Despite the lack of official university support for alternative operating systemsIn September 2013, there is VTLUUG acquired an ever-growing number of Linux and Unix users and CS and ECE courses which require Linux. Over our 15 year history, VTLUUG has provided a number of services to the campus community including [http://mirror.ece.vt.edu open-source software mirrors], [http://map.vtluug.org detailed OpenStreetMap data for Blacksburg], [[Infrastructure:Acidburn|shell accounts]] and a [[gp:Main page|Virginia Tech wiki]]. VTLUUG would like to obtain dedicated space office in order to hold office hours 358 Whittemore Hall after several times per week months of effort to provide technical more effectively directly support and installation help, as well as small group hands-Linux use on tutorials that can not be effectively accomodated during our weekly meetingscampus.
Desired features ==Purpose==Our office is intended to serve several purposes:* Holding office hours several times per week to provide technical support and installation help* Supporting students in the growing number of courses which require Linux and Unix usage* Storage for VTLUUG property other than networking/server infrastructure (installfest supplies, Tux, banners, etc). Previously these were in the CVL and officers' apartments* Lending library of technical books (possibly a branch of the [[gp:Telnor Institute|Telnor Institute]] Libraries)* Opportunity to socialize with VTLUUG members* Public terminals with LDAP/Kerberos auth (maybe) ==Office infrastructure==The office spacecame with these items from the ECE department:* 1 desk* 2 chairs* 1 CNS port available * 1 Fedora router / music server (VT property)* 1 Xeon workstation (VT property) - will have Fedora* Monitors, keyboards, mice, etc* 2 Pentium D workstations from CPES (will likely be surplused to WUVT)* Wall shelving* 2 broken projectors As of 9/21/2013, most VTLUUG property (other than servers) has been moved to WHIT 358. This includes our 100 Mbps Cisco installfest switch. ===Items needed===VTLUUG could use the following items to make the office into more of a lounge area:* Computer speakers* Large HDDs (preferably with static IPs available >= 1 TB) for usa music server* VT220-like hardware terminals* Minifridge (power-permitting)* Coffee maker (there's one in the CVL we can take)* Router (OpenBSD)and maybe an OpenWRT WAP as well* Easy 2 Rolm phones with DB-25 data ports (for people connecting to findservers at 19200 baud) ===Project ideas===* Exterior doors open to everyone Music server - mpd/ncmpcpp/beets/icecast/NFS share on weekendsspare poweredge tower* Home automation stuff - SSRs/raspberry pi/buses (I2C or CAN)/HTCPCP* AfterDoor auth system - electric fail-hours access for officerssecure door strike, etcmagstripe reader or RFID* Behind burRedundant networking -6509-1run ethernet to our switch in the CVL and put our CNS ports in failover.vl702If a router/port fails, VMs can get rerouted.cns* PBX ==Future expansion==If additional space is needed, we could look into getting a satellite office through UUSA in Squires or through another department.vt.edu so Currently, we can will be focusing on making the most use out of our IP allocations (this may be harder than current office. This section contains mainly historical information that was preserved from when we originally thought, as CNS might use VLANs were intially trying to further restrict subnets to individual buildings)acquire an office.
===Potential locations===Locations explored for potential During the initial acquisition of office space include, VTLUUG looked into several potential locations, including:
* [[gp:Whittemore Hall|Whittemore Hall]] - has 100Mbps CNS ports but hardly any spare IPv4s. SEC and IEEE have offices on the 3rd floor, and unallocated space may be available as a radio lab recently moved to the CRC. Exterior doors are locked after 10pm and on weekends to everyone except ECE students, but we can prevent them from locking from the inside. Potentially hard to find for freshmen. We could easily run Ethernet to our rack and/or the [[darknet]] from here.
** The SEC has two offices, which is two more than they need.
* [[gp:Durham Hall|Durham Hall]] - Exterior doors are also locked at night and on weekends except to ECE students.
** <strike>Room 232 is marked "student society" on the floorplans but may not be used. </strike> - Found to belong to the Institute of Industrial Engineers. This is approximately across the hall from our weekly meeting location.
* [[gp:Squires Student Center|Squires Student Center]] - highest concentration of student organization offices, including [[gp:WUVT|WUVT]] and [[gp:VTARA|VTARA]], so would be easier to get an office here. Building has enforced closing times (~12am?) but is open on weekends. After hours member access would almost certainly be impossible, as we would not be located in the media wing. Contact is Scott Reed (sreed@vt.edu) / 540-231-5431 / 225 Squires.
* [[gp:McBryde Hall|McBryde Hall]] - not behind Burruss router
* [[gp:Torgersen Hall|Torgersen Hall]] - open 24/7, gigabit connectivity
==Contact info=Desired features===Telnoratti says this is Desired features of the contact for getting office space: Scott A. Reed * CNS port available (preferably with static IPs available for us)* Easy for people to find* Exterior doors open to everyone on weekends* After-hours access for officers, etc 540* Behind bur-2316509-5431 sreed@1.vl702.cns.vt.eduso we can use our IP allocations (this may be harder than we originally thought, as CNS might use VLANs to further restrict subnets to individual buildings) 225 Squiresbut ===Rationale===Why we could also contact Plassman needed an office:* Despite the lack of official university support for alternative operating systems, there is an ever-growing number of Linux and Unix users and CS and ECE courses which require Linux. * Over our 15 year history, VTLUUG has provided a number of services to the Dean of Engineering since we're listed campus community including [http://mirror.ece.vt.edu open-source software mirrors], [http://map.vtluug.org detailed OpenStreetMap data for Blacksburg], [[Infrastructure:Acidburn|shell accounts]] and a [[gp:Main page|Virginia Tech wiki]]. * VTLUUG would like to obtain dedicated space in order to hold office hours several times per week to provide technical support and installation help, as well as a COE clubsmall group hands-on tutorials that can not be effectively accomodated during our weekly meetings.
==Status==
Whittemore 358 was allocated to us as of 9/18/2013 by ECE. Next we should try to obtain a satellite office in Squires for redundancy and such.
[[Category:InfrastructureVTLUUG:Projects]][[Category:Featured contentDeprecated]]