Know How... 101

BloomSky is a weather reporting network, how to port forward, and fully immersed computing.

BloomSky Weather Reporting Network, a crowd-source, cloud-based weather app that uses inexpensive hardware to collect thousands or TENS of thousands of data points from a particular region to build a more accurate weather map.

Ports, DMZ, and Forwarding

The way Internet works is that is uses IP address and protocols to communicate.

The Internet uses many protocols, but the ones you most often use are TCP and UDP. We're not going to go into the difference between TCP and UDP except to say:

• TCP = "Transmission Control Protocol" : Creates a connection between two devices on a network and stays connected for the duration of the session. This enables both devices to verify that all information sent has been properly received. When the communication between the two devices is done, the connection is released.
• UDP = "User Datagram Protocol" : The device sending the information packages it into a nice, neat package and sends it into the network with the proper destination header. It does not make a connection to the receiving device, nor does it verify that the package arrived safely.
• TCP is more reliable, because the connection between the two devices means you can ensure that ALL data is received properly, but UDP has much lower overhead.
• But that's not important... what IS important is that EVERY IP ADDRESS can use either TCP or UDP
• AND each of those protocols has 65,635 available ports on which to received data.
• In other words... EVERY address that any device has has more than 130k possible ports to use.
• And that's just counting TCP and UDP (There are other protocols)
• Each of those ports can be forwarded to a particular device on your network... which means you could theoretically access EVERY device you have on your home network without having to purchase a service or pay a subscription.

SO LET'S UNLOCK YOUR PORT POWER!!!

There are 65,535 available ports (Unsigned 16 bit Integer 2^16 = 65,536 - 1 [Because we don't use 0])

• The first 1024 ports are reserved for common applications
• ftp uses 20, 21
• ssh uses 22
• SSL uses 443
• HTTP uses 80

When we type an address into a browser, it ASSUMES that we want port 80 because that's where HTTP services can normally be found.

• So http://192.168.1.1 is actually http://192.168.1.1:80
• That means we can tell our browser (or any application) to use a DIFFERENT port on the same ip address
• For example... we can tell it to go to http://192.168.1.1:8080 -- and it will try to get a HTTP response from port 8080 on 192.168.1.1

Examples of application needing port forwarding

• FreeNAS Plex Server
• IP Cameras
• Minecraft Server
• Pogoplug

XBOX Live Requires the Following Ports:

• 88 (UDP)
• 3074 (UDP and TCP)
• 53 (UDP and TCP)
• 80 (TCP)
• 500 (UDP)
• 3544 (UDP)
• 4500 (UDP)

Minecraft

• 25565 (TCP/UDP)

Immersed Computing

The theory!

• Most liquid cooling methods have used some sort of water block on top of the hot components, with flexible tubing that pumps fluid though the waterblocks, out to a radiator.
• The problem with liquid cooling is that it's messy, complicated, can cause shorts, and is otherwise a PITA to maintain
• You also can't put waterblocks on ALL the pieces of a computer that are going to generate heat, which means that you're still going to have to put fans in the case, which negate the purpose of installing a water cooling system in the first place.
• SOOOO... Instead of pumping fluid through waterblocks, and leaving plumes of heat all throughout the computer... what about simple immersing the entire computer into fluid?

We can do this if we use a Dialectric Fluid:

• This means that electric charges will NOT flow through the liquid as they do in water and any other conductor.
• Because it does not conduct electricity, electronic devices can be completely immersed without fear of short-circuiting the traces or the ICs themselves.

Flourinert

• It's Dielectric, health neutral and is DESIGNED to directly cool electronics
• It's VERY good a conducting heat. It allows for heat to be conducted from components, but it does't have a high heat-capacity itself, meaning that it will readily give that heat up to a radiative surface.
• However... It's Expensive: One gallon of NEW Flourinert can cost you somewhere between $500-$1000

Let's talk about the Abyss:

There are a few places that will sell RECYCLED Flourinert at a discount rate.

• TMC Contract Distillation will sell it at ~$300/gallon

Mineral Oil

• Mineral oil is a by-product of petroleum distillation process
• It's transparent, colorless, of relatively low viscosity and is harmless to the human body. (It can be used as a mild laxative)
• But most importantly --- Mineral oil is dielectric:
• AND Mineral Oil is Cheap! -- It's about $25/gallon

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• Transcripts: Know How... 101 (Transcript)