At the start of the semester, I launched an exciting initiative aimed at giving students free access to servers for hands-on learning and exploration. This project had been on my mind for a while, and I finally had the chance to bring it to life.

DTU is well-equipped with computing resources, especially through the high-performance computing systems provided by the DTU Computing Center (DCC). However, these resources are understandably limited to academic and educational use, which restricts their flexibility for students who want to experiment more freely. This inspired me to create a platform that gives students more access and hands-on experience with server infrastructure, networking, and related technologies. My goal was to fill the gap by offering more customizable and experimental environments for students who want to explore beyond the limits of the existing academic systems.

The DCC generously donated eight HP ProLiant SL230s Gen8 servers that were being phased out, along with fiber optic switches and cabling. This gave students a unique opportunity to gain practical experience in setting up fiber optic networks, managing subnets, and experimenting with advanced technologies like RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access), which is used to speed up data transfer between computers in high-performance networks.

Recently, I’ve been focused on setting up a Proxmox cluster to better distribute computing resources. This will allow any student who wants to access their own virtual server, where they can experiment, build a website, or even create their own computing platform. In just the first week, I’ve already heard from many students—some eager to help support the project, and others excited to get their own server and start experimenting. We have already provided the first free servers for students.

A special thank you to everyone who helped make this project possible, especially DCC for providing the servers. A big thank you also to PF (DTU Student Union) for offering access and space in their server rooms, and to the Polytechnical Radio Group (PRG) for allowing us to use some of their allocated static IP addresses. Lastly, I’m incredibly grateful to the SMKID (Software, Mathematics, and AI) Study Council for funding the storage and additional materials needed to bring this project to life.

This is just the beginning. We’re hoping to expand access to more students and perhaps even introduce new workshops or training sessions around server management and networking. If you’re a DTU student interested in getting involved, feel free to reach out—there’s plenty of exciting work ahead!

If you are a students at DTU, and you either want to support or benefit from the project feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]