2023.06.26 — The Last Piece of the Puzzle

We’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!

Erik Uden => ErikUden@mastodon.de

2023-06-26 17:14:31

If you just lost an eBay auction by willithesmith, guess who just got the MikroTek hEX S router, fool

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!