GhettoNet - Day 1

One of our clients called us on Monday with a seemingly impossible task - do some dispersion computer modeling runs that would take over 2,000 CPU hours on a P4-class machine. By this Friday.

WTF? How in the world can we get it done on time? Where are we going to get the CPU power?

No problem, we tell them, but you have to give us until Monday. Consultants work the weekends, you know

We quickly figured out that we couldn't build the necessary machines in time and buying pre-built machines wasn't going to work either (much too expensive). So, we decided to rent CPUs and buy gigabit switches and KVMs (you know that the client is going to pull this again someday).

So, four FedEx deliveries later, we have 20 rented and 10 borrowed PCs supplimenting our existing 12 CPUs. GhettoNet (TM) is born.

The biggest problem so far has been power. Many of the circuits are are daisy-chained from office to office. When you're talking about running 30 PCs, each drawing about 300W, you need to watch the total load on the circuit(s). It would suck trip the breaker in the middle of the night.

So, we've had to break them into units of 8 - handy, since the KVMs we have a 8-ports each. As the photo shows, 8 PCs, a switch, KVM and monitor fit nicely.

More to come as we get through the first day.