This server should be on fire

Sometimes users run scripts without checking the parameters first, often recycling scripts they’ve used elsewhere, at former jobs or at other institutes. Sometimes this works out, sometimes it doesn’t… With a load of ~75 and 32 physical cores, the CPU usage on this server is oversubscribed 2.3 times a “normal” 100% load (where 100% of […]

A match made in heaven

Strong Swedish coffee and a full-screen, white-on-black terminal: a match made in heaven. There’s no better way to hack than with a cup of strong Swedish coffee. I’ve got about five kilograms of the stuff on my desk at work: We have a Swedish guy in the office and whenever he goes home he brings […]

What Keeps Me Busy at Work

I work as a Systems Analyst at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya. In the name of alleviating poverty in the developing world, our scientists generate a lot of data about diseases, weather, markets, etc. Lots of data means lots of servers, routers, switches, etc and, because most science types aren’t tech […]

When I’m Not Compiling Kernels at Home

Contrary to popular belief, hacking on Linux kernels and recompiling Android is not my day job… I am gainfully employed as a Systems Analyst/Administrator/whatever at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya. See? We use high-performance Linux servers to analyze research data, including genetic sequence data, remote sensing imagery, GIS layers, etc. I’m […]