The History of the GDIT server

gdit.iiit.net aka students.iiit.ac.in aka 200
 Not many of us know the history of the GDIT server. IIIT is now a Deemed university but the word 'GDIT' lives on in the minds
of some of us. I still call the first two batches, GDIT98 and GDIT99.
 So how did the 200 and GDIT servers get established?
It all started in 1998, ie late last millenium. There were roughly 28 IBM PIMMX 133MHz, 2GB HDD, 32 MB RAM computers. There
were also the ever illusive Black computers in the sys admins room. Later I came to know that they were called 'servers'.
It was weird that they were named servers, because they dictated a lot of things to us. Whether I can connect or not, 
whether my password and username was so and so or not.
At that stage the network and systems were setup by some people from IL&FS or IBM or some other company. They gave some
number called the 'IP Address'. I believe it was 192.168.36.120 Then another server was brought in. I did not know what they
were for. Then there were the usual assignments and the like that were supposed to do on these 'servers'.
Around second semester, there was a chernobyl attack on the windows systems. It took away a lot from us. a lot for some of
us was AoE sessions for 4 or 5 days.
At around this time the two servers had to be renamed and their ip addresses changed. I just happened to be around in the
server room so I was watching some installations. When it came to naming the ace server, there was no problem. The secondary
server was something that the admins wanted to name. This was where I suggested the name 'Mirage'. I do not know if it is
still known by the same name. Mirage was 192.168.36.205. I asked what the name for the ace server was. It was...
GDIT.
200 though was not gdit.iiit.net yet. It used to be called iiit.uohyd.ernet.in You see @ that time, we used to connect to
Univ of Hyd as a dialup and inturn used to get connected to the internet. Of course this connection used to break every
now and then. Istill remember Venu, Sandy, Somu and I would stare in the server room, looking @ the blinking lights to 
see when it would re-connect. The waiting would eventually pay off and we would go back to the computers to 'browse' for
sometime, before the process would have to be repeated. The worst part was the waiting though.
And then we got our email ids. Mine was cyrax@iiit.uohyd.ernet.in at that time. I did not know what it was supposed to be
used for so it meant nothing more than another string in the head.
Not long after the 99 batch came to the university. Around our 3rd ending semester we got new computers and along with that
new internet connection. A state of the art 64kbps line :D. It was not a dial up and so we would be spared the 'watching
the blinking lights'. This line was good, relative to the earlier one. As an added bonus we got our own domain name.
www.iiit.net and emails ... mine was cyrax@iiit.net I am not sure if it was called the 200 server still or the iiit.net was
on 202 server.
Eventually I understood the meaning of an email id when I subscribd to the opengl-dev mailing lists. BTW during those days
spam did not mean that someone was going to talk about length of ***** or gamble mania or that he is son of saddam hussain
trying to get money out of Iraq. It was the occaional mail that made no sense and it had to be deleted. Infact around this
time we had to dig the spam out of the mail and not the otherway as it is today. 200 at this time had everything enabled.
PERL, gcc blah blah. IT was our primary assignments server. It was not a mail-only server.
However things started changing towards the end of 5th semester and then 200 was renamed to ...

I dont remember when but there was an attempt to make gdit a mail only server by ensuring that the only thing that starts
or can be executed was 'pine'. However Somu found a way around it by using the editor as vi in compose section. There
we could execute the bash command line and then go on to use the login as a regular login without any restrictions. Well
this was apart from the usual root access that some of us had. It became a common thing for me to have root access. I 
do not remember how many times I used it though. I used it maybe occasionally ensuring that I did have a root login I guess.
I believe that it stayed as gdit.iiit.net for a very long time. It still can be accessed by the gdit.iiit.net today.
Infact I use gdit.iiit.net for the DNS and I am proud to be known as the GDIT98 batch, not the BTech 2002 batch.
In the recent times though students.iiit.ac.in has crept in. I am indifferent towards it, but please leave
gdit.iiit.net as it is.


About me:
I am Chaitanya MV from the first batch of IIIT. GDIT98. I believe it does not ring any bells in many of your minds.
How does CyraX sound?


Footnote:
I have tried presenting everythign that I remember here. I might be incorrect and inaccurate on certain details. Please
let me know if this is the case. If you have anything else to add to the article please let me know. I would gladly
add it.
contact me:
cyrax.iiit
@gmail

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