B-b-b-b-interview interview with the IT manager of the South Pole
From the very beginning, Henry Malmgren wanted to work at the South Pole. After graduating from the Technical University in Texas in 1998, he applied for a job in the Antarctic each year until he was hired by Raytheon in 2001 as a system engineer. Since then, he has been plying between the head office in Denver and Amundsen-Scott station on the South Pole, spending two summers and two winters there and becoming the head of the IT department.
Ok, I have to ask about this. How is the weather there?
Pretty nice at the moment. Total -64 o Fahrenheit (-54 o Celsius) and wind speed of about 3 m / s. Here it can be considered a good day.
')
How did you get to work in Antarctica?
I have never left the United States since I graduated from college, then I met a girl who was an exchange student from Europe and after hearing stories from her, I decided to find a job outside the United States. At that time, a job in Antarctica turned up by chance and I seized on this ideal opportunity to travel.
Is there an official South Pole?
Of course, he is directly opposite our front door.
If you are on a piece of ice that moves 10 meters a year, how can you know that the pole is in the right place?
We have a ceremony every New Year to move the marker to the exact place. Sometimes the Geological Agency makes accurate calculations, and sometimes we adjust the location ourselves using GPS. The pole is always approaching the station. Somewhere in 20 years it will be right under our power plant.
What is your role at the station?
My work includes everything related to the IT-structure, satellites, telephone systems, portable radio. I am responsible for any telecommunications and everything related to computers. I have a team of seven who support approximately 250-270 people in the summer season. During the winter, which lasts from mid-February to mid-October, the team is reduced to four people who support 60-70 staff.
What is your typical work day?
We work 9 hours a day, 6 days a week. I spend the first couple of hours answering the emails from the Denver guys. Then I go out and check that scientists have everything they need and if there are any problems that need to be solved. I like being a “playing coach” since I already have five years of experience here, while most of my team are here for the first time.
What takes up most of your time?
Information security has become one of the important priorities. Work on fixing vulnerabilities, patches and similar things, takes a good third of the time. The past few years it has become one of the main tasks.
What does your data center look like?
We now have a completely new station, which was completed in 2005 and has everything that can be seen in any data center anywhere in the world. We have about 30 servers. We also have an RF building a kilometer from the station with a backup data center, where there are additional file servers and satellite antennas.
Do you work with a team in the USA?
There is a whole team that I can address if we cannot solve the problem on the spot.
Tell us about some interesting fact from the life of the station at the South Pole.
People will be surprised when they find out how well we eat here. We have a small greenhouse that produces enough greens to eat salads every few days.
Update: Thanks to the work of lothar , I publish a translation of the remaining questions from the interview.
Is it hard to find people to work in Antarctica?
Usually we have a lot of people willing - I had to apply for a resume for five years before I was hired. But sometimes it happens that there are not enough candidates. It depends on fluctuations in the economy. For example, now we have very high competition with employers from Iraq and Afghanistan for children who can set up satellite communications. There, of course, they pay significantly more than we can offer. On the other hand, we have the advantage that no one here shoots you.
What technical difficulties do you face?
Our biggest problem is the width of the channel. It works only 12 hours a day at speeds from 1.54 Mbps to 3 Mbps. We also have a transmitter, with which we can send at a speed of 60 Mbit / s in one direction - from the pole to the mainland. We send scientific data through it, our record is 94 gigabytes per day.
We have three satellites at our disposal, and we go online through them. They are all quite ancient, this is one weather satellite, one satellite of the maritime communications and one old NASA satellite launched back in 1981. And the other two were launched in general in 1976 or 1977th.
As a rule, we have to be content with what we succeed - we see every satellite from 3 to 4 hours a day. For the rest, we have almost the most ordinary network. We use Cisco equipment, we have wired lines to all bedrooms and optical fiber in all buildings. So if someday you can connect the fiber directly to computers, then we have everything ready for this. We try to be as ready as possible for new technologies.
What was the most interesting project lately?
Over the past year we have created a truly cool system using the Iridium satellite system. We have 12 modems connected together and so we get in the 24x7 mode at a minimum speed of 28.8K. No one believed that it would work, no one at all believed that we would ever have the Internet seven days a week around the clock - at the South Pole! But now this is our last resort - if all broadband satellites go beyond the horizon, we automatically switch to Iridium.
And what if satellite communication falls on your side? You draw lots, who will go into the building of radio communications poking around with the antenna?
All of us had a chance to walk to the far data center in centigrade frost (-73 Celsius), when it is dark outside the window to even remove one's eye. This is part of the adventure that everyone is ready for when they go here to work - that such extreme situations can arise. If you can change the router at one hundred degrees frost, you can do it anywhere.
What scientific projects do you support?
Here there are some really big scientific studies, and they all create very weighty amounts of data. In the role of a pound gorilla, we have eight hundred polar telescopes now — a 10-meter radio telescope that scans the background microwave radiation of the universe. Scientists are thus looking for traces of dark matter, this generates tons of data that they immediately want to send for processing to the States as soon as possible.
If we did not have a broadband satellite connection, they would have had to store all this data for nine months of winter time. And so, they can see the results of their observations much faster. So they can analyze the errors of the telescope and correct them while the winter season of observations is still in the yard, instead of sending the data at the end of winter and realizing that everything was for nothing.
And what exactly do you support researchers and scientists?
As a rule, all the basic equipment is their own and we only provide the infrastructure. True, if something breaks in them, then we come to the fore and help them fix everything. It's just that many scientists — and I cannot criticize them for this — do not want to entrust their data to anyone else. Therefore, we only provide the communication that they need and the technical skills when they are needed.
Do conditions affect reliability and time between failures?
The humidity here is extremely low, so static electricity is a very big problem. It is because of him that our notebooks and hard drives deteriorate the most. The greatest losses we incur in the field of energy and hard drives. We are at an altitude of 12,000.00 feet (3,657.60 m) and the air here is very thin, so the cooling fans cannot cope. All that is heated requires additional tenderness, love and care.
Height also affects hard drives. Most reading heads float on a pillow of air above the surface of the magnetic disks, and here there is less of this air, and therefore the disks pour in here more often than anywhere else.
What happens when something breaks?
The service is a little hard to carry out. We try to maintain at least an annual stock of spare parts.
What is the most fun, and what is the least fun in your work?
Most fun to work with scientists. Everyone here, from the dishwasher to the scientists and builders, has his own amazing biography. There are no ordinary people here.
The most annoying thing is that I've lived here for two years in a row, and being away from my friends and family, especially on holidays, is sometimes very hard.
Here is such a New Year's Eve topic turned out. I translated the most interesting moments of the interview in my opinion. I didn't have enough for any technical questions. )) Full version in English on the Computerworld website.
Ok, I have to ask about this. How is the weather there?
Pretty nice at the moment. Total -64 o Fahrenheit (-54 o Celsius) and wind speed of about 3 m / s. Here it can be considered a good day.
')
How did you get to work in Antarctica?
I have never left the United States since I graduated from college, then I met a girl who was an exchange student from Europe and after hearing stories from her, I decided to find a job outside the United States. At that time, a job in Antarctica turned up by chance and I seized on this ideal opportunity to travel.
Is there an official South Pole?
Of course, he is directly opposite our front door.
If you are on a piece of ice that moves 10 meters a year, how can you know that the pole is in the right place?
We have a ceremony every New Year to move the marker to the exact place. Sometimes the Geological Agency makes accurate calculations, and sometimes we adjust the location ourselves using GPS. The pole is always approaching the station. Somewhere in 20 years it will be right under our power plant.
What is your role at the station?
My work includes everything related to the IT-structure, satellites, telephone systems, portable radio. I am responsible for any telecommunications and everything related to computers. I have a team of seven who support approximately 250-270 people in the summer season. During the winter, which lasts from mid-February to mid-October, the team is reduced to four people who support 60-70 staff.
What is your typical work day?
We work 9 hours a day, 6 days a week. I spend the first couple of hours answering the emails from the Denver guys. Then I go out and check that scientists have everything they need and if there are any problems that need to be solved. I like being a “playing coach” since I already have five years of experience here, while most of my team are here for the first time.
What takes up most of your time?
Information security has become one of the important priorities. Work on fixing vulnerabilities, patches and similar things, takes a good third of the time. The past few years it has become one of the main tasks.
What does your data center look like?
We now have a completely new station, which was completed in 2005 and has everything that can be seen in any data center anywhere in the world. We have about 30 servers. We also have an RF building a kilometer from the station with a backup data center, where there are additional file servers and satellite antennas.
Do you work with a team in the USA?
There is a whole team that I can address if we cannot solve the problem on the spot.
Tell us about some interesting fact from the life of the station at the South Pole.
People will be surprised when they find out how well we eat here. We have a small greenhouse that produces enough greens to eat salads every few days.
Update: Thanks to the work of lothar , I publish a translation of the remaining questions from the interview.
Is it hard to find people to work in Antarctica?
Usually we have a lot of people willing - I had to apply for a resume for five years before I was hired. But sometimes it happens that there are not enough candidates. It depends on fluctuations in the economy. For example, now we have very high competition with employers from Iraq and Afghanistan for children who can set up satellite communications. There, of course, they pay significantly more than we can offer. On the other hand, we have the advantage that no one here shoots you.
What technical difficulties do you face?
Our biggest problem is the width of the channel. It works only 12 hours a day at speeds from 1.54 Mbps to 3 Mbps. We also have a transmitter, with which we can send at a speed of 60 Mbit / s in one direction - from the pole to the mainland. We send scientific data through it, our record is 94 gigabytes per day.
We have three satellites at our disposal, and we go online through them. They are all quite ancient, this is one weather satellite, one satellite of the maritime communications and one old NASA satellite launched back in 1981. And the other two were launched in general in 1976 or 1977th.
As a rule, we have to be content with what we succeed - we see every satellite from 3 to 4 hours a day. For the rest, we have almost the most ordinary network. We use Cisco equipment, we have wired lines to all bedrooms and optical fiber in all buildings. So if someday you can connect the fiber directly to computers, then we have everything ready for this. We try to be as ready as possible for new technologies.
What was the most interesting project lately?
Over the past year we have created a truly cool system using the Iridium satellite system. We have 12 modems connected together and so we get in the 24x7 mode at a minimum speed of 28.8K. No one believed that it would work, no one at all believed that we would ever have the Internet seven days a week around the clock - at the South Pole! But now this is our last resort - if all broadband satellites go beyond the horizon, we automatically switch to Iridium.
And what if satellite communication falls on your side? You draw lots, who will go into the building of radio communications poking around with the antenna?
All of us had a chance to walk to the far data center in centigrade frost (-73 Celsius), when it is dark outside the window to even remove one's eye. This is part of the adventure that everyone is ready for when they go here to work - that such extreme situations can arise. If you can change the router at one hundred degrees frost, you can do it anywhere.
What scientific projects do you support?
Here there are some really big scientific studies, and they all create very weighty amounts of data. In the role of a pound gorilla, we have eight hundred polar telescopes now — a 10-meter radio telescope that scans the background microwave radiation of the universe. Scientists are thus looking for traces of dark matter, this generates tons of data that they immediately want to send for processing to the States as soon as possible.
If we did not have a broadband satellite connection, they would have had to store all this data for nine months of winter time. And so, they can see the results of their observations much faster. So they can analyze the errors of the telescope and correct them while the winter season of observations is still in the yard, instead of sending the data at the end of winter and realizing that everything was for nothing.
And what exactly do you support researchers and scientists?
As a rule, all the basic equipment is their own and we only provide the infrastructure. True, if something breaks in them, then we come to the fore and help them fix everything. It's just that many scientists — and I cannot criticize them for this — do not want to entrust their data to anyone else. Therefore, we only provide the communication that they need and the technical skills when they are needed.
Do conditions affect reliability and time between failures?
The humidity here is extremely low, so static electricity is a very big problem. It is because of him that our notebooks and hard drives deteriorate the most. The greatest losses we incur in the field of energy and hard drives. We are at an altitude of 12,000.00 feet (3,657.60 m) and the air here is very thin, so the cooling fans cannot cope. All that is heated requires additional tenderness, love and care.
Height also affects hard drives. Most reading heads float on a pillow of air above the surface of the magnetic disks, and here there is less of this air, and therefore the disks pour in here more often than anywhere else.
What happens when something breaks?
The service is a little hard to carry out. We try to maintain at least an annual stock of spare parts.
What is the most fun, and what is the least fun in your work?
Most fun to work with scientists. Everyone here, from the dishwasher to the scientists and builders, has his own amazing biography. There are no ordinary people here.
The most annoying thing is that I've lived here for two years in a row, and being away from my friends and family, especially on holidays, is sometimes very hard.
Here is such a New Year's Eve topic turned out. I translated the most interesting moments of the interview in my opinion. I didn't have enough for any technical questions. )) Full version in English on the Computerworld website.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/17463/
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