Welcome to the homepage of Greg Veldman. I'm currently employed
as a Senior Storage Administrator by the IT Infrastructure team in
Information Technology at
Purdue at Purdue University.
I work on designing, building, and maintaining very large scale,
high performance computing and data storage systems. I also work
on some of the backend infrastructure necessary for making such
systems run properly. This includes things like file servers,
accounts and access control, system security, system backups,
web and database servers, self-service tools, printing, etc.
Specifically, here are some of the projects I am currently
working on. Someday, as time allows, each of these might
turn into its own page with a bit more information. These
projects are listed roughly in decreasing order of average
time invested per week. Note that this is not necessarily
a comprehensive list.
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Home directories: I run the systems that provide central
home directories on all RCAC machines. I also plan for
and evaluate upgrades to these systems to provide for current
and future home directory requirements. I also work closely
with our User Services division to handle things like
quota management and homedir distribution to ensure even
loading of the system. Finally, I troubleshoot any homedir
problems and occasionally answer user questions on the subject.
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Other storage: I support other storage needs in RCAC that
do not fall under the categories of home directories or
archival storage (DXUL). These include things like scratch
directory space, dedicated storage for a specific project
or research group, and other one-off needs.
-
System backups: I run the backup system (currently using
Amanda) that provides
backup services to all machines in RCAC, plus a few in
other departments. From time to time, I also answer
backup-related questions for other departments on campus,
at least to the best of my ability. I also handle any
file restore requests in those departments I'm responsible for.
-
SANs/TANs: I work with our hardware support personnel
to maintain the SANs and TANs used in RCAC to provide
connectivity for services like home directories, DXUL, and
system backups.
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Security: I am the primary security contact for the Rosen
Center. I work with Purdue's Security group to
ensure proper security of RCAC resources and deal with
security incidents.
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DXUL: I assist in the operation of our DXUL archival storage
system and the ADIC Scalar 10K tape library that backs the
system (and is also used by our system backups).
-
Console services: I run the system that provides central
access to machine consoles for several departments at Purdue.
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Other system administration: I maintain various other
systems and services not specifically mentioned here.
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Web services: This is closely tied with database services.
I run the central RCAC webserver (on which you are probably
now viewing this page) and provide web application support
for various groups and projects in the Rosen Center. This
includes our central wiki and ticket tracking system.
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Cfengine and Subversion: I help maintain the Subversion
tree that feeds into our Cfengine system and manage various
config files within that system. This system is used to
manage most of our infrastructure.
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Accounting: I work with Purdue's Identity and Access Management
group and our User Services division to ensure that accounts
are correctly and efficiently populated and maintained on RCAC
systems.
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Database administration: This is closely tied with web services.
I run the system that provides central database services (both
MySQL and Postgres) to the Rosen Center.
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Printing: I manage the CUPS system that handles printing
for most RCAC machines. Our server talks to the CUPS server
maintained by the instructional group (TLT), which is
responsible for central campus printing.
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Jabber server: RCAC has a central Jabber server that I maintain
that is used by several Center staff to communicate amongst
themselves and with outside people. This server is open
to the public and anyone can sign up, which makes it a
convenient way to talk with vendors, researchers at remote
sites, etc.
Check out some of these places of interest:
Behold, some legitimately useful content:
Last Updated: Fri, Dec 19, 2013 13:17 Author: gveldman