8.7 KiB
title, date
| title | date |
|---|---|
| Week 12, Monday: Brainserve, Lau-ss-ane | 2024-10-14T21:55:00+02:00 |
{{< image frame="true" width="17em" float="right" src="/img/headline/noraenpure-10.png" alt="Credit: Nora en Pure, YouTube" >}}
It's funny how when one is motivated, one can do ~anything. For me, today, this is getting up at an invalid time of 07:30 so that I can beat traffic underway to Geneva. I wanted to take plenty of time at Brainserve, which is in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud. It's about two and a half hours drive, and considering Quinn is already at work (getting up at 05:45, daa-doyyyy), and Marina is up and about preparing to go to her weekly drawing class in Oerlikon, I decide that I'll also just bite the bullet, and drink two strong espresso's, fill the belly with a leftover sandwich roll with salami, and get going.
Yesterday I already put all the stuff in the car, so all I have to do is punch in the datacenter address and take off to Laussane. Wait, was that a typo, you say? The city name is Lausanne, right? Well, there's a story here. In 2013, I had a datacenter tour in a former military bunker called Deltalis DK2, built in a 20'000 m2 former military bunker. Before it was turned into a datacenter though, I got the full scoop. One of the features of this installation was a staff planning room with a large 6x3m map of Europe. The planners would make a layout of the (war) theater and then push up the map to another floor where the generals would sit. That map is pretty impressive, but it has one very embarassing typo: the map-maker misspelled the city and called it Laussane. Hilarity ensued, but the (German speaking) staff of the bunker did not want to pay for a new map, so they left it there. If you're curious about this type of facility, I have a beautiful [photo album].
My drive to Crissier is pretty much line rate. No traffic, nothing like the Gottard tunnel on [[Saturday]({{< ref wk11day6.md >}})], and just a very leisurely drive through Switzerland. I had planned to be at the datacenter at 11:00 or so, but I beat traffic significantly and rocked up to the place at 10:15. Perfect! I've never been to this place before, so I'll need to do a little bit of a song-and-dance to get in for the first time, delivering pictures, badges, biometrics and so on. You know what I find funny? On a good day, entering Equinix with a fully planned visit will easily take ninety minutes. A visit, completely unannounced, entering Brainserve for the first time, the whole entry was facilitated, including badge + biometrics + escorting me to the rack, was done in about twenty minutes. Fortune 500, my ass.
IP-Max rack is in the carrier room, and it's not hard to find. It's the one with the jet-engine blowing refridgerator called an ASR9010, with dark fiber to Geneva and 2x10G to Luzern, the ones we installed a few weeks ago in [[Stollen]({{< ref wk8day3.md >}})]. My stuff turns into a bit of a bottom feeder, and I install it in the bottom of the rack. The Centec switch takes about 30W and the Dell R630 takes about 80W (and 150W when it's fully loaded). For 2x25G router and about 60Mpps of forwarding capacity, that's not bad at all!
My stuff has been pre-configured, but I do need to spend a little bit of time remapping the circuits from IP-Max. I move the existing one, which is from Geneva to Luzern, to become two ones: one of them from Geneva to Lausanne, and the other from Lausanne to Luzern. I break these 10G circuits out on two switchports, and hook them up to IPng's Site Local. Once I have access to the switch, the rest can be done remotely, and I intend to do so. It's way much more fun to hang out with Fred and the gang in Geneva, so I do a cursory glance to make sure all links are up and the fibers are cleaned and without errors. Ready? Let's get out of here!
As a friend with benefits, I get to park my car in the middle of Geneva on a private parking lot at IP-Max head quarters. Nice one! In the back yard, Fred's neighbor and friend Fabrice and Fred are having Ricard. I am partial to a nice pastis myself, and one is quicky made for me. Also, another one is made for me after the first one, because (a) I am not driving anywhere tonight, and (b) as the dutch might say op één been kun je niet lopen.
We leave my car here and take Fred's to his parking garage, but what is that he sees? There's a local tobacco shop, completely random, operated by a buddy of Fred's called Sidney. We find a parking spot in front of it, and go in. Here, I am explained a marvel of local culture. As soon as one walks into this store, one is henceforth addressed as Christian and the ladies are Christianne. This is so bizarre, but it's true! Fred walked it and this guy says "Eeeeey! Christian!" and hands him a beer. Later, some woman rocks up and is greeted by three people "Heeeey! Christianne!". I myself am greeted as Christian, and even an actually real life named Christian, a trader, joins us. Here we are, a small kiosk shop with ten people happily having a pint and chatting about our day, and I find the symbolism of everybody being a Christian(ne) both hilarious as well as somewhat touching.
Anyway, Christian and I still haven't had lunch, and it's now 17:30, but Christian says we should go to Le Petit Raphaäl and if we do, he'll arrange for the food to be 50% off. Christian is a wonderfully delightful character, with Dutch roots (Amsterdam and Haarlem), but also traveled in the African continent, speaking Frech, English and German and saying 'Dankuwel' a lot. There's also Christian, who is a half-britton-half-swiss, and speaks a really nice southern-english accent. Christian is really nice to get to know as well.
After about an hour or so, Christian and I leave and pick up the car. Since I've only had one pint, Fred (as he is immediately called after leaving the door), hands me the keys. Smart move, Fred! You know I can parallel park better than you :-) 🥰 I yeet the BMW into the parking garage across from Fred's place and we make our way on foot to Raphaël. The food here is honest, pretty good, but the resto has a bit of a weird vibe to it. It smells a bit fatty (like a belgian friture), but the steak is good. Actually, the steak got even better when, much to my surprise, the bill comes and it is, in actual fact, 50% off. Haleluja!
As we walk back after this early dinner / very late lunch (Fred) / super late breakfast (me), we bump into the very same crew of Christians, and two of them are happy to join us for drinks. Amedée and Rob are game for a drink and a smoke. Fred bought me cigars, so I finally get to scratch that itch that I've had for weeks now. At Fred's place, we are jolly, Amedée is friendly and wants me to talk Dutch to him, and he is also deeply impressed with my Swiss German, which I call Schwyyzer-Dutch. I can get away with it, but only in places that don't speak the dialect themselves. Here in French-town Geneva, it's very convincing indeed.
At about 01:00, Rob decides from one second to the next that he's done. He grabs Amedée and the electric scooter, and they both bounce. But I'm still completely in love with the Dazzling Saphire cat, who is a sixteen year old [Turkish Angora]. The fun thing about him, is that he is running Dog Operating System in a Cat Chassis. Very clingy, very chatty and super super soft friendly. I try to convince Dazzling to come and snuggle with me in my bed, tonight.
My head hits the pillow, and a mere few minutes later I hear a faint mrrrrwow and detect a feline jumping onto my bed and curling up into a ball against my legs. 💎
Pictures of the Day
{{< gallery-category >}} {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-14/laussane.png" caption="The map from Deltalis DK2 bunker with the misspelled Laussane" >}} {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-14/IMG_2078.JPG" caption="IP-Max's point of presence in Brainserve is a beefy ASR9010 with dark fiber to Geneva and 2x10G waves to Lucerne. It is yummy, and IPng's AS8298 is now here too!" >}} {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-14/IMG_2081.JPG" caption="IPng's Centec and Dell R630 chcri0.ipng.ch, ready to be configured and put into service. " >}} {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-14/IMG_2085.JPG" caption="May I introduce to you: Christian, Christian, Christian and me. In the background, you can see Christianne and Christianne." >}} {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-14/IMG_2088.JPG" caption="The Petit Raphaël, with a steak on a hot stone. It's good, and at a very affordable price." >}} {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-10-14/IMG_2096.JPG" caption="Dazzling Saphire, my best buddy in the GVA03 point of presence." >}} {{< /gallery-category >}}
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