Hello all, it is finally done, the linux-login-servers (yarrow and nightshade) are ready to use :-). You should be able to login from the outside to these boxes and to hop from any other toolserver-host too. I installed most of the packages at [1]; if any package is missing, please use JIRA now to request it. We are not able at the moment to package software for which there is no debian-package, because we miss a build-host (I willl speak with the WMDE about that).

We run Debian stable on the linux-boxes, and both servers (like willow too) are managed by puppet to keep them in sync in manner of configuration and software. I installed some aliases (mostly gsometing->something) to make to switch from Solaris (back) to linux easier for you – if I miss a important one, please talk to me in IRC or open a jira-ticket; for less important ones you can define them yourself in .bashrc or .profile in your home.

While you can (at least at the moment) use the cron-system on linux, you should not – use the submit-hosts and SGE! Speaking of SGE: To let your sge- jobs run on linux only, you have to add "-l arch=lx" as parameter. By adding "-l arch='*' " you let SGE decide the best server of both operating systems for your job. This will always result in a minimum waiting time and is the recommended usage if possible. Solaris will be the default for SGE until 30. September 2012, after that the default will be switched to any available os (I will send a reminder or 2 somewhen before).

If there are any problems, please open a JIRA-report and the roots will try to resolve them. What will not happen: Installing of packages from testing or unstable, or installing of non-packaged-software (see above).

The next step in my plan, is to convert our webservers to Debian (and using apache instead of ZWS). The step will start on Monday or Tuesday with the removal of wolfsbane from the web-cluster (so ortelius will be the only webserver for some time). I doubt that this step will take as long as the previous (because most work in puppet is already done), but you can never know.

I would hereby like to thank Merlissimo; without him the conversion would have been much harder or impossible. Another thank to Nosy who freed me from Solaris-work.

Sincerely, DaB.

[1] https://wiki.toolserver.org/view/User:Dab/Debian-Packages