Sysop meeting 2005-12-12
From eg
In attendance (via skype text chat) - Vid, Grant, Stfn.
Others - please email comments or edit this page as appropriate.
[edit] Using a screen session for admin work - using sudo vs su (and disabling su)
(see updates to Root Policy)
[edit] Domain name - using zooid vs a new domain
It was decided to move away from zooid.org and use sysops.be instead.
[edit] Use of the wiki
It was decided to maintain content that is not directly operations related on the sysops.be wiki, as long as it is to the point.
It was decided that logging in will be required to post on the sysops.be wiki.
https access will also be set up to prevent identity theft.
[edit] virtual machine setup - xen vs. uml.
Grant has set up Xen on the testing host, it looks like the option to use when eg goes operational.
[edit] File backed or LVM backed storage (LVM backed storage may require repartitioning the drive)
LVM would allow us to do neat tricks like easily change partitions (including for virtual machines) and create backup snapshots.
It looks like LVM is already set up on eg. Since none of us know much about LFM, one of the testing hosts will be used for experiments.
The drawback with LVM is it might make partitions less portable.
ToDoVid clear up a partition on a test host.
ToDoGrant experiment with LVM for use with Xen.
[edit] backup policy and implementation, esp. of config files - mysql/wiki backups
Grant will look into the best backup regime. David (and anyone else?) will help to validate it.
ToDoVid clear up disk space.
ToDoGrant look into rdiff-backup vs. rsyncbackup (rsyncbackup may be better for large backup volumes), look into config files for mailman or bugzilla under /usr/share, set up regular mysqldump to backed up filesystem, explore a decaying frequency such as every 15 minutes up to an hour, every hour up to a day, every day up to a month, every month up to a year for macro changing backups such as mysqldumps which could otherwise fill up filesystems
stfn adds: rsync_snapshot (i think thats it, not rsyncbackup) lets you set a number of revisions per minute/hour/day to keep and rotates them for you
ToDo - determine the best way to back up virtual machines - snapshots of the file systems, or copy data to the host's file system?
[edit] wiki ToDo lists or a dedicated issue tracker?
For now, we will use ToDo<person> forrmat to track systems operations issues, including a general ToDo item. Use 'what links here' to see what's queued for a particular person or group.
[edit] Mail services setup
It was decided to support shell mail and webmail via squirrelmail (over https) in the short term.
We would also like to set up imaps but it is considered complex and everyone has enough todo items right now. ToDo
Postfix will be the default mail server. We're hoping Dan will step in here... ToDo
Postfix was set up in the most basic way to support local system mail.
[edit] Debian security updates setup
We debated ways to be notified of security updates (as well as having them automatically applied). [ToDo]
[edit] vault for secure items
The idea here is to store critical passwords in a safe place so the wiki can be relatively open. [ToDo]
[edit] Operations log - for example after daily backups
It was decided to set up a mailing list address for system related mail (eg daemon output), as well as internal discussions.
[edit] Next meeting
We plan to have the next meeting later this week - tentatively Thursday at 10 - but will see if we can get other sysops involved.
