General computer system

There are various more points related to the general computer system:

• Desktop computers:

  A number of routine hardware purchases have been conducted in order to replace older/aging hardware. As a result, most of the staff (and 100% of the astronomy staff - students included - which needs the extra computing power) is now using modern desktop computers (no more than 2 years old).

• ``Duty'' laptop:

  Given the availability of wireless connection in the rooms in the Residencia we have bought one laptop for the staff on duty to use while at Residencia. E.g., to facilitate a first-stage remote assistance to the observers during the night.

• Virtualizing services:

  A number of our services (eg. IDL license server) have been suffering crashes due to ageing hardware. To avoid future problems, we have started a ``virtualization'' program. This allows us to run a number of ``virtual'' computers inside a more powerful one and migrate them easily to other ``virtualizing'' servers in case of hardware failure or the need of more resources.

  The virtualization is recommended in cases where there are hardware restrictions (e.g.,. the IDL server requires a certain machine name and network hardware address).

• Data-base server:

  The database servers have been extended on capabilities introducing functions for astronomical use (e.g., DECIMAL2HMS/HMS2DECIMAL). The additions have been documented, along with a quick reference on implementing new functionality.

• Hardware review:

  Following a few recent hardware failures on critical machines at SLO, we are going to conduct a review of the current hardware to decide if we need spare parts to keep in store for quick change or even complete substitutions in case of ageing ones.

• Minor upgrades:

  Some minor hardware upgrades were made on various machines (mainly adding memory where needed).