Earlier this year, we mentioned that we intended to replace the Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) system which supplies power to all of the server rooms located in the Informatics Forum – see our blog post Forum server room UPS from January 24, 2019. Since then, we’ve been doing lots of preparation, and we are now […]
With the introduction of the University’s centrally provided blogging service (blogs.ed.ac.uk), no new blogs will be created on the Informatics blog.inf.ed.ac.uk and wp.inf.ed.ac.uk services. The central service is based on a current version of WordPress, and has a selection of modern themes, and plugins, including an EdGEL one to match the University’s branding. Using the […]
We are about to upgrade all rack power bars in the Informatics Forum self-managed server room IF-B.Z14. We will be replacing the existing metered power bars (APC models AP7853 and AP8853) with switched versions (APC model AP8953). The new power bars will allow us fine-grained control of individual power outlets; they’ll also help us prevent […]
Last weekend (Saturday 19.1.19), the UPS system which supplies power to the various server rooms located in the Informatics Forum developed a fault which meant that one half of the pair of units which comprise the UPS went off-line. As a result, the other half of the pair became overloaded: we now have so many […]
We will shortly be upgrading the remaining Forum core network switch. With this one there will be some (expected) visible effects, as follows: This switch is normally the “root bridge” for the entire Informatics network. While we do have extensive redundant connectivity, the active paths are usually based around this switch being at the centre. […]
The computing help elves have been busy. In the past few weeks they’ve overhauled the pages on Printing and on Audio-visual facilities. In particular there are now pages on AV in Appleton Tower (formerly not covered at all) and AV in the Informatics Forum (formerly split over many pages). If you’re looking for help or […]
Apologies for the short network disruption yesterday afternoon. It was caused by a 10Gbps forwarding loop, which was created as the second-last fibre was being connected as part of our core switch upgrade programme. As soon as we realised there was a problem the fibre was disconnected again and the port configuration corrected. Background: we […]
We will shortly begin the process of upgrading the switches which form the core of the Informatics network in the Forum and Appleton Tower. The network has enough resilience built into it that this can happen mostly transparently to users. Where this is not possible, an announcement will be posted in advance, though actual downtime […]
We’ve made a new version of Virtual DICE for the new session. Virtual DICE is the lightweight DICE-like virtual machine which you can install and run on your own computer (here’s how to install it). We release a new version of Virtual DICE twice a year. This version has the hostname tiepolo. It has most […]
Next Tuesday (4th September) the remote desktop service which uses the NX technology – nx.inf.ed.ac.uk – will be decommissioned. It will be replaced by a new service which is based on RDP – xrdp.inf.ed.ac.uk – see the computing help page for details. The machine hosting this service – hammersmith – also needs to be reinstalled […]
