Nevis Linux Cluster Node Names

These are the names of the computers in the Nevis Linux Cluster.

Some machines that are not listed:

• the systems on the Nevis condor batch farm;
• the student boxes;
• machines that are not part of the cluster (e.g., Windows machines, laptops, some ATLAS, DOE, and Neutrino systems).

Most Linux machines at Nevis are typically used by a particular working group; the student boxes are the main exception, but there are other shared workstations noted below.

Each group has an informal naming convention for its machines. The list below includes the different groups with machines in the cluster, the basis for the names, and description of each Linux machine normally used by that group.

ATLAS

Named after members of the Romanov dynasty

Name	Function	CPU	Memory	Disk	Derived from
kolya	ATLAS workgroup server	Dual 3.2 GHz Xeon	4 GB	2.5 TB	Tsar Nikolai II Alexandrovich (1868-1918)
anna	ATLAS client	2.4 GHz Pentium 4	1 GB	67 GB	Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicolaievna (1901-1918?)
tanya	ATLAS client	3.2 GHz Dual-Core Pentium D	1 GB	60 GB	Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicolaievna (1897-1918)
xenia	ATLAS tier3 server	Quad 2.26 GHz 4-core Xeon	24 GB	15 TB	Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna
elecdesign	Electronics shop chip-design workstation	2.8 GHz Pentium 4	1 GB	160 GB	Sometimes we have to use a practical name

D0

Named for characters from Arthurian legend

Name	Function	CPU	Memory	Disk	Derived from
isolde	D0 client	3 GHz Pentium 4	1 GB	60 GB	Isolde, a woman of tragedy
karthur	ATLAS/D0 workgroup server condor batch server applications server	Dual 3.2 GHz Xeon	4 GB	2.5 TB	Arthur Pendragon, Once and Future King

DOE

Named for Chinese imperial dynasties (pronunciation guide)

Name	Function	CPU	Memory	Disk	Derived from
shang	DOE workgroup server	Quad 2 GHz AMD Opteron (64-bit)	4 GB	1.2 TB	Shang Dynasty, 16th century B.C. - 1066 B.C.
qin	DOE client	2.8 GHz Pentium 4	512 MB	32 GB	Qin Dynasty, 221 B.C. - 207 B.C.
han	DOE disk server	Dual Intel Xeon 2.5 GHz quad-core	8 GB	8 TB	Han Dynasty, 206 B.C.-9 A.D (Western Han); 25-220 A.D. (Eastern Han)

Neutrino

Named after streets in the area of Columbia University

Name	Function	CPU	Memory	Disk	Derived from
riverside	Neutrino workgroup server	Quad 2.27 GHz Four-core Xeon	12 GB	14 TB
westside	Neutrino workgroup server	Quad 2.27 GHz Four-core Xeon	12 GB	14 TB
morningside	Neutrino workgroup server	Dual Intel Xeon 2.5 GHz quad-core	8 GB	6.3 TB
amsterdam	Neutrino workgroup server	Dual 3.2 GHz Xeon	4 GB	2.4 TB
claremont	Neutrino client	2.4 GHz Pentium 4	1 GB	67 GB
broadway	Neutrino client (in the Annex)	1.86 GHz Dual-core	1 GB	72 GB
columbus	Neutrino client (in the Annex)	1.86 GHz Dual-core	1 GB	72 GB
madison	Neutrino client (in the Annex)	1.86 GHz Dual-core	1 GB	72 GB

VERITAS

Named after characters in the Earthsea books by Ursula K. LeGuin

Name	Function	CPU	Memory	Disk	Derived from
tehanu	VERITAS workgroup server	Dual 2.27 GHz Xeon quad-core	12 GB	13 TB	Tehanu is the fourth book in the series

Shared between workgroups

Named (initially) for characters and locations from the Harry Potter novels by J. K. Rowling. (The student boxes are also shared, but they're described separately.) The reason for mixed naming scheme is these systems were at one time dedicated to specific workgroups.

Name	Function	CPU	Memory	Disk	Derived from
hogwarts	General shared server	Dual 2.4 GHz Xeon	1 MB	450 GB	Hogwarts, a school where wizards are trained
harry	Shared client	2.8 GHz Pentium 4	2 GB	35 GB	Harry Potter, the hero of the series
hermione	Shared client	1.8 GHz Pentium 4	1 GB	20 GB	Hermione Granger, one of Harry's friends
ron	Shared client	2.8 GHz Pentium 4	512 MB	35 GB	Ron Weasley, another of Harry's friends
guinevere	Shared client	2.8 GHz Pentium 4	2 GB	35 GB	Queen Guinevere, Arthur's wife and Lancelot's love
mario	Shared client	2.8 GHz Pentium 4	1.5 GB	35 GB	Named after characters in the Super Mario Bros. series of games.
luigi	Shared client	2.4 GHz Celeron	2 GB	36 GB
yoshi	Shared client	Pentium 4 2.8GHz	1.5 GB	35 GB
bowser	Shared client	Dual Pentium E2180 2GHz	2 GB	228 GB
toad	Shared client	Pentium 4 1.7GHz	1 GB	300 GB
yoog	Shared client located in the Annex	1.8 GHz Pentium 4	1 GB	24 GB	From the Russian word for "south" (since it's located in "Nevis South")
merlin	Shared client located in the Annex	1.8 GHz Pentium 4	1 GB	35 GB	A wizard who was the advisor to King Arthur.

Administrative servers

Named for historical figures who made important contributions to Western thought

Name	Function	CPU	Memory	Disk	Derived from
hypatia	HA server	Two AMD Opteron 6128 (16 cores total)	16 GB	2.5 TB	Hypatia of Alexandria (d. 415), a teacher and philosopher who was killed for advocating experimental science and other heresies.
orestes	HA server	Two AMD Opteron 6128 (16 cores total)	16 GB	2.5 TB	Orestes was prefect of Alexandria, and tried to maintain the peace between Hypatia and Cyril. He failed, providing Cyril with the opportunity to arrange Hypatia's death.
hermes	Condor and DNS server	Dual-core 1.86 GHz Xeon	1 GB	128 GB	Hermes was the messenger of the gods; a god of intellect, invention, travelers, communication, and many other attributes.
franklin	mail server	Dual-core 2.8 GHz Pentium D	2 GB	200 GB	Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), who was (among many other things) the first Postmaster General of the United Sates.
ada	web server	Xen virtual machine on HA cluster			Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace (1815-1852), the founder of scientific computing.
lincoln	log server	alias for hermes			Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), lawyer, statesman, and 16th American President; said to have been born in a log cabin.
shelley	backup server	Dual Core 1.5 GHz Intel Xeon 3050	2 GB	4 TB	Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851), writer and philosopher, best known as the author of Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus.
tango	samba server	Xen virtual machine on HA cluster			The tango is a dance from Argentina that's actually quite different from the Brazilian samba.
sullivan	mailing-list server	Xen virtual machine on HA cluster			Take your pick: From Anne Sullivan, who taught Helen Keller how to communicate; From Sir Arthur Sullivan, of Gilbert and Sullivan, who composed The Mikado ("...he's got 'em on the list...").
cordwainer	scanner workstation	2.8 GHz Pentium 4	512 MB	35 GB	Cordwainer Smith was a science-fiction writer. Among his best-known stories is Scanners Live in Vain.
annex	Annex general-purpose server	Dual 2.4 GHz Xeon	1 GB	250 GB	sometimes we have to use a practical name

Why the funny names?

Well, there's the sheer intellectual over-indulgence of it all, but there's also a serious reason: the function of a given computer can change over time; for example, a computer that used to be Jones' Linux desktop client may become an FTP server in the future. If the computer's name was jonespc or d0pc3, we'd want to change it to ftpserver or something like that. If the computer's name was hanuman.nevis.columbia.edu, there'd be no reason to change it, nor any need to update the various databases of names (/etc/hosts, NIS, DNS, etc.).

Obviously, we have this luxury because there are relatively few computers at Nevis. We can configure them individually and know each one by name. If we had a hundred boxes, this would be impossible.