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.

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Other system administration: I maintain various other systems and services not specifically mentioned here.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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:

• Pictures from the assembly of our new 1.3PB tape library - another fun toy I help maintain
• My personal site
• Some quotes I like
• My PGP key (on pgp.mit.edu) - If you need to communicate with me securely
• Some pictures from the 2007 MSST storage conference - Maybe I'll write descriptions for some of these sometime

Behold, some legitimately useful content:

• Securing TeraGrid Community Accounts at Purdue
• Slides from the BlueArc Research Storage talk at Purdue on April 1

Last Updated: Fri, Dec 19, 2013 13:17    Author: gveldman