New cdbuilder server improves Debian infrastructure
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Debian Project http://www.debian.org/
New cdbuilder server improves Debian infrastructure press@debian.org
March 3rd, 2010 http://www.debian.org/News/2010/20100316
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New cdbuilder server improves Debian infrastructure
Today, the Debian project administrators are activating a new cdbuilder
server. The server computes the official Debian ISO images once all
software packages are ready for a new Debian release. While the old
system needed 20 hours to build the ISOs, the new server needs less than
two hours for the same job.
Debian users download ISO images and burn them on CD or DVD to create
their Debian installation media. "Building ISO images in a fast way is a
critical task for every Debian release. Once all the packages are ready,
everyone is waiting for the new ISO images to become available. With
over 25.000 packages for twelve computer architectures this is a very
challenging task." says Steve McIntyre, Debian Project Leader.
Debian's new SC846 server from Thomas Krenn utilizes two Intel® Xeon®
Processors E5540 to compute the ISO images, which get written to an
high-performance RAID array. The array uses 24 Toshiba 15k SAS disks,
connected to an Adaptec ASR5445Z controller. After the ISO images have
been created, they are copied to multiple mirror servers where they can
be downloaded by Debian users. "On the old system, we would expect to
take roughly 20 hours for a full build for all architectures. The new
system is much more powerful and will allow us to do much more work in
parallel, reducing that time to less than 2 hours. That will make a huge
difference when we come to make the next Debian release." explains Steve
McIntyre.
Max Wittenzellner, supervisory board chairman of Thomas-Krenn.AG,
explains why his company supports the Debian project: "Many of our
customers use Debian for critical IT services, and so do we. As we
benefit a lot from Debian and the whole Open Source community, we want
to give something back, too."
With this new hardware the Debian project has enough computing power to
build the ISOs of the upcoming release squeeze reliably and in a timely
manner. Even in case of an unexpected power loss all data inlcuding
RAID-cache is proteced, thanks to Adaptec Zero Maintenance Cache
Protection (ZMCP). Debian thanks Thomas-Krenn.AG, Intel and Adaptec for
donating this server.
About Debian
------------
Debian GNU/Linux is a free operating system, developed by more than a
thousand volunteers from all over the world who collaborate via the
Internet. Debian's dedication to Free Software, its non-profit nature,
and its open development model make it unique among GNU/Linux
distributions.
The Debian project's key strengths are its volunteer base, its
dedication to the Debian Social Contract, and its commitment to provide
the best operating system possible.
Contact Information: For further information, please visit the Debian
web pages at http://www.debian.org/ or send mail to <press@debian.org>.
About Thomas-Krenn.AG
---------------------
Thomas Krenn is Europe's leading online shop for server systems and
high-quality hosting. The portfolio ranges from rack-mountable servers,
silent and low-noise servers, storage systems to virtualization
solutions. Thomas Krenn is the only hardware shop who delivers
individually configured servers within 24 hours across Europe.
Contact Information: For further information, please visit
http://www.thomas-krenn.com/linux or contact Marlen Eder
<meder@thomas-krenn.com>.
Reply to: