community support

• sdnog Hosting project story
• Extending a Hand to Global Internet Communities - ISOC Lebanon
• sdnog hosting project: infrastructure updates

sdnog Hosting project story

Who We Are?

From Day One, it has always been sdnog’s goal to improve the state of inter-networking for the Sudanese community, and to provide an example for other NOGS to build on. We’ve learnt from our engagement and friends across the world, and our most fervent wish is to “give back”. To achieve this, we conducted numerous workshops, engaged in weekly activities, hosted forums, organised annual conferences, and actively participated in national IT events in Sudan, such as SDv6TF. Additionally, we took strides in developing the Sudan Internet Exchange (IX), among other initiatives. Above all, our commitment to document all plans, ideas, and reports pertaining to each activity has been paramount. By sharing our experiences in written form, we aim to enable other communities to benefit from our experience and insights.
For a comprehensive overview of all sdnog activities, please refer to our wiki page at sdnog workshops

What is Happening in Sudan?

Unfortunately, due to the prevailing conflict in Sudan, engaging in traditional NOG activities has become impractical. Workshops, events, and even online sessions are challenging for many people, as a significant portion of the population resides in areas where internet access is scarce. Additionally, a substantial number of Sudanese citizens and sdnog collaborators have fled the country and are now residing abroad.

It is a terrible thing to leave your established life behind, and I'm fortunate to work for an international organisation that allows me to work remotely from any location. This meant that when I had to flee my home, I still had income. But for many Sudanese, it has been a challenge to (a) find safety, and (b) find employment to sustain their families and loved ones. For many, this means repositioning themselves completely to find new employment and starting afresh in unfamiliar places.

How to support

Starting anew, one of the foundational building blocks of a new life is the ability to find employment. And if you’ve unfortunately, misplaced academic documents during your flight, it’s doubly difficult. Recognising this need, we at sdnog brainstormed ways to support local universities to bring their services back online, so that displaced individuals can retrieve their academic transcripts.

Working with several friends, we have established an affordable cloud infrastructure tailored for universities and other community-serving institutions facing challenges in bringing their services online. Our aim is to provide Virtual Servers to each institution for hosting websites, running databases, and facilitating various student/community centric services. 

  

Special Thank you!

This initiative wouldn't have been possible without the invaluable support of friends in our extended community; notably INX-ZA (https://inx.net.za), who generously agreed to assist with the setup, procurement and hosting of our infrastructure at thze Johannesburg Internet Exchange (JINX) facilities. 

We would also like to extend our gratitude to the .SD registry team for their support in providing a portion of their public address space (v4 and v6) to be used in this project. This generosity ensures that our beneficiaries can access their resources remotely. 

We sincerely hope that this project will positively impact many individuals and make a real difference during this challenging time that we are all currently facing. Like everything that we do, we’ll provide documentation on our wiki, and, when feasible, make a detailed presentation to the community.

This project has been funded from contributions saved over the years from previous sdnog events, and donations from individuals who prefer to remain unnamed. Given the current circumstances where onsite engagements are not feasible, we have redirected this budget towards initiatives aimed to also supporting the community during these challenging times. 

Let's get in touch

If you wish to contact us, please feel free to reach out via: info@sdnog.sd
and if you need any help and would like us to host some services for you; please mail us at support@sdnog.sd

Extending a Hand to Global Internet Communities - ISOC Lebanon

sdnog continues to be committed to supporting communities in need, particularly those facing challenges with internet infrastructure and domain management. Our mission is to collaborate with and provide assistance to various regional and national organizations to ensure they have the technical support and resources necessary to maintain their internet services. Recently, we were excited to begin a partnership with the Lebanon Chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC), who oversees the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Lebanon, .lb. This work aligns closely with our relationship with the Sudan Chapter of ISOC, which is responsible for managing the .sd domain for Sudan.

Background: The Story of .LB

The .lb ccTLD has a rich history dating back to the early days of Lebanon's internet presence. Its management by the Lebanon ISOC chapter reflects the community-driven approach that both Lebanon and Sudan have championed for their respective ccTLDs. Despite its importance to the country’s digital landscape, .lb has faced unique challenges, especially amid Lebanon’s current difficult circumstances. The Internet Society Lebanon Chapter provides a comprehensive account of the .lb domain's journey on their website, detailing its origins, growth, and the ongoing efforts to ensure its stability. You can read more about the story of .lb here.

First Steps in Collaboration

On Thursday, October 24, 2024, our team, represented by Sara Alamin and Mohamed Alfafz, held an introductory meeting with the .lb team, represented by Jack Bakaev. This initial meeting was organized by Hana Sabbagh from ISOC Lebanon. The objective was to explore how sdnog, with its expertise in domain and network management, could assist Lebanon’s ISOC chapter in addressing the current challenges.

During the meeting, Jack Bakaev shared insights into .lb’s operational history, as well as the pressing issues they are currently facing. From technical hurdles to the impact of Lebanon's economic and political climate, the team outlined various obstacles to managing the ccTLD effectively.

Moving Forward: A Plan of Action

The meeting concluded with a commitment to follow up with another call on Thursday 31 Oct 2024. that will involve additional volunteers from .lb. Our aim is to develop a concrete action plan detailing how sdnog, in partnership with the ISOC chapters, can assist in strengthening the resilience and reliability of Lebanon’s internet infrastructure. From knowledge exchange to technical assistance, sdnog stands ready to help in whatever way it can.

As we move forward, we look forward to not only supporting .lb but also reinforcing our role as a community-oriented organization dedicated to improving the internet ecosystem in the MENA region and beyond.

sdnog hosting project: infrastructure updates

Here, we share regular updates on the development, upgrades, and operational status of the infrastructure that supports the sdnog community . This includes deployments of core services, network enhancements, performance improvements, and collaborative efforts with local and international partners.

12 May 2025 :  RAM Upgrade and Faulty DIMM Replacement on Server

The suspect DIMM in slot A2 has been removed and replaced with a 32GB module from INX. The server has now been upgraded to 32GB of RAM. Slots A2 and B2 are populated identically to maintain dual-channel memory support.

19 May 2025: New backup system

INX has implemented a new backup system - we’re now using proxmox backup server instead of a remote NFS mount from a NAS.  so yesterday i cut the sdnog hosting infrastructure over to this.  i also took this chance to upgrade the backup infrastructure to 10gb/s as this was limited to 1gb/s previously.  

backups are now much faster - because they are incremental  (and more backend speed)  - the proxmox server has 32x gold cores at 3.6ghz, caching disks, more spindles, etc.    you can login to any of the server and hit “Run now” for any of the servers and you’ll see this for yourself - the backup results are still  being emailed to sysadmin@sdnog (attached one here) 

i changed the backups storage from “keep 4 copies” to keep 14 copies because the disk space used is lower.

later this week, i’ll deploy another server in a different location so that there is off-site backups;  my plan is to set backups to run at 12h intervals, and create alternate backups so that morning backups (7am) stay onsite, but evening backups (7pm) go offsite.  if you have better ideas, let me know.

28 May 2025: VM1 Stability Issue Due to Faulty DIMM

An issue has been identified with one of the two 32GB DIMMs installed in the VM1 server a few weeks ago. The server has experienced two crashes since the installation, with system logs consistently indicating a fault in DIMM B1. A replacement DIMM is being sourced to resolve the issue.