Chapter 2a: Server Issues: Platform Infrastructure

Platform infrastructure

Coordinator: In-grid (Katie)

Contributors: Winnie, Becky, Batool, Katie

Index TBC

• Introduction
  • Why pi?

• Pub/public spaces
• Educational institutions
• Inbetweens/travel
• Workshop as space
• Cultural/public spaces
• Domestic/private spaces
• Ending/conclusion

Introduction

Wiki4print, the raspberry pi which hosts https://wiki4print.servpub.net/ travels with us . We have constructed our network of servers in such a way that we can keep it's hardware by our sides as we use it, teach and experiment with it and activate it with others. This chapter will consider the materiality of our particular network of nodes, our reasoning for arranging our infrastructure in the way we have and what it means to move through the world with these objects. By considering our movement from one place to another we can begin to understand how an ambulent server allows us to locate the boundaries of the software processes, the idiosyncrachies of hardware, the quirks of buildings and estates issues, and how we fit into larger networked infrastructures. How we manage departures, arrivals, and points of transcience, reveals boundaries of access, permission, visibility, precarity and luck.

In this chapter we will explain our decision to arrange our physical infrastructure in this way; mobile and in view. To do this we will map our collective experiences in a series of types of space. These spaces are reflective of our relative positions as artist*technologist*activist*academic (delete as appropriate):    

• PUB / PUBLIC SPACES (maybe add this? e.g. 8M / the social origins/elements?)

• EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS (+history, eduroam,ctp,aarhus, cci, lsbu etc) (overview)
• INBETWEENS: TRAVEL / suitcase as a space (hardware)
• WORKSHOP AS A SPACE (workshopping as a methodolgy, a server runs on a computer)
• CULTURAL/SEMI-PUBLIC SPACES (more on physical layer of the internet)
• DOMESTIC/PRIVATE SPACES (hardware maintenance and care)

WHY PI? (As an overview, maybe this goes in Educational Institutions)

## Travelling server space: Why matters?

As briefly mentioned in Chapter 1,  one of the key inspirational projects for ServPub is ATNOFS (A Traversal Network of Feminist Servers), a collaboration of six collectives and organisations researching intersectional, feminist, and ecological serve infrastructures for their communities. Many precedents have contributed to the exploration of feminist servers, including the Feminist Server Manifesto developed during a workshop hosted by Constant in 2013,  and Systerserver, which has been active since 2005. While there is significant focus on care, labor conditions, and maintenance, the technical infrastructure remains largely hidden from the general public as servers are fixed in location and often distant from the working group. We often perceive servers as remote, and large-scale entities, especially in the current technological landscape where terms like "server farms" dominate the discourse.

Attending the ATNOFS meeting was both helpful and rewarding, offering a tangible experience of what a server looks and feels like. Contrary to the common perception of servers as large and remote, they can be as small as the palm of your hand and in proximity. Rosa is considered as a travelling server which afforded collaborative documentation and notetaking at various physical sites where the meetings and workshops were taken place in 5 different locations throughout 2022. In addition Rosa is also part of the self-hosted and self-organised infrastructures of ATNOFS, engaging "with questions of autonomy, community and sovereignty in relation to network services, data storage and computational infrastrucutre". The project is highly influencial as it encourages ServPub members to rethink infrastructure—not as something remote and distant, but as something tangible and self-sustained. It also highlights the possibility of operating independently, without reliance on big tech corporations. While most feminist server and self-hosting initiatives have emerged outside of London, we are curious about how the concept of traveling physical servers could reshape a vastly different landscape—one defined by critical educational pedagogies, limited funding, and the pressures of a highly competitive art and cultural industry in the UK. The first consideration is skills transfer—fostering an environment where technical knowledge and open-minded thinking are recognized and encouraged, enabling deeper exploration of infrastructure. This is also where the London-based collective In-grid, comes into the picture of ServPub.

• By bringing the pi in person to teaching moments, it allowed us to discuss ideas around the physicality of and physical caring for a server. There is trust and intimacy in proximity.
• Why the pi and not another single board computer

• Why pre owned/borrowed hardware

• For clarity, when we refer to Wiki4Print[pi] * or another name we decide together

• Needs to move, because it's travelling for workshop

• Problems of plugging into network infrastructure at various institutions

• Legible at borders - recognisable by border patrol officers

• Problems of maintaining hardware

PUB / PUBLIC SPACES (?)

maybe add this? e.g. 8M / the social elements? Again a space for origin stories?

Networking as a space: Call for a Counter Cloud Action Day

On the 8th of March 2023 (8M), an international strike called for a "hyperscaledown of extractive digital services".The strike was convened by numerous Europe-based collectives and projects, including In-grid, Systerserver, Hackers and Designers, Varia, The Institute for Technology in the Public Interest, NEoN, and many others. This day served as a moment to reflect on our dependency on Big Tech Cloud infrastructure—such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft—while resisting dominant, normative computational paradigm through experimentation, imagination, and the implementation of self-hosted and collaborative server infrastructures.

To explicate this collective action, the call's website is hosted and asynchronously maintained by a network of networks, technically known as a Webrings, especially popular in the 1990s, are decentralized, community-driven structures that cycle through multiple servers. In this case, 19 server nodes—including In-grid—participate, ensuring the content is dynamically served across different locations. When a user accesses the link, it automatically and gradually cycles through these nodes to display the same content. Webrings are typically created and maintained by individuals or small groups rather than corporations,  forming a social-technical infrastructure that supports the Counter Cloud Action Day by decentralizing control and resisting extractive digital ecosystems.

On the evening of 8M, many of us—individuals and collectives based in London— gathered at a pub in Peckham. The location was close to the University of the Arts London where some participants worked. What began as an online network of networks transformed into an onsite network of networks, as we engaged in discussions about our positionality and shared interest. This in-person meeting brought together In-grid, Systerserver and noNames collectives, shaping a collaborative alliance focused on local hosting, small scale infrastructure for research, community building, and collective learning.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. /winnie

https://ctp.cc.au.dk/pad/p/winnie_servpub#L11 (still working on it...some might need to go somewhere, but moving towards to educational institutions)

The constraints of working within educational institutions (that use eduroam). The example of needing to set up or use mobile hotspots for the UAL and LSBU workshops.

see this link for writing: https://ctp.cc.au.dk/pad/p/winnie_servpub

**** could this be a moment to talk about the "origin" story of servpub, i.e. that the idea of getting around insitutional constraints of eduroam helped birth the project. So a place to talk about network issues? Review network...****** good idea...

What allows the pi to go walking:

Survey of the final set-up, brief overview of the parts of the infrastructure.  i.e. that starting from this problem of the constraints of the institution we set out to create a VPN which connected ambulant servers. Define how the Network Infrastructure chapter will deal with connecting to the wider web.

More on IP Addresses mapped to DNS / A Records / Tuxic ?

## Instituional space: Setting up at CCI (workshopping as a method) - 2023

### ctp server with the proxy IT issues  -> institutional constraints , eduroam

- why Pi?

- anyone has the email that i wrote to Hazel? (has she forwarded)

- meeting with Batool about the project

- Mariana and Batool configuring Pi

- leading to first workshop in Jun 26th 2023                    

This workshop was a knowledge sharing session. Systerserver and Varia members shared information about their collective practices and technological knowledge about servers and Virtual Private Networks. We began setting up the first Raspberry Pi that now hosts servpub.net

## Instituional space: Setting up at LSBU in Nov 2023 (workshopping as a method) - 2023

Workshop 2        

Centre for the Study of the Networked Image, London, UK

This workshop introduced ServPub as a project and as a network of technical and social components. We also took visitors through the technical setup of the Raspberry Pi which now holds Wiki4print. We reflected on the process by wrapping up the day with a collective documentation exercise and group discussion with Q&A.

                   

This workshop was facilitated by In-grid with contributions from Systerserver members.

INBETWEENS: TRAVEL / a suitcase as a space

***** Could this come next after institutional constraints? Just anecdotally the fact that they recognised the pi at the border, could serve as a nice way to talk about why pi and/or the other alternatives out there.  *****

The conditions of traveling with an ambulent server where movement is limited through border control, visa rules, and absurd transportation rules. Making a ambulent server for a constrictive space.

What it means to pack a server into a bag, cables and plugs and screens. What actually goes travelling. The pi unplugged, sans-electricity, sans-network. The physicality of a thing. A list of the things borrowed and stolen.

- Hardware (why pi)

• - Why Raspberry Pi

• - Why the pi and not another single board computer

• - Why pre owned/borrowed hardware - CCI

WORKSHOP AS A SPACE

Pull out: Workshop as space

• Creating a space in a workshop, creating

• need to be with it to work - proximity to it to fix it

A server runs on a computer. By bringing the pi in person to teaching moments, it allows us to discuss ideas around the physicality of a server and caring for a server. There is trust and intimacy in proximity. This allows us to demystify network infrastructure.

CCI workshop / earlier workshops?

LSBU workshop content before joining the pi to the VPN. Demystifying the browser. Serving up files over a LAN. Accessing a file system, navigating around a file system on the command line.

## domain

7 Jul 2023

Hi,

I am the collaborator of systerserver working on a new autonomous network called servpub.

We would like to register a domain for two years www.servpub.net

Would you be able to get me a quote and do you have admin page for example to update the DNS configuration etc?

Thanks

Winnie    

   

The first idea that comes to mind when writing this chapter is the concept of a domain, which connects to notion of space, location, infrastructure, mobility and publicness. A domain functions as the address used to access a website on the internet, serving as a link to a hosting and storage spaces where webpages and digital content are stored and made accessible to users. It represents both a name and an identity—whether for an organization, a thought, a project, or something else. Beyond the name itself, as explained in the first chapter and our reasoning and references behind choosig ServPub, another key consideration is the top-level domain (TLD). Options such as .com, .org, .edu or others each carry distinct meanings and implications. Ultimately, the project selected .net as the most fitting choice, alluding to a social-technical network that encompasses both humans and machines, emphasizing connections, networks and comunities as foundational infrastructure.

Such a social-technical network encompasses numerous personal relationships. While it is common to purchase a public domain through companies or individual with whom one has no direct connection, this project takes a mindful approach to each decision. We carefully consider where the money goes to and whom are we supporting, ensuring that our choices align with our values and priorities. For instance, we reached out to Tuxic.nl, a company within our friends' network, because they provide open-source software and hardware solutions. More importantly, Tuxic.nl[1] offers services particularly for NGOs, political action groups and small businesses, supporting a wide range of creative and socially driven projects. It is also worth mentioning that once we confirmed the quote via email, Tuxic.nl promptly registered the domain and setup the configuration, incurring the costs on their side—all before receiving any payment. This level of trust reflects their dedication to supporting projects with integrity and confidence.

+++draft

Plugging it in:

• - Start with the impact of physicality, being in the same room as the hardware, being able to point to it in the corner of a room. Understanding the distinction between software and hardware. Setting up Hardware, what is an operating system Linux (why Linux):

• https://wiki4print.servpub.net/index.php?title=Docs:01.1_Hardware_and_OS

• + further links to Raspberry Pi

• - Local Area Network

• - Physical layer of network infrastructure?

• - Routers / Wi-fi / ethernet / MAC addresses ?

• - Software / Internet Protocol layer

• - TCP / UDP / ports / IP Address  ?

• - Protocols:

• - SSH (to enable networked/remote collaboration, I'm not sure going into collaboration here is the right thing to do, maybe more for praxis doubling?)

• https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/remote-access.html#ssh

• https://wiki4print.servpub.net/index.php?title=Docs:01.3_SSH

• - Default Password Access. Basics of SSH + command line: navigating around a computer, installing software etc.

• - Setting up SSH keys per User ?

• https://wiki4print.servpub.net/index.php?title=Docs:01.2_Creating_Users

• https://wiki4print.servpub.net/index.php?title=Docs:01.3_SSH

• - TMUX ?

• - HTTP

• - Default set up on a pi?

• - Setting up a server with Nginx

• https://wiki4print.servpub.net/index.php?title=Docs:02_Local_Server_Setup_with_Ngin

• - the browser: accessing a website on the LAN

SSH/User creation (maybe just do the basics of SSH not user creation)

Servpub as a platform could be understood as a series of interconnected nodes or small board computers connected together to create a network. At the time of writing we have two nodes: wiki4print, and pubdoc. Short explaination of what those pis are actually doing?

[DIAGRAM OF THE NETWORK]

Through much of this project many of us are working (coding, writing) in a collaborative space on one or more of our networked nodes. When setting up a node which will be accessed, maintained or changed by several people we need to first consider how it is we configure those spaces. This is both a series of social questions (how we organise and document labour, how we decide who has access and to what extent) and technical considerations. Fundementally, at some point in developing the collaborative environment, we must should discuss and choose a user and access structure. Whatever structure is decided upon, we should then decide how to communicate between sysadmins, how to keep records and how to handover work.

As we mentioned in the section about why we want to be mobile our servers are shared and also mobile. In order for us to be able to have a functioning collaborative space that space needs to be accessable regardless of where is is in the world, or who is currently it's physical caretaker. In order to access the nodes remotely, we therefore need to call upon a protocol which allows us to enter the common space created on the pis remotely. Secure Shell (SSH) is a network protocol that lets users securely access and manage servers and computers (like our pi) from another device as long as it has internet access and the correct credentials. It functionally allows an individual to 'log-in' one device from another. If you have ever used a remote desktop, the idea is very similar, only you have access to that devices folder structure using a command line/text-based interface, rather than having the ability to access that devices desktop.

* Note: if you are interested in the steps it takes to use this protocol we have an installation/configuration guide as part of our documentation here.

This is all well and good, but you cant use ssh to access a remote device unless you have the correct credentials to do so: a user profile on the remote device in question and a pair of keys which encrypt and decrypt messages between the devices. SSH uses Client-sever architecture, which means that it divides tasks between clients and servers. The client is the device that requests information from a device, the sever is the device that provides that information.

In our case our Pi is our Server, and our personal laptop or device we want to use to access the pi, is the client. We talk about the nuances of these terms and how we feel about them in chapter x praxis doubling.

SSH is generally considered more secure due to its reliance on strong encryption and public/private key authentication.

**** Mention that this is where you'd then need to connect it to the VPN, which is not covered in this chapter? Reference Network Infrastructure chapter? *****

CULTURAL/PUBLIC SPACESSECTION DRAFTING [Cultural spaces] /katie

Up to the point of writing, our Wiki4Print[pi] has been a physical presence at several public workshops and events/interventions. Although in many (if not all) cases, it would be more practical and less effort to leave the hardware at home, we opt to bring it with us, for the reasons outlined above. By dint of our artist*sysadmin*academic situations, the pi has visited several of what we are defining as cultural spaces. We are using this term to describe spaces which primarily support or present the work of creative practicioners: museums, galleries, artist studios, libraries. This definition is not perfect, and obscures a lot of factors which we feel are pertinent to this discussion. We are conflating publicly funded institutions with privately rented spaces, spaces that are free to enter with others that have partial barriers like membership or ticketing. However, we feel that for our purposes here, these comparisons, although imperfect allow us to see common issues. As with our entrances and exits from institutional spaces (universities), domestic locations and moments traveling we need to spend some time feeling out the material conditions of the space, and the customy practice in, and idiosyncracies of, that space. Not all two cultural spaces are built the same, as no two homes are the same.

We'll tell you about two spaces to explain what we mean.

1. An arts space run by a charity, based in a meanwhile use building. The building contains rented studios which are used by individual artists and small businesses, a cafe and performance space, and gallery space open to the public. The longevity of the space is precarious due to the conditions of a meanwhile use tenancy, and the building itself is not being actively maintained as it is intended for demolishion by the developers who own the site. The space is based in the UK.

2. A center for contemporary arts, publicly funded by the federal government. The space hosts art exhibitions, theater and performance, films, and academic conferences. It also contains cafes and shops, and is generally open to the public, with some ticketed events. This space is in Germany.

For now we will refer them the two spaces as STUDIOS and MUSEUM.

These spaces are demonstrably quite different, in their scale, security and publicness. That being said there are common experiences when arriving in cultural spaces with a mobile server. We need to feel out the location everytime, understand levels of access, the policies and politics of these spaces, and of the duty of care/legislative duties each institution needs to respect. We may have developed our protocols of working, but these cannot be impressed upon other spaces indesciminately, we need to acknowledge that we are sharing this space with its caretakers, and also with other creative groups with thier own needs and working practices, and the wider public who may be impacted and interested in our presence, or who may not be at all aware we are sharing the space at all.

The most pressing issue is often access to an internet connection. As we have outlined in [chapter x/section y], our network of nodes are connected to eachother using a VPN. In our case, the VPN network requires access to the internet to encrypt and route data through its servers. Additionally, two of our nodes (wiki4print and pubdoc), serve up public webpages (https://wiki4print.servpub.net/ and https://servpub.net/) and when offline these sites cease to be accessible. [FACT CHECK THE VPN PART to make sure I'm describing this accurately]. Getting internet access may appear to be a simple enough problem to solve, being as we are in cultural spaces which often have public wifi available, but often it becomes more convoluted.

As we discuss in further detail in the section on education institutions, some internet networks block all VPNs. Although this particular issue was not apparent in this particular STUDIO or MUSEUM, it is not uncommon for a public wifi network to block VPNs in order to control access, or for security reasons. For example, some organisations may block VPNs to maintain control over their network traffic, or to try to limit who has access. VPNs mask the IP addresses of users, and so by removing that option, institutions have greater insight into who is accessing their networks and what they are doing while connected. Additionally, although this is not an issue we directly encountered, some national governments block or restrict VPN use in order to impose state censorship and reduce individual privacy and agency, although it's often framed by the powers that be as a measure to maintain national security or prevent cybercrime ( https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10606-022-09426-7, Russia, China, Turkey - is this a bit of a fleeting mention of a massive issue? How best to frame this point with the appropriate weight, reference Winnies Unerasable Characters?).

All that being said, Cultural spaces are more personal and negioable, easier to access a personal connection to make soemthing happen. Essential for our ability to experiment publicly and accessibly. You can often go find someone to help on a particular issue, technical staff, other tenants, community of users.

but comes with more emotional labour, hiccoughs and weirdnesses

Flexible but also messy

* VPN blocks - using mobile hotspot to bypass institutional barriers

* Wifi strength, coverage over large buildings, connections with 100s/1000s of people

* Routers - where are they?

* Reliance on systems we cannot directly troubleshoot -  precarious spaces (studio space in SET) where there may not be staff onsite to help, "parasitic" -- negotiatiing with different networks (power dynamic / security)

* Ethernet - often disconnected!,

* MAC addresses (unclear on this - ask B why this was included)

* Estates issues: (broken?)ethernet ports, working plugs, access to extensions, locked doors, opening hours, previous bookings, cleaning regimens, central heating (or lack there of), security (theft), furniture.

negotiation of being portable but who has the permissions.

Transmediale the connectivity not working when we arrived, as an example.

Within instituitions, the need to use mobile hotspots to bypass the institutional barriers. Refer to the constraints of educational spaces.

"parasitic" -- negotiatiing with different networks (power dynamic / security)

• - Public institution/cultural spaces (museum/HKW at TM/SET), EASST

Once connected to the VPN, problematics and politics of:

• - Accessing the wider internet from different spaces

• - Physical layer of network infrastructure

• - Routers / Wi-fi / ethernet / MAC addresses ?

https://ci.servpub.net/in-grid/collective-infrastructures

DOMESTIC/PRIVATE SPACES / Becky

- a way to talk about hardware of the pi? e.g. heatsinks and the limitations of a pi

- hardware maintenance as a practice

- extending storage with a USB

- backups

The wiki4print pi has ended up living in a house of an In-grid member in South London. How it came to be there was a result of the needs of caring for a temperamental Raspberry pi in a temperamental meanwhile space (SET studios). However, its particular journey through London and where it has landed was as much to do with the material constraints of internet access as it was to do with the needs of working in a collective. Passing hardware from hand to hand across London became a force that determined the material shape of the network: last minute plans, emergencies, the demands of work schedules, holidays, illness and commute times all played a part in the movement of the hardware.

wiki4print was originally at SET Studios in Woolwhich. The building was originally (what?) then it was an HMRC building (insert full history), it is now maintained by the Arts Charity SET which emerged out of squatter culture in London. The use of meanwhile space (definition?) within the arts sector in London is closely tied into wider property development crises, where more and more artists are reliable on institutions that exist in the margins. The reality of having a studio within a meanwhile space is that much of the infrastructure is crumbling. When In-grid first set up the Raspberry pis the hope was to host them in an art studio at SET, but it quickly became apparent that it was not viable, the ethernet ports in the room were not functional, the wi-fi was not reliable and the team maintaining the building are primarily artists themselves rather than corporate service providers. In the lead up to the Content/Form Transmediale workshop the pi kept crashing and going offline. We moved it to avoid these issues in the middle of a co-working session with multiple collectives so as to stick to the timeline. Batool raced to Becky's so that we could go ahead with the session. Why Becky's? Batool was not traveling to Germany for the workshop and Becky's house was the closest to the studio and on the way to where Batool was travelling for work.

We thought the pi kept going offline becasue the SET wi-fi was bad, but this was a red herring. While the pi was at Becky's it temporarily lived under a bed so the ethernet cable could reach it. Through the process of being able to debug at any hour (lying on the floor beside a bed) we were able to discover that problems with accessing the pi online were due to the Raspberry pi overheating, freezing and shutting down processes which would take it offline. We bought a heat sink and fan for the pi, and from then on it worked reliably in all locations. Maintaining server hardware in a domestic space or outside the context of a server farm (small or large) becomes an act of providing care at odd hours.

Maintaining the network becomes an act of inviting the rhythms and bodies of others into the material realities of the network. Cleaning the cat hair out of the fan of the raspberry pi or plugging in the pi because a guest did some hoovering and didn't realise what they were unplugging.

Ending/conclusion

Creating a theory of space, a unifying conceptual framework for why we want to discuss these forms of space and how.

------------------

Glossary -> Can we make a glossary for the technical terms...

Technical Writing / Structure for what to potentially include in this chapter

- Hardware (why pi)

• - Why Raspberry Pi

• - Setting up Hardware:

• https://wiki4print.servpub.net/index.php?title=Docs:01.1_Hardware_and_OS

• + further links to Raspberry Pi

- Remote Access to Hardware over a local network (workshop)

• - What constitutes a local area network LA

• - Physical layer of network infrastructure?

• - Routers / Wi-fi / ethernet / MAC addresses ?

• - Software / Internet Protocol layer

• - TCP / UDP / ports / IP Address  ?

• https://wiki4print.servpub.net/index.php?title=Docs:00.1_Network_terminology

• (Network Infrastructure chapter has some detail about lan/wan/van already + history and politics of IP Addresses IPv4 and IPv6, they touch on Static IP addresses) https://wiki4print.servpub.net/index.php?title=Chapter_2b:_Server_Issues:_Networked_Infrastructure

• What Protocol stack or internet infrastructure model do we want to use and what are the politics of that? Not sure what protocol stack is in Network Infrastructure Chapter (image of the hourglass). OSI or Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) or is there something else?

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_protocol_suite

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model

• - Protocols:

• - SSH (why pi / to enable networked/remote collaboration)

• https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/remote-access.html#ssh

• https://wiki4print.servpub.net/index.php?title=Docs:01.3_SSH

• - Default Password Access

• - Setting up SSH keys per User

• https://wiki4print.servpub.net/index.php?title=Docs:01.2_Creating_Users

• https://wiki4print.servpub.net/index.php?title=Docs:01.3_SSH

• - TMUX ?

• - HTTP

• - Default set up on a pi?

• - Setting up a server with Nginx

• https://wiki4print.servpub.net/index.php?title=Docs:02_Local_Server_Setup_with_Nginx

- IP Addresses mapped to DNS / A Records / Tuxic

- Hand over to Syster Server Chapter? VPNs, Tinc, Reverse Proxy servers / routing traffic?

index.php?title=Category:ServPub