memory: snapshot — gx10 unracked and next up as an inference+training box

Run 3c's new intended home is the GX10 rather than a power triage on ana-ml2: a ~240 W
appliance instead of the kilowatt-class box that tripped the breaker, and 121 GB unified
holds the 49 GB bf16 base comfortably where ana-ml2 was tight. The box is bare, so the
first move is a throughput probe rather than a harness port.

Also banked: the Ada migration settling on zfs send with branch (b) ruled out by irv-ml1
keeping its eight services; the Synapse 39-release upgrade with its one-way schema
migration, the appservice namespace opening and the admin API lockdown; the ratified room
alias convention; and a named failure class — a correct check aimed at the wrong object —
with six instances from one day across three sessions.
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# `[2026-09-01]` Ada migration settled on `zfs send` — and branch (b) was never available
The Ada box (ComfyUI's new home, sm_89, x86-64) lands at **NH3**. irv-ml1 is in **Irvine**.
comfy-dev asked whether `/storetank` rides along or the stack is rebuilt from source.
## The answer: (a) `zfs send`. Measured, not derived.
NH3 -> irv-ml1 11-26 ms, 0% loss
throughput 99.0 MB/s (real 800 MB transfer over the WireGuard tunnel)
payload 1.38 TB -> ~3.9 hours
`zfs send` is **incremental**: snapshot now, ship the base over ~4 hours while irv-ml1 keeps
serving, then a small delta at cutover. Near-zero service interruption.
## Why (b) — physically moving the disks — was never on the table
`/storetank` is a two-disk **mirror** of Crucial MX500 2TB SATA SSDs, so it is genuinely
portable hardware. That fact is true and **irrelevant**.
**irv-ml1 is NOT being decommissioned.** It runs arbo, comfyui, tts-gateway, dots-tts,
voice-studio, waterland-studio, yt-voice-clipper and dockge — and **comfyui bind-mounts
`/storetank/arbo/models`**. Pulling those disks does not inconvenience a source box that no
longer needs them; it guts a live one.
⚠ **The lesson:** infra-ops asked whether the DATA could move and never asked whether the
SOURCE still needed it. One `docker ps` away, at any point. Recommended (b) twice on the
strength of a true-but-irrelevant fact. See [[2026-09-01-wrong-object-measurement]].
## (c) rebuild-from-source: rejected on reproducibility, not time
~6 hours of re-fetch at ~65 MB/s. The real objection is that **two of comfy-dev's pins are
already paywalled** (Big Love went permanent-paid; Moody Krea 2 Mix's newest releases are
gated while their pin is free). A rebuild today would **not reproduce today's stack**. A
fallback that provably cannot restore what it exists to restore is not a fallback.
## ⚠ The two-boxes confusion — do not repeat it
There are **TWO new machines** and infra-ops collapsed them into one:
| | |
|---|---|
| **Ada box** | ComfyUI's target. sm_89, x86-64. Lands at NH3. Not yet arrived. |
| **ASUS Ascent GX10** | Local inference + run 3c. **GB10, sm_121, aarch64.** On the operator's desk. → [[2026-09-01-pfi-gx10-onboarding]] |
infra-ops found no sm_89 part in the current inventory, saw the Ascent, and inferred the
Ascent was the incoming box — then sent comfy-dev down an aarch64 re-platform investigation
that was entirely void. **comfy-dev's original premise was correct throughout.**
Consequences of the retraction, all restored to their original state:
- Their single-arch container image, 18 GB x86-64 venv and torch pin are **fine**.
- Their nvfp4 pin is **RIGHT, not wrong** — sm_89 does not do native nvfp4 (that is
Blackwell), so pinning away from the 7.74 GB nvfp4 build to the 12.84 GB int8 build was
correct for the hardware they are actually getting.
**Not wasted:** comfy-dev's aarch64 runtime research (ecarmen16/SparkyUI — CUDA 13.0.2,
torch 2.9.1+cu130 ARM64, SageAttention compiled with `TORCH_CUDA_ARCH_LIST="12.1"`, built on
the box, ~10 min; verified from source by infra-ops) applies to the **GX10** if anything
ComfyUI-shaped ever runs there.
## Their distinction, worth keeping
> **The weights port. The runtime does not.**
safetensors are architecture-neutral and travel anywhere. Container image, torch build, venv
and attention kernels do not. "Migrate the model store" and "migrate ComfyUI" are different
jobs, and the 1.38 TB transfer is the easy half.
## Open
- **Cutover window** — operator's, not yet set.
- **comfy-dev's ~112 GB batch** — unheld by infra-ops, but they are deliberately NOT pulling
until the operator approves putting that much onto his infrastructure. Their call, correct
instinct. Manifest pinned and staged (`29324e9`).
Thread: `01M1EYBSYA4QRYK54PX0K1S8CS`.
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# `[2026-09-01]` Matrix: 39-release Synapse upgrade, appservice namespace opened, admin API closed
## The upgrade
**Synapse v1.120.0 → v1.159.0** (21 months, 39 releases) and **Element-web v1.11.80 →
v1.12.27**. Schema migrations applied cleanly through schema 94. Postgres deliberately left
at 16 — changing two stateful things at once destroys failure attribution.
⚠ **Schema migrations are ONE-WAY.** v1.120 cannot start against a v1.159 database. Rollback
is restore-from-dump, not revert-the-tag. Verified pre-upgrade dump (739 TOC entries from a
33 MB database) plus all four config files at
`/opt/docker/backups/synapse-preupgrade-20260901T174625Z/`.
Reviewed every upgrade note in the range; nothing applicable bit us (PG 11/12/13 drops — we
are on 16; MSC3861/MAS items — no MAS; s3-storage-provider and worker media quarantine — not
in use).
## The appservice namespace — `exclusive: true` → `false`
The `aipa-bridge` registration claimed `@[a-z][a-z0-9_-]*:matrix.phasefinal.com` **exclusively**
— every localpart on the server. 14 of 14 accounts fell inside it; 13 were appservice-owned.
**`exclusive` governs who ELSE may act, not what the appservice may do.** On a homeserver
with registration disabled, one admin and no competing actor, it bought anti-squatting
protection against a threat that cannot occur, while locking out every other means of
account creation — admin registration returned `M_EXCLUSIVE` with no explanation.
⚠ **Do NOT narrow the users regex to a prefix** — all 13 accounts fall inside it and would be
orphaned. ⚠ **Do NOT rename the `id`** — Synapse keys account ownership on `aipa-bridge` in
the `users` table. The FILE may be renamed; the id may not.
The narrow **aliases** namespace (`#aipa-debug-*`) was left exclusive — specific, costs nothing.
⚠ The registration is named `aipa`, but the service behind it is **`wt-matrix-bridge`**, the
Worldtree PERSONAL instance on corviduo-dev `10.250.50.152:8010`. AIPA is a dead project name
on a live service, and it is why infra-ops mis-routed a provisioning request to worldtree-dev.
**Operator ruling: worldtree-dev writes the bridge code; infra-ops OPERATES this instance and
has full authority over it.**
## `/_synapse/admin` closed to the internet
Synapse mounts its admin API on the same vhost as the client API, so publishing
`matrix.phasefinal.com` published the admin surface — it **answered 200 from the open
internet**. A higher-priority router (explicit priority 100) now scopes it behind an
`ipallowlist`.
Verified from a **genuinely external vantage** — the NH3 residential egress proxy, because
testing from a fleet host sits inside the allow-list and proves nothing: admin **403**,
client API **200**, Element unaffected.
⚠ **The `10.0.0.0/8` entry matches NOTHING and that is expected.** The hostname resolves
publicly, so fleet hosts hairpin out their own WAN — a request from nh3-dev measured as
`70.230.226.88`. The rule is effectively **deny-all through Traefik**, which is intended:
admin work goes via `docker exec synapse` against `localhost:8008` and never touches Traefik.
Allow-listing the sites' WAN addresses was **rejected** — dynamic, and a stale entry either
locks us out or hands admin to whoever inherits the address.
## Conventions ratified (operator, 2026-09-01)
#<agent>-<purpose>:matrix.phasefinal.com
Mirrors the existing `@<agent>:` user-ID convention. Proposed by ledger-dev. Rationale is
**"so the room IDENTITY carries the tier"** — deliberately NOT "so the push payload carries
the room name", which is true only for clients without a notification service extension.
Pre-existing rooms are not renamed ("The High Seat", `!NiVVoMsyoHCBRPrrrn`).
## Push reality — measured, and it inverts the obvious reading
The registered pusher (`@vhoang`, Element X iOS) uses **`"format": "event_id_only"`** via
matrix.org's sygnal. That payload carries event_id, room_id and counts — **no room name, no
sender, no content**. It still produces a useful notification because `mutable-content: 1`
means Element X runs a **Notification Service Extension**: iOS wakes it with the near-empty
payload and it **fetches the event and renders the notification on the device**.
1. The tier-in-room-identity scheme works — but **via the client fetch**, not the payload.
`m.room.name` must be set at creation; the ALIAS is not what reaches the phone. Synapse
sends `ctx["name"]` (the `m.room.name` state event) and omits the key entirely if unset.
2. **`push: include_content: false` is irrelevant for clients with an NSE.** It bites clients
without one.
3. ⚠ **Server-invisible failure mode:** if the phone cannot reach the homeserver at wake time
the fetch fails and iOS shows the bare word "Notification". **Synapse records
`last_success` and sees a delivered push.**
Self-hosted sygnal **considered and rejected** — sygnal is a relay to FCM/APNs, not a
replacement, so it removes matrix.org and nothing else; and with `event_id_only` the path
already carries nothing worth protecting.
## QR sign-in — requires MAS, deferred
MSC4108 hard-requires `matrix_authentication_service`; Synapse refuses to start otherwise.
MSC4388 enables independently but is only the rendezvous **channel**, not a login flow.
Deferred: MAS is a service, a database and a migration of every account off built-in auth,
and the v1.139.0 note warns `/register` from **old appservice implementations may break under
MAS** — precisely the bridge owning 13 of 15 accounts.
## Shared-secret registration gotcha
`HMAC-SHA1(secret, nonce \0 user \0 password \0 "notadmin")` — the null **separates**, it does
not **terminate**. A trailing `\x00` yields `HMAC incorrect`. Run inside the container against
`localhost:8008`; port 8008 is not published to the host.
Full doc: `docs/pfi/vm-102-matrix-synapse.md` (`931bac8`, `73866f6`).
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# `[2026-09-01]` pfi-gx10 (ASUS Ascent GX10) onboarded headless — and it is the intended new home for run 3c
ASUS Ascent GX10 arrived and was registered, converted to headless, and given a rack-move
playbook. **It was NOT racked** — the operator ran out of day. It is still on his desk, on
Wi-Fi, on a temporary DHCP lease.
| | |
|---|---|
| GPU | **NVIDIA GB10**, driver 580.173.02, **compute capability 12.1 (`sm_121`)** |
| CPU | 20 cores, **aarch64** |
| Memory | **121 GB UNIFIED** — CPU and GPU share it; not 121 GB *plus* VRAM |
| Storage | 916 GB NVMe, 6% used |
| OS | Ubuntu 24.04.4, kernel 6.17.0-1031-nvidia |
| Access | `infra-ops` NOPASSWD sudo (operator-bootstrapped). `lkraven` has key auth but needs a password to escalate — **automation must connect as `infra-ops`**. |
## Purpose (operator, 2026-09-01)
Local inference experiments **and** the failed training — run 3c. That is the whole point:
run 3c died on ana-ml2 when a **kilowatt-class** training box tripped a breaker
(2× 300 W GPUs + dual EPYC 9254). The GX10 is a ~240 W appliance, roughly a fifth of the
draw, on a different site's circuits.
**The memory arithmetic favours it strongly.** Run 3c is a LoRA (r=64, batch 2 × accum 8,
gradient checkpointing) over `gemma4-26b-a4b-it-bf16` — **49 GB of base weights**, working
set roughly 55–65 GB. The `gemma4-charrp` compose warns in capitals that "48.10 GiB of BF16
weights CANNOT be served here" on ana-ml2's shared GPU0. 121 GB unified turns that
constraint into a non-issue.
## What has NOT been established — do not assume any of it
1. **The box is bare.** No torch, no nvcc, no CUDA stack. Docker 29.2.1 and 822 GB free.
2. **aarch64 dependency risk.** torch 2.9.1+cu130 ARM64 wheels exist; transformers/TRL/PEFT
are pure Python. Compiled deps — flash-attn, bitsandbytes, liger, xformers — are open
questions per-arch.
3. **Triton has NO sm_121 support** (established independently by comfy-dev the same day).
Anything reaching for `torch.compile` or Triton-backed kernels is closed on this silicon.
4. **Throughput is unmeasured.** Run 3c ran 16.45 s/it on a 300 W RTX PRO 6000. GB10 will be
slower; how much decides whether 604 steps is an overnight run or two days.
**Measure this before porting anything** — the recommended first move is a probe: install
ARM64 torch, load the base, run ten steps, report s/it.
5. **Model transfer:** 49 GB from ana-ml2 over the Anaheim↔NH3 link at a **measured
32.4 MB/s** — about 25 minutes. Note that is a third of the irv-ml1↔NH3 link's 99 MB/s.
## The headless conversion, and the lesson inside it
`playbooks/gx10-headless.yaml` (`1b596c8`): multi-user.target, gnome-remote-desktop stopped,
sleep/suspend/hibernate **masked**, logind ignores lid and idle, sshd keepalives, hostname
corrected `gx10-a745` → `pfi-gx10`.
⚠ **`gdm` is a STATIC unit on Ubuntu** — pulled in by `display-manager.service`, never
"enabled". The first version guarded on `is-enabled | grep enabled`, which always skips, and
**the verify tested the same wrong property and passed**. Six green verifies having not
stopped the display manager. Both now test `is-active`. This is an instance of
[[2026-09-01-wrong-object-measurement]].
The playbook refuses to stop GDM while a seat session is held (`--var force_dm_stop=true` to
override) — automation should not yank a display out from under someone at the machine.
⚠ **elway's `--sudo` applies only to ad-hoc `--shell`/`--upload`.** Playbook steps run as the
connecting user and must carry their own `sudo`.
## The rack move, written but not run
`playbooks/gx10-rack-network.yaml` (`a0c5fc6`) — target settled: **`nh3-servers` VLAN 50,
static `10.100.50.60`**, clear of `.40`/`.42`/`.50`/`.90` and below the `.150` DHCP pool.
Requires nothing from the operator beyond racking it. The wired NIC has its own MAC
(`30:c5:99:3d:a7:45`, distinct from Wi-Fi `50:bb:b5:a2:00:a8`), so the post-move address AND
switch port are discoverable from the UDM rather than relayed.
**Design property worth preserving:** the playbook never leaves itself one path back. Wi-Fi
stays up while the wired interface is configured beside it; Wi-Fi teardown is explicitly a
separate later change. `netplan try`'s auto-rollback needs a TTY that elway cannot provide,
so a live Wi-Fi link is what substitutes for it. Two preconditions are asserted as steps
rather than assumed: carrier must be 1, and the MAC must match (interface names renumber
across kernels; MACs do not).
⚠ **The GX10 is NOT the Ada box.** Two separate machines — see
[[2026-09-01-ada-migration-branch-a]].
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# `[2026-09-01]` A named failure class: a correct check aimed at the wrong object
Six instances surfaced across three sessions in a single day, independently, in unrelated
domains. It has a distinguishing property that makes it worth naming separately from
"a bad measurement":
> **Re-running the same check cannot catch it, because the check is correct and the object
> is wrong.** The only move that breaks it is asking what the artifact *is* before trusting
> any metric computed over it.
## The instances
| where | the metric | the artifact nobody opened |
|---|---|---|
| comfy-dev, civitai | a "~25 KB/s throttle" | a **9,685-byte login page** returned on failed auth |
| comfy-dev, render harness | reported "completed" | a 4.7 KB **all-black PNG** |
| comfy-dev, audio | RMS said healthy | degenerate audio where the **loudness WAS the noise** |
| ledger-dev, capability 5 | healthy ping, healthy container, healthy delivery | a **requirement unmet** — a mailbox, not an away-channel |
| infra-ops, gx10 headless | six green verifies | `is-enabled` on a **static unit**; gdm still running |
| infra-ops, synapse admin | an `ipallowlist` comment promising fleet access | fleet traffic **hairpins out the WAN**; 10.0.0.0/8 matches nothing |
## Related lessons banked the same day
- **A caveat plus propagation is decoration.** infra-ops flagged a sample-size problem AND
escalated the claim in the same message. If a number needs re-measuring before it can be
repeated, hold the escalation until it has been. The caveat made the uncareful thing look
examined.
- **Verify with a negative control.** A 200 means nothing without a 401 beside it. Used on
the pewpewstudio key mint; used on the `/_synapse/admin` lock (tested from a genuinely
external vantage via the NH3 residential egress proxy, because testing from a fleet host
sits inside the allow-list and proves nothing).
- **Reasoning from what is VISIBLE to what EXISTS.** infra-ops found no `sm_89` part in the
inventory, saw one new machine, and collapsed "the box I can see" into "the box that is
coming". They were two different machines. Wrote "I cannot resolve it and will not guess",
then built three messages on the guess.
## Disposition
Recommended for a row in `docs/pfi/training-throughput-playbook.md` §4 (the durable home for
"why a run LIES about itself"), with attribution to comfy-dev and ledger-dev.
**NOT YET WRITTEN — awaiting operator.** Tracking surface: this file, plus althing threads
`01M1EYBSYA4QRYK54PX0K1S8CS` (comfy-dev) and `01M1EXVPZT66SSGCRZH3W624R7` (ledger-dev).