AI in Greater Manchester
AI in Greater Manchester: Server Configuration Overview
This article details the server configuration supporting the “AI in Greater Manchester” initiative. It is designed for newcomers to our MediaWiki site and provides a technical overview of the infrastructure. The goal of this project is to provide a centralized resource for information regarding Artificial Intelligence research, development, and deployment across the Greater Manchester region. This document outlines the server specifications, software stack, and network topology. It assumes a basic understanding of server administration and networking concepts. See Server Administration Basics for a refresher.
Overview
The "AI in Greater Manchester" project utilizes a hybrid server infrastructure consisting of on-premise hardware at the University of Manchester and cloud-based resources from Amazon Web Services (AWS). This hybrid approach allows for flexibility, scalability, and cost optimization. Data sensitivity and regulatory compliance requirements dictate that certain datasets remain on-premise, while others are processed in the cloud. The entire system is managed using Configuration Management Systems like Ansible. Regular Server Backups are performed to ensure data integrity.
On-Premise Server Specifications
The core on-premise infrastructure resides within a dedicated, secure server room at the University of Manchester. These servers are responsible for hosting the primary MediaWiki instance, data storage for sensitive datasets, and initial data processing pipelines.
| Server Name | Role | CPU | RAM | Storage | Network Interface |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gm-mediawiki-01 | MediaWiki Frontend | Intel Xeon Gold 6248R (24 cores) | 128 GB DDR4 ECC | 2 x 1TB NVMe SSD (RAID 1) | 10 Gbps Ethernet |
| gm-data-01 | Data Storage (Sensitive Data) | Intel Xeon Silver 4210 (10 cores) | 64 GB DDR4 ECC | 8 x 4TB SAS HDD (RAID 6) | 1 Gbps Ethernet |
| gm-compute-01 | Initial Data Processing | AMD EPYC 7763 (64 cores) | 256 GB DDR4 ECC | 2 x 2TB NVMe SSD (RAID 0) | 10 Gbps Ethernet |
These servers run Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS and are interconnected via a dedicated VLAN. Access is strictly controlled via Firewall Configuration and multi-factor authentication. Monitoring is performed using Nagios Monitoring.
AWS Cloud Infrastructure
The AWS component of the infrastructure provides scalable compute resources for large-scale data processing, machine learning model training, and hosting of web applications. We primarily utilize the following AWS services:
| Service | Instance Type (Example) | Purpose | Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| EC2 | p3.8xlarge | Machine Learning Model Training | eu-west-1 (London) |
| S3 | Standard | Data Storage (Non-Sensitive) | eu-west-1 (London) |
| Lambda | Python 3.9 | Serverless Functions (API endpoints) | eu-west-1 (London) |
| RDS (PostgreSQL) | db.r5.large | Metadata Database | eu-west-1 (London) |
The AWS infrastructure is managed using Infrastructure as Code with Terraform. Security is enforced through AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies and VPC configurations. Data transfer between on-premise and AWS is secured using VPN Connections.
Software Stack
The following software components are crucial to the operation of the "AI in Greater Manchester" platform:
- MediaWiki 1.40: The core content management system. See MediaWiki Installation Guide for details.
- PHP 8.1: Used for MediaWiki and custom web applications.
- PostgreSQL 14: The primary database for MediaWiki and metadata storage. See PostgreSQL Database Administration.
- Python 3.9: Used for data processing, machine learning, and serverless functions.
- TensorFlow 2.9: Machine learning framework for model training.
- Pandas & NumPy: Data analysis libraries for Python.
- Nginx: Web server and reverse proxy. See Nginx Configuration.
Network Topology
The on-premise network is a segmented VLAN environment. The AWS infrastructure is connected via a VPN tunnel. The following table summarizes the key network components:
| Component | IP Address Range | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| On-Premise VLAN | 192.168.10.0/24 | Internal network for on-premise servers |
| AWS VPC | 10.0.0.0/16 | Virtual Private Cloud in AWS |
| VPN Tunnel | N/A | Secure connection between on-premise and AWS |
| Public Load Balancer | N/A | Distributes traffic to MediaWiki frontend |
Network monitoring is performed using Network Monitoring Tools like Prometheus and Grafana. Regular Security Audits are conducted to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities. See DNS Configuration for details about the domain name setup.
Future Considerations
Future improvements to the infrastructure include exploring the use of containerization with Docker and Kubernetes and implementing a more robust CI/CD pipeline. We are also investigating the potential benefits of using GPU-accelerated instances for machine learning workloads. Scalability Planning is an ongoing process.
Intel-Based Server Configurations
| Configuration | Specifications | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Core i7-6700K/7700 Server | 64 GB DDR4, NVMe SSD 2 x 512 GB | CPU Benchmark: 8046 |
| Core i7-8700 Server | 64 GB DDR4, NVMe SSD 2x1 TB | CPU Benchmark: 13124 |
| Core i9-9900K Server | 128 GB DDR4, NVMe SSD 2 x 1 TB | CPU Benchmark: 49969 |
| Core i9-13900 Server (64GB) | 64 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe SSD | |
| Core i9-13900 Server (128GB) | 128 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe SSD | |
| Core i5-13500 Server (64GB) | 64 GB RAM, 2x500 GB NVMe SSD | |
| Core i5-13500 Server (128GB) | 128 GB RAM, 2x500 GB NVMe SSD | |
| Core i5-13500 Workstation | 64 GB DDR5 RAM, 2 NVMe SSD, NVIDIA RTX 4000 |
AMD-Based Server Configurations
| Configuration | Specifications | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 5 3600 Server | 64 GB RAM, 2x480 GB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 17849 |
| Ryzen 7 7700 Server | 64 GB DDR5 RAM, 2x1 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 35224 |
| Ryzen 9 5950X Server | 128 GB RAM, 2x4 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 46045 |
| Ryzen 9 7950X Server | 128 GB DDR5 ECC, 2x2 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 63561 |
| EPYC 7502P Server (128GB/1TB) | 128 GB RAM, 1 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 48021 |
| EPYC 7502P Server (128GB/2TB) | 128 GB RAM, 2 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 48021 |
| EPYC 7502P Server (128GB/4TB) | 128 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 48021 |
| EPYC 7502P Server (256GB/1TB) | 256 GB RAM, 1 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 48021 |
| EPYC 7502P Server (256GB/4TB) | 256 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 48021 |
| EPYC 9454P Server | 256 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe |
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⚠️ *Note: All benchmark scores are approximate and may vary based on configuration. Server availability subject to stock.* ⚠️