[Toolserver-l] communication with wiki communities

Mon Jun 15 16:02:02 UTC 2009

This is most helpful.  I can work on getting this ready for next week's
Signpost.

-Aude

On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 5:59 AM, Daniel Kinzler <daniel at brightbyte.de>wrote:

> Aude schrieb:
> > I'm the "tech beat" editor for the English Wikipedia's Signpost
> > newspaper.  In the weekly tech reports, we can mention things going on
> > with the toolserver when I'm aware of them.  Being aware of things
> > generally means reading the mailing list and blogs.   (I have added the
> > toolserver blog to http://open.wikiblogplanet.com/)
> >
> > The Signpost also runs special stories on occassion for tech topics.  I
> > would be happy to run something about the toolserver.  If you would
> > answer some questions, I could turn the answers into a signpost
> > article.  The article could take an "interview" format like the
> > WikiProject reports.  (e.g.
> >
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2009-05-25/WikiProject_report
> )
> > or I can turn it into another format (especially if others give input).
>
> Great Idea! I'll try to answer the questions below, maybe River can add
> more
> info. Or anyone else, for that matter, I'm sure I'll forget something
> important.
>
> I'm not quite sure though if the toolserver blog should be on the planet...
> raising awareness is definitly good. On the other hand, status reports like
> "replication failed, will fix tomorrow" is not so helpful in the aggregated
> feed. But I guess we could change it to a filtered stream when people
> complain.
>
> > Anyway, here are some questions:
> >
> > * What is the toolserver? (e.g., it's not just one server but several...)
>
> The Toolserver, or more accurately, the Toolserver cluster, is a project by
> Wikimedia Germany that allows interested programmers to work with a live
> copy of
> the wiki databases.
>
> > * What is the purpose of the toolserver? / what we do?
>
> The Toolserver is used mainly to provide specialized web based tools to the
> wiki
> communities, but also to run bots and similar services. The Toolserver is
> also
> open to researchers that want to study wikimedia's projects.
>
> > * How does the toolserver operate? (e.g. it has replicated copies of the
> > wiki databases, minus the full text, to allow people to develop tools.
> > The servers are located in Amsterdam)
>
> The Toolserver cluster, is located in Amsterdam, has several types of
> machines.
> Maily, there are three:
>
> * the database servers, which contain a live copy of all the wiki databases
> -
> however without the full article text. Article text is stored in compressed
> blocks on a special cluster. There is a copy of this in Amsterdam, but it
> is not
> accessible directly to toolserver users. The main reason for this is that
> these
> compressed blocks may contain private data.
>
> * then there is the web server, where users can provide web based tools.
> This is
> what the wiki communities usually see.
>
> * and there are the login servers, machines where programmers can run bots
> and
> other "offline" scripts, or run commands directly.
>
> > * Who runs it?  / who are we? / how is it funded?
>
> The Toolserver is run by Wikimedia Germany, it is funded entirely from
> donations. The Wikimedia Foundation helps with hosting the machines in
> Amsterdam.
>
> > * What is your role with the toolserver?
>
> I am an employee of Wikimedia Germany, and I'm responsible for planning the
> toolserver budget, among other things. I also have root access, and can
> approve
> new accounts, but I'm a lousy system administrator. So mainly my role is
> planning and organizing.
>
> I am of course also a toolserver user and provide several tools, the most
> well
> known of wich are probably CatScan and CheckUsage.
>
> > * How did the toolserver get started?
>
> To be honest, I don't know the details of the very beginning. I only joined
> when
> it was already up for a couple of months. But I believe that there was some
> frustration by people who had the skill to develop helpful tools for the
> wiki
> communities, but did not get access to the main server cluster, for
> security
> reasons. So the idea arose to create a place for such people to work with
> the data.
>
> > * How do Wikipedian's get accounts on the toolserver?  What are the
> > requirements and approval process?
>
> Wikipedians (or anyone else, actually) can request an account by simply
> stating
> what you want to do there. The requests are reviewed by DaB (and sometimes
> by
> me), and if the project falls into the Toolserver's scope (which is:
> supporting
> Wikimedia and, more recently, OpenStreetMap projects), seems technically
> feasible and complies to our terms of use, the request is granted.
>
> Until now, account requests have been handled at
> <http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Toolserver/New_accounts>. However, we are
> currently reworking the process, to make it more swift and more
> transparent.
>
> The terms of use for the toolserver are defined by
> <https://wiki.toolserver.org/view/Rules>, the conditions for account
> approval
> are at <https://wiki.toolserver.org/view/Account_approval_policy/en>.
>
> > * If one gets an account, what are the responsibilities?  I know
> > accounts had to be reconfirmed, are there resource limits such as disk
> > space limits for each user? or what?
>
> It's the user's responsibility to comply to the rules, that is, to do no
> evil.
> There are no hard limits on resources, users are asked to be considerate.
> Heavy
> tasks that slow down the system may be killed by an administrator.
> Generally, we
> try to address problems on a case by case basis, directly with the user.
>
> > * Who is the person to contact when things break?
>
> That depends on what is broken. We have over a hundred active users, many
> of
> which have several tools in diverse states of completeness or repair.
> Generally,
> when something is broken, contact the author of that something - Toolserver
> administrators usually can not fix it.
>
> The matter is different when the Toolserver  as such has a problem - for
> example, when one of the servers is down. In that case, write an email to
> ts-admins at toolserver.org. You can also find us on IRC, in the channel
> #wikimedia-toolserver.
>
> > * We already are aware of the map toolserver project, but along with
> > that, some other new hardware was recently ordered?  What's the purpose
> > of the new hardware?
>
> The latest hardware order included five servers, three of them for the
> Toolserver cluster:
>
> * we are replacing our oldest database server, which has been constantly
> overloaded recently.
>
> * we are putting user data (home directories) onto a new machine and move
> other
> things around a bit. In the end, there will be a second login server, for
> running bots and the like.
>
> * and last but not least: the map toolserver, a place for the OpenStreetMap
> community to develop exciting new projects.
>
> In addition, two servers are provided for integrating "live" interactive
> maps
> ion wikipedia articles, based on OpenStreetMap data.
>
> > * What's coming in the pipeline (in the future)?
>
> We are mainly working on the reliability of the toolserver - for instance,
> we
> hope to have two copies of every wiki database in the future, so tools
> using
> that data can keep running even when one system fails.
>
> Generally, we are trying to make the Toolserver cluster a mature part of
> the
> Wikimedia landscape.
>
> > * Anything else people should know about the toolserver?
>
> We should all say thanks to River, our senior system administrator, for
> keeping
> the Toolserver running!
>
> -- daniel
>
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