Subject: chemistry Unix server upgrades
 
 Our Unix server "chemistry" aka "chemistry.ohio-state.edu", a 4-processor Sun
 Ultra Enterprise 450 with 2 GB of memory and redundant power supplies, was
 upgraded in December 2001 to allow for more disk capacity.
 
 The following work was done:
 
  - addition of 2 Ultra-160 SCSI chains (160 MB/s each), bringing the total
    to 6x40 MB/s and 2x160 MB/s SCSI chains
 
  - addition of a rack-mountable 9-bay storage enclosure (Infostation 1,
    manufactured by Kingston)
 
  - addition of 3 new disks (3x36 GB; 15,000 rpm)
 
 The /home filesystem was moved from a stripe-set over 2x18 GB 10,000 rpm
 disks to a stripe set of the same size using 2x36 GB 15,000 rpm disks. The
 /home filesystem is about 44% full at this time. The new stripe set should be
 slightly faster.
 
 Many filesystems were enlarged and/or relocated to allow for better
 parallelization of I/O, eliminating hot spots and further increasing overall
 throughput.
 
 The total disk space after the upgrade is 458 GB, with 225 GB owned by
 research groups (5x9 GB 7,200 rpm disks, 3x9 GB 10,000 rpm disks, 3x18 GB
 10,000 rpm disks, 6x36 GB 10,000 rpm disks, 3x36 GB 15,000 rpm disks, 2x4 GB
 old disks).
 
 We continue to use the 8-bay disk enclosure purchased 4 years ago, housing
 the older 5x9 GB 7,200 rpm disks.
 
 The boot disk continues to be mirrored, adding to redundancy and reducing
 potential downtime. The server still runs Solaris 7 (with the most recent
 patches).
 
 The chemistry Unix server handles all departmental email, web pages, general
 purpose computing, Unix home directories and serves as the entry point into
 the Department from the outside.
 
 See Support Bulletin of October 27, 00 for information about the last upgrade 
 of the Unix server.