CEP2, The end of an unruly workhorse

© RO, RUG CIT

On January 19th, we celebrated the delivery of our new CEP4 cluster of computers. It replaced the CEP2 cluster, which has been used to process LOFAR data from April 2011 until December 2016, i.e. about 5,5 years. Not many tears will be shed for CEP2, as it had a painful start and was long plagued by production faults. But in the end we managed to stabilize its operation; the last year of its service was the best.

So what happens with the old CEP2 cluster?

Last December we contacted three recycling companies, of which Solid Circle from Waalwijk made the best offer. We asked them to pick up the 108 CEP2 systems and also about 40 old LCU's of the Dutch LOFAR stations. They were particularly happy with the 1200 disks of 2TB each, and most systems will be checked and refurbished.

Refurbishing these machines is of course good for the environment although their power consumption is substantial! The company carefully registers all systems, even the very old ones, and all disks are completely erased by means of a certified method.

On January 12th, a team of six people from Solid Circle, RUG-CIT and ASTRON emptied the nine racks of the CIT location "Landleven". Trolley after trolley with hardware rolled out of the data center towards recycling. A special Thanks to Kees Visser for all the years of teeth-gnashing care for this unruly workhorse.