning to the UPS: I've told you about the high age of the batteries. In another UPS from APC (SmartUPS 1400 and 700) for another PC here the batteries only lives two to three years. At http://www.usedups.de (ok, it's in german) I've found the information validating my experience that these old Compaq UPS R3000h (not XR) takes care of the batteries while charging. Perhaps you may find one of these UPS in used and good condition.


Regards
Sven

[Davesworld]

I found one in Northern Cali for cheap but the buyer is responsible for getting it out of there. People who do offer cheap shipping are marking it up enough to cover it. These things weigh 170 lbs! Since I have the time off due to a Labor dispute with Boeing (Yes, strike), I may just bite the bullet and make a road trip. It doesn't take much of an excuse to get me to return to Southern California to visit friends and enjoy the beaches and uhm, scenery.

[sven]

Hello Dave,

these Compaq R3000h were manufactured by Powerware, but I have to dig in my home "office" for further information and RS232 pin assignments. I remember that this was not trivial and Compaq support drop me two electronic documents which both are showing a different pin assignment and Powerware support drop a third variation.
I don't know exactly, but it may be the number 5119 by Powerware.

At the end I bought / shot (ebay) an extension card for the UPS for three RS232 ports and this card came with two RS232 cables.
 
After this long odyssey I found someone, who has made the same experiences with this UPS and put his information into internet, of course in german. Perhaps you are interested in these pictures:  How to solder a cable for Compaq R3000h UPS
But at this time, I were migrating from my good old Compaq ProLiant 5000R to a newly shot Sun Netra T1 105 reducing the power consumption from round about 1.300 W (ProLiant with two external disk arrays and 19 (!) harddisks) to 100 W (Netra).


I dont't remember exactly but I think this UPS "speeks" a protocol called "UPSCode II". With NUT (network ups tools) it may be genericups upstype=15, but also genericups upstype=20 is shown for the rackmount version of 5119 (UPS hardware compatibility list (stable); look for "Powerware"). I haven't tried it for long time and actually I don't have a serial cable for my Sun (RS232 DB9 at RJ45; Cisco console cable?) and no version of NUT for Solaris 10 Sparc too. If I "migrate" to Debian Etch Sparc at any time, I perhaps give a try to NUT.

But if someone creates an addon for IPCop / raqcop based on NUT...

But that will be only the half way for me, because my server (actually these good old Sun machine) should be noticed to shut down too. On the other hand, who voluntarily wants to shut down his cop? Ok, if UPS tells that there are only 0,1% power remaining...



Regards
Sven

[Brian Ridgeway]

Greetings,

Whereas I do not disagree that a UPS addon for IPCop / RaqCop would be nice, I actually think it is somewhat unnecessary.   The reason I say that is, you likely won't have a problem from a hard power outage on RaqCop like you would on a typical server.  I could be wrong but I have hard shutdown my RaqCop many times both on CF builds and HDD builds with no problems.  I think I might have lost some graphs on the CF version but nothing bad.  On all networks I have installed, I leave the Router / Modem / Switches setup to die if and when the batteries run out.  On the servers, I have them shutdown at like 90% power but 1st email me so I know they had to go down.  I figure you want to leave the network up just in case the power did come back on at like 99.99% battery life.  Then, you can wake on lan boxes over a vpn tunnel in that event.

If you guys do manage to get a IPCop ? RaqCop UPS addon, let me know especially if you could set it to like .1% battery life shutdown.

PS: that 3kVA UPS sounds like a nice one.  At my last work we had an APC like that that was like 4-5u similar power rating, might have been like 5kVA even.  It would run the t1 router / firewall / switches / servers (like 4 of them) for like 20-30 mins no problem before shutting down the servers and I never had it totally kill the router on any of our Arizona Monsoon outages.  Of course we replaced the batteries in it with new ones when I started working there so I have no idea what used batteries are like in the unit.

Brian

[Davesworld]

No question in my mind that IPCop and Raqcop are resilient to power outages in both CF and Disk installs as I unwittingly tested this theory far too many times. In my case, I was thinking that it would be nice to have my Firewall, dsl modem, voip adapter and DECT 6.0 Phone base all on an UPS. Might remove some of the annoyance factor of short power outages every time there is a windstorm. Sometimes there are multiple short ones in a single day that last only a second or two. Just long enough to make my microwave and coffee maker get amnesia. Heck, ups the whole house!

 

[sven]

Hello,

Whereas I do not disagree that a UPS addon for IPCop / RaqCop would be nice, I actually think it is somewhat unnecessary. 
(...)
If you guys do manage to get a IPCop ? RaqCop UPS addon, let me know especially if you could set it to like .1% battery life shutdown.

Isn't there an addon called "UPS Server"?
As far as I know, this is for APC UPS (and their protocol(s)) and not for UPSCode-II like Powerware/Compaq R3000h.

Regards
Sven