Post AXSBFbu2ZFNkylOhyS by Erik@social.uden.ai
(DIR) More posts by Erik@social.uden.ai
(DIR) Post #AXF97XYmVCVgw8ewXQ by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-06-23T07:54:14.647354Z
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Official #MastodonDE Progress ThreadLast Update: 2023-06-29 TL;DR: We will host a general purpose Mastodon instance on the domain mastodon.de with pretty good hardware we got donated. We are in the process of getting a noBGP IP tunnel from @sarah through her Belgian company https://servperso.net! It’s very reliable and cheap according to the future co-admin Nick, who has been using her services for a while now. I believe the IP address will hence be seemingly “located” in Belgium, I can already see the memes of “mastodonDE is hosted in BELGIUM??” no, it’s just the IP. All hardware is located in East Frisia. We are currently planning on @Emily being a moderator with 2-3 other people also getting that position (they do not have a Fedi account yet). We are planning on opening the instance around the middle of July, entirely self-hosted. More updates will follow soon in this thread. Stay tuned.
(DIR) Post #AXF97YGNt5O97N3lVA by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-06-26T18:34:16.093639Z
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2023.06.26 — The Last Piece of the PuzzleWe’ve just successfully purchased a MikroTik hEX S RB760IGS router which we needed as an L2TP client to connect to our noBGP IP tunnel! This concludes our quest for finding the right hardware, meaning we now have ALL hardware necessary to build #MastodonDE! Now all we need to do is transport parts of that hardware from Frankfurt to our secure location, which will happen on the 29th and the 30th of June. So, on the 1st of July we will begin assembling everything which will take 10-14 days (80 work hours). Nick has assembled a full plan that is attached to this post detailing every step necessary for building the complex server infrastructure that will host MastodonDE (in German)! MastodonDE is becoming more and more a reality with every minute that passes!
(DIR) Post #AXF97Z7CihdhlBlwpc by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-06-27T14:45:42.942695Z
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2023-06-27 — A Surprise to Be Sure, But a Welcome One Yesterday something amazing happened! Sarah (@sarah) from Servperso Systems, a one-person-ISP, offered to give us a noBGP IP tunnel for free for a year in order to help kickstart #MastodonDE! She is heavily in support of Mastodon and wants to help hobbyists like us to make a better community for everyone! Please support her back by going to https://www.servperso.net/ and considering Servperso Systems as a BGP VM/Tunnel, IP Transit, or NoBGP IPv4 provider! You’d absolutely be supporting the right person. 7.26€/Month for a noBGP IPv4 tunnel is an awesome deal. Once again, thank you SO much Sarah, the MastodonDE team will forever be in your debt 🙏! ♥ AS34872 & AS208210 ♥
(DIR) Post #AXF97aeuyqCYY2YO1I by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-06-28T20:07:51.879225Z
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2023-06-28 - All Done and Dusted - Clock’s Ticking Two nice things happened today! For starters: Around 14:00 GMT+1 we received the MikroTik hEX S router fully operational and in original packaging. If we had ordered it through Amazon we’d be lucky if it were to arrive even in the month of July! Thanks to that anonymous individual who sold it on eBay, Nick will be able to set up the IP tunnel on the original device and not bring his own and then transfer the configuration to the correct MikroTik router once it arrives (which was our backup plan). The OTHER more important thing that was finally done today is the DECLUTTERING (entrümpeln) / clearing out of the secure location. I took the measurements of the rack and found the perfect spot to put it with an ethernet Internet connection and unused power source nearby. This took all day and I’m super exhausted. Really, we (me and my dad @Wall_E) began this morning at 08:30 and JUST finished at 21:22. We’re far from done with clearing the whole site, but at least the place we need is nice and clean. Tomorrow, with my train starting at 04:51 in the morning, I will drive to Frankfurt to pick up the final pieces of hardware that cannot be transported by a car. I will arrive in Frankfurt by 13:38 if all goes well, so I will most likely really arrive around 15:00. The next day, Friday the 30th of June 2023, I will go back home starting 05:21 AM from the Frankfurt central station arriving 15:05 if all goes to plan. Nick will join me a day later, July 1st 2023. Mark this date, folx! July 1st 2023 is the day when all pieces of the puzzle and all key figures will be located in the exact right spot to build #MastodonDE. That day will mark the beginning of the 80 hour two week journey that is creating the monstrosity known as a huge general purpose Mastodon instance. Although the plan to make this instance already began in January this year, the execution to full construct it will begin in THREE DAYS!
(DIR) Post #AXF97bL6RzwgesI4m0 by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-06-30T00:11:59.092767Z
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2023-06-29 — Loading Up all the Pieces (1/2) As the date where construction will begin comes closer and closer (JULY 1ST, IN TWO DAYS), I’ve traveled all the way to Frankfurt to help Nick sort all his server / networking components, load them up to his car, and also to carry the rack back to our secure location in Norden by train in an escapade beginning 3:00 AM tomorrow. Or rather today, as I am writing this at 2:00 AM in the morning, as that’s how long it took to load up all the servers.
(DIR) Post #AXF97cBZIvufHapyYC by TheActualBrian@mastodon.social
2023-06-30T00:30:38Z
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@Erik @Emily
(DIR) Post #AXF97d2O8YADvPY9se by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-07-01T07:24:21.492226Z
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Yeah, these images should’ve been marked NSFW for Data Hoarders. However, you can rest assured knowing that they are being transported today, right now, this very second, looking like this:
(DIR) Post #AXF97dERPjnyWnBmfQ by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-06-30T00:12:24.269041Z
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2023-06-29 — Loading Up all the Pieces (2/2) I’ve met with @Emily at the Frankfurt central station ~14:00, we were picked up by Nick at ~15:00, we ate a currywurst, drove to Nick’s home ~17:00, turned everything upside down to put it all sorted and well into Nick’s car. We also carried the rack from their allotments (Schrebergarten) to their home and finished round about now at 02:00 AM on the 30th of June. Soooo, considering my train is leaving today in three hours rom the Frankfurt central station AND I haven’t slept yet AND it takes ~40 minutes to get to the Frankfurt central station, it’s gonna be another wild night.
(DIR) Post #AXJbj4m1YJ7o0hNch6 by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-06-30T06:07:19.622128Z
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2023-06-30 — RACK TRAVEL STORY 1st picture: 04:01 AM - Nick’s house 2nd picture: 04:14 AM - Tram station 3rd picture: 04:23 AM - Tram 4th picture: 04:50 AM - Frankfurt Central 5th picture: 05:06 AM - RE30 to Kassel 6th picture: 07:31 AM - RE30 to Kassel 7th picture: 07:41 AM - RB83 to Göttingen More pictures to follow as the rack continues to travel across Germany!
(DIR) Post #AXJbj5iA49d4v0a3JQ by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-07-01T08:02:06.842559Z
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2023-06-30 — RACK TRAVEL STORY pt. 2 8th picture: 09:15 AM - RB83 back to Kassel 9th picture: 10:03 AM - Kassel Central 10th picture: 10:32 AM - RE11 to Hamm 11th picture: 12:34 PM - RE11 to HammFull with people, some needed to sit on my rack 12th picture: 13:12 - Hamm Central No picture from Hamm to Münster as I was giving a lecture with the rack in my hands to a crowd of people interested to hear about the Fediverse (they were involuntarily indoctrinated with a FOSS belief system) 13th picture: 14:09 - WFB RE15 to Emden 14th picture: 14:43 - WFB RE15 to EmdenHolding a peach in my hand which was given to me by a nice lady on the trip from Hamm to Münster 15th picture: 16:15 - Emden Central 16th picture: 17:12 - My dad’s car in Norden 17th picture: 17:31 - The secure location #MastodonDE will be hosted in! Thank you to everyone who made this journey possible, from Nick’s dad who got wounded trying to carry this thing, to the people donating belts to keep the two pieces together, the conductor in the RB83 who said it was “fine” as long as I’d buy a bike ticket for it, and everyone who helped me carry it into and out of trains!! THANK YOU!!!! MastodonDE is now well on its way to become a reality. Nick will arrive late in the evening today with all the other necessary hardware. WE CAN DO THIS!!
(DIR) Post #AXJbj6Vn5dKPOvngfY by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-07-01T21:29:34.751154Z
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2023-07-01 — Final Preparations My room is now prepared to be able to house one other person (Nick). He will arrive at ~3 AM because there were some complications with transporting the server hardware from Frankfurt. Kitty is a big fan of the new bed, despite her old one being taken away to make space for the #MastodonDE rack!
(DIR) Post #AXJbj75awVy5ByYHTc by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-07-02T18:34:35.439445Z
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2023-07-02 — Construction Day 1 Nick arrived at ~02:01 in the night and we talked about everything until 04:00 AM. We got up at ~11:00 AM, began the whole process by figuring out what we even have with us by writing down the names, serial numbers, and taking pictures of every server and network device we got with us. Afterwards we looked at the HDDs and made the first steps to mount the rack to the ground. Now, as it’s evening, we are laying ethernet cables from our router to where the rack will be. However, we couldn’t finish building the rack as planned as the company we ordered M6 screws from ONLY delivered the M6 washers despite the invoice saying we ordered both. Curse you vermitu GmbH! Because of you our whole schedule was delayed by a day. Eventful day tho, am excited to see how far the progress on #MastodonDE will go tomorrow! We thankfully received a LOT of help by my father @Wall_E. Am considering of setting up a livestream for the build process tomorrow as many moments during the build process today were too iconic
(DIR) Post #AXJbj7YfCRDie89Umm by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-07-03T09:35:32.473403Z
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2023-07-03 — Construction Day 2 Drilling holes for the rack housing #MastodonDE
(DIR) Post #AXJbj8FCeHFQm43T5k by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-07-03T11:00:47.616965Z
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2023-07-03 — Construction Day 2 My father is helping to the best of his ability. Thanks @Wall_E
(DIR) Post #AXLqZEdfuDDDL89ze4 by eichkat3r@hessen.social
2023-07-01T08:08:12Z
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@Erik @Emily hast du ihnen vom eichkat3r erzählt?
(DIR) Post #AXSBFWpFRdZtES7JJI by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-07-03T12:23:37.297184Z
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2023-07-03 — Construction Day 2 The rack can now withstand a direct nuclear strike. Also first hardware is being put into the rack as we speak!! #MastodonDE
(DIR) Post #AXSBFXiC9LWvyrpBxI by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-07-03T22:33:22.907423Z
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2023-07-03 — Construction Day 2 We put up the rack, simulated putting stuff inside of it to get the measures, marked holes on the ground, then drilled there. This took immense effort as our ground was thick cement, but sooner than later we got it. We also fortified the rack even further with some angles attached to the wall. Later we started a livestream on Kick. I’ve never heard about Kick and thought it was sus (like “Rumble”), but Nick swore it’s good, and then literally the only interactions we had was people telling us we suck for using Kick as it’s financed by Casinos. I KNEW IT! Nick also tapped his screwdriver which had a phase tester built into it which lighted up when touching the rack, meaning it was electrified, meaning something went terribly wrong. Luckily we hadn’t put any hardware into it, yet, but we instantly pulled the rack’s power strip out of the outlet and figured out the problem was with the outlet, so we used another one and put off fixing that specific outlet for later. Nick and I put all the necessary servers and networking hardware into the rack, really, we got them all in now, which took huge effort, but that means we’re much ahead of schedule now which is awesome! As the stream was reaching its first or second hour, we got a free pizza sent to us by some anonymous donor. Someone ordered it on my name and paid online. We have no clue who it was to this moment (asked all of my friends lol). Thanks to whomever did that! Nick also sent the livestream to his instructor/employer and the first thing they saw was us eating pizza. Good time. We needed to drill holes so we could lay a 10Gb/s ethernet cable from my router to our rack, however in the drilling process one of the drill heads got stuck, so we thought we’d use another drill head to get it out of there, it got stuck, so then we thought we’d use a third drill head to drill from below into the ceiling to free them, which: SURPRISE! Also got stuck. Somehow Nick freed all of them after three hours, then we cleaned everything and drilled one final hole which worked. We played three ethernet cables through there, one from before, the other one for the rack, and the last one just because we may need it at some point. During all this time Nick was finishing off all the cabling for the router which was now profound and, I think, even almost done. Since we worked from ~08:00 AM to 23:00, I am now extremely tired and will just fall asleep, Nick is also already lying in bed. Great day huge progress! Fantastic news for the Fedi.
(DIR) Post #AXSBFYSdMgg2ItYHL6 by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-07-04T10:18:25.554620Z
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2023-07-04 — Construction Day 3 WE JUST BOOTED POWERED UP ALL SERVERS THAT WILL SOON RUN #MastodonDE, AND (next to operating system issues) ONE OF THEM ALREADY FUNCTIONS! Watch this live: https://www.twitch.tv/mastodon_de
(DIR) Post #AXSBFZ8SrA8aOd7gXY by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-07-04T23:42:41.565123Z
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2023-07-04 — Construction Day 3 A lot groundwork has happened today! The stream announcement was met with positive surprise, as well as the video of us turning the servers on for the first time! We now have an official update account for MastodonDE specifically (which will move to become the Admin account of the instance): @Mastodon Additionally we have a Telegram Update & Discussion channel:https://t.me/mastodon_de …and a Signal Update & Discussion channel:MastodonDE Update and Discussion Channel — Signal Our stream on Twitch now also keeps streams as VODs (but no worries, everything will be uploaded to PeerTube and YouTube eventually)! We also got a better camera (which then made the stream laggy cuz 4K, so we turned the quality down which was still beautiful) and more 1GB RAM modules for our jumpgate server from Rubi Elektronik, a local hardware store. We also began naming some servers! The jumgate is named Halla, our VM-Server is names Maia. We are still looking for names for the 5 others! So today we went from having no servers ever being electrified to every server having a fresh OS install, working, and being ready for further configuration. We are still good in our schedule, but that’s probably as we’re doing ~13h+ shifts a day. I got a bit sick, possibly because of that, hoping for it to be better tomorrow, but currently I’m feeling like it’s gonna get a lot worse. We’ll see… Thanks to everyone for reading and watching! Have a wonderful day.
(DIR) Post #AXSBFa0LcpEt5kKiWm by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-07-05T12:21:59.474846Z
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2023-07-05 — Construction Day 4 New livestream setup + configuring servers on stream!https://www.twitch.tv/mastodon_de
(DIR) Post #AXSBFbu2ZFNkylOhyS by Erik@social.uden.ai
2023-07-05T22:57:50.001489Z
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2023-07-05 — Construction Day 4 Next to awesome solar power production thanks to a hurricane, every server got an OS installed, a local IP address, even the SSH server got to work now! Nick had to go through insane WebBIOS (???) settings to set some of these up. I’m honestly amazed. In the meantime I bettered the stream setup to allow for multi-camera streaming and setup a Patreon, Liberapay, and Ko-Fi! We also had Nick’s tutor join the chat to criticize his work (classic) and convinced a commentator @umsteiger to join the Fedi! Say hiii! Eventful day, first Mastodon install attempts will begin on Construction Day 5! Wish me luck!