The Finished Product!!
Isn't it beautiful!?!?!?! Here it is, at last, the finished product. Or
at least, the top half of the front of the finished product. We have 12
nodes on the top shelf, and 10 on the second, to make room for the switches
(you can only see the power cords of the switches in this (picture). T.jpghe
white and grey device hanging off the shelf at the right is a thermometer.
We have this free standing thermometer with two sensors, and a second digital
thermometer with three sensors connected to the serial port of the master
node. [A graph showing the machine-room termperature over the past week
may be found here.]
We were having temperature control problems in the room. It turns out,
we discovered several flaws in the environment control systems for the
physics building which physical plant is in the process of rectifying.
Here is the bottom half. Thirteen nodes per shelf down here. The silver
cylinder hanging from the white wire is one of the three thermistors (sensors)
of the serial thermometer (temperature
graph).
The back. Yes, it does look like a rats nest, but as you can see, we've
bundled most of the cords as neatly as possible. Whoever invented those
little plastic cable ties is a genius! Thank you, whoever you are! Most
of the unbundled cords you see are keyboard cords. If the units would boot
without keyboards attached, life would be slightly simpler.... we never
use them for anything but they have to be there or the BIOS complains and
halts the bootup procedure.
Warren making some last minute adjustments. Hope he doesn't get caught
in there ...
As you can see, we decided to move the electrical wiring to come up the
wall instead of down. The power distribution is now done on the top shelf
of the shelving unit.This makes it a lot easier to work behind the machines,
since we don't have to worry about tripping over power cords laying along
the floor.