Add Stollen Day 2

content/blog/wk8day4.md

@@ -1,7 +1,98 @@
 ---
-title: "Week 8, Thursday:"
-date: 2024-09-19T21:55:00+02:00
-draft: true
+title: "Week 8, Thursday: Stollen - Day 2"
+date: 2024-09-19T19:55:00+02:00
 ---
 
-{{< image frame="true" width="17em" float="right" src="/img/headline/todo.png" alt="Credit: " >}}
+{{< image frame="true" width="17em" float="right" src="/img/headline/orion.png" alt="Credit: Orion, YouTube" >}}
+
+For some strange reason I did not have problems getting up this morning. Marina was still on one ear
+as my alarmclock went off at 08:00. I brushed the teeth, drank the coffee, and started my morning
+BIOS routine. There's a few things that I have on a keep-list, some small things that we wished we
+would've had yesterday, but while Fred is in a hotel in Luzern, I am able to bring some more stuff
+with me to continue our work in the Stollen cavern.
+
+I drive to Luzern and arrive there at 10:10 or so. Fred is already hard at work, and he has good
+news. The link to Zurich was working all along - it's just (and we are a bit embarrased to admit
+this), it was _shutdown_ on the other side, and in such a state, there will be no link! The remedy
+is quickly found, and Fred creates the LACP bundle to Zurich, with one member in it, and it shoots
+to life. This new POP is starting to take shape! But luck is not with him, and for the longest time
+in the morning, he tries to find out why the management network is not doing what he wants.
+
+It turns out, this POP is a bit different than the others; here, we use the `MgmtEth0` port to
+create a HSRP pair, but seeing as these are not _router_ ports, but just _management_ ports, it will
+not budge. In the end, he reconfigures the whole lot to be a _BVI_ on the 20G LAG instead, and
+everything comes up as expected. But, he complains bitterly: a whole morning wasted!
+
+Marco is taking us out to lunch, by which I mean "a cross connect seminar", and we make our way with
+the Stollen and EWL crew to a local italian joint. I have a pizza Quattro Formaggio, Fred enjoys a
+Lasanga, and the entire Stollen crew eats the same: roastbeef. Fun!
+
+We get back at 13:30 and decide to step up the tempo. We still have a tonne of work to do. I take
+the cabling as my mission, and lay trays and fiber trunks and MPO cassettes everywhere. Fred starts
+work to get the customer connections terminated in this room. In a spare moment, he helps me rack my
+machines. They are in the top of the rack, and we need to hold them above our heads to be able to
+put them in their rails. But, we do not crack open any skulls on this exercise, and the machines
+are energized quickly enough. 
+
+Now that the IP-Max management network is up, I can reclaim my APU and put it back as it was
+originally: it takes one IPv4 and IPv6 from IP-Max space, and then has an internal LAN for IPMI, for
+WiFI, and for IPng Site Local. I use the WiFi to log in to the APU, and from there I can use IPMI
+serial-over-lan to power on and configure the VPP machine, Hypervisor and Centec switch.
+
+When they're sufficiently UP, I turn my attention back to another task: cleaning up the room! We
+have a few dozen plastic baggies from the fiber patch cables, a bunch of cardboard and plastic and
+other junk. It all goes into one big bag and off to the bin. Today, we take a little bit better care
+of ourselves, and we go outside to breath oxygen (and Fred a bit of nicotine also!) every ninety
+minutes or so. This really does help in this _oxyreduct_ atmosphere.
+
+The good news is: all physical connections are done, up, and running. The room has been completely
+cleaned and all junk and wrappers/plastic/cardboard removed. This means: we can bounce! At 18:00 we
+ask Marco to help us bring our cart with the remaining stuff (our bags, leftover optics, cables, and
+whatnot). He opens the goods sleuce and we're quickly outside. Byebye, Marco! It was really nice
+working with you these last two days.
+
+We go to Fred's hotel. I hear there's a good resto there. But, we first need to sillybrate our
+accomplishments, as within the span of the last ten to twelve working hours, we transformed this
+empty cage with 14 racks into a carrier-quality point of presence for IP-Max AS25091, with 2x10G to
+Lausanne, and 2x10G to Zurich, and all customers moved into the new infrastructure (except for one,
+which will be done soon!). 
+
+Working from the hotel is so much more relaxed (quelle surprise), and we clean up bits and bobs, do
+our bookkeeping, things like DNS and IPAM, document which patch panel and cassette goes where, which
+fiber is connected where, and send a few e-mails to follow up with suppliers and customers. I am
+tempted to construct the L2VPN MPLS backhaul for IPng's VPP router and Centec switch, but I decide
+in the end to do this tomorrow from my place: bigger screen, better music, and less enthusiastic
+interruptions from my hard working buddy, Fred.
+
+But there' another reason why: we're hungry! Somewhat unimaginatively, I order roughly the same
+thing as yesterday. It does not go unnoticed, a couple sits next to us and says "that steak must be
+very good, you had it yesterday!". But!! I also took a salad this evening :-) It's then 21:00 and I
+decide to drive home, leaving a tired Fred who is still floating on clouds due to the turnup. He
+will go back tomorrow morning and do some labeling/stickering work. Tomorrow, I will make the L2VPN
+stuff for IPng and do some tests with these new 20G pipes, just to make sure that end-to-end the
+connectivity is as we'd expect, before we put more customers onto this POP.
+
+Oh, also, on Saturday I appear to be on a flight to Oslo, Norway. It may be a good time tomorrow to
+finish that presentation for NONOG. I have it ... 75% done, but I'd prefer for it to be 100% done so
+that I don't have to be in a hotel in Oslo while Marina is out on the town without me. So I have my
+action plan for tomorrow. Good night, and may the packets flow and our pagers forever be quiet.
+
+## Pictures of the Day
+
+{{< gallery-category >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1384.JPG" caption="The stuff we wished we had had yesterday. Fiber guides with brushes, an APU6 for IP-Max, a WiFi kit for IP-Max, and a label printer." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1386.JPG" caption="Fred and I make an enthusiastic selfie in the room, as it's almost ready for production use!" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1388.JPG" caption="One of the two ASR9k+Nexus combos. There are two of these racks in the room, and each has its own management switch and terminal server, and also each has 2x10G to other datacenters. I don't expect much downtime inthis room..." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1389.JPG" caption="The rack that I'm moving IPng into, as seen from the back." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1392.JPG" caption="The VPP router (top), blank (the Centec is a R-to-F device, so it's in the back), and hypervisor (below). IPng will soon be open for business here!" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1404.JPG" caption="The IP-Max footprint up close. There's already quite a few fibers breaking in- and out of this router." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1406.JPG" caption="The back of IPng's small footprint. Could you believe this VPP router does 2x25G + 4x10G and easily handles 200Mpps on about 120W of power??" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1409.JPG" caption="Cheers, Fred! We had a tough two days, but we delivered the room ahead of schedule, and that deserves a beer." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/cheers.png" caption="Cheers, Pim! Fred took this nice under-beer picture. We worked hard, and now we get to relax a little bit." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1410.JPG" caption="Look, Marina! I ate a salad today! And a second 350g steak. Sorry for being boring :-)" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1411.JPG" caption="The beef is sizzling on a hot stone, and it really hits the spot after such a day of POP building." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1412.JPG" caption="On the way home, the full moon was shining bright over A14. The drive home was 50min or so, which is totally cool! I an be in this place pretty quickly in case of emergencies" >}}
+{{< /gallery-category >}}
+
+{{< gallery-modal >}}
+{{< gallery-script >}}

content/gallery.md

@@ -550,6 +550,18 @@ menu:
   {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-18/IMG_1378.JPG" caption="A view of the top of the racks with the cold aisle roof in front of us, and a bright yellow fibertray that will carry the fiber trunks between the racks." >}}
   {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-18/IMG_1382.JPG" caption="I order a Farmer's Size (350g) beef filet, and it smells godly. Also: R&ouml;stikroketten, just sayin'" >}}
   {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-18/IMG_1383.JPG" caption="Fred took a candid camera shot of me seasoning my steak. I'm in a happy place, clearly" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1384.JPG" caption="The stuff we wished we had had yesterday. Fiber guides with brushes, an APU6 for IP-Max, a WiFi kit for IP-Max, and a label printer." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1386.JPG" caption="Fred and I make an enthusiastic selfie in the room, as it's almost ready for production use!" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1388.JPG" caption="One of the two ASR9k+Nexus combos. There are two of these racks in the room, and each has its own management switch and terminal server, and also each has 2x10G to other datacenters. I don't expect much downtime inthis room..." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1389.JPG" caption="The rack that I'm moving IPng into, as seen from the back." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1392.JPG" caption="The VPP router (top), blank (the Centec is a R-to-F device, so it's in the back), and hypervisor (below). IPng will soon be open for business here!" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1404.JPG" caption="The IP-Max footprint up close. There's already quite a few fibers breaking in- and out of this router." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1406.JPG" caption="The back of IPng's small footprint. Could you believe this VPP router does 2x25G + 4x10G and easily handles 200Mpps on about 120W of power??" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1409.JPG" caption="Cheers, Fred! We had a tough two days, but we delivered the room ahead of schedule, and that deserves a beer." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/cheers.png" caption="Cheers, Pim! Fred took this nice under-beer picture. We worked hard, and now we get to relax a little bit." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1410.JPG" caption="Look, Marina! I ate a salad today! And a second 350g steak. Sorry for being boring :-)" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1411.JPG" caption="The beef is sizzling on a hot stone, and it really hits the spot after such a day of POP building." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-19/IMG_1412.JPG" caption="On the way home, the full moon was shining bright over A14. The drive home was 50min or so, which is totally cool! I an be in this place pretty quickly in case of emergencies" >}}
 {{< /gallery-category >}}
 
 {{< gallery-modal >}}