I, Cringley: box full of Operons.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Yousuf Khan
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Yousuf Khan

The probable answer lies in one of Google's underground parking garages
in Mountain View. There, in a secret area off-limits even to regular
GoogleFolk, is a shipping container. But it isn't just any shipping
container. This shipping container is a prototype data center. Google
hired a pair of very bright industrial designers to figure out how to
cram the greatest number of CPUs, the most storage, memory and power
support into a 20- or 40-foot box. We're talking about 5000 Opteron
processors and 3.5 petabytes of disk storage that can be dropped-off
overnight by a tractor-trailer rig. The idea is to plant one of these
puppies anywhere Google owns access to fiber, basically turning the
entire Internet into a giant processing and storage grid.

While Google could put these containers anywhere, it makes the most
sense to place them at Internet peering points, of which there are about
300 worldwide.

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20051117.html
 
On Fri, 18 Nov 2005, Yousuf Khan typed this :
(removed cross-post - my question is OT for alt.invest.stocks.amd)
The probable answer lies in one of Google's underground parking garages
in Mountain View. There, in a secret area off-limits even to regular
GoogleFolk, is a shipping container. But it isn't just any shipping
container. This shipping container is a prototype data center. Google
hired a pair of very bright industrial designers to figure out how to
cram the greatest number of CPUs, the most storage, memory and power
support into a 20- or 40-foot box. We're talking about 5000 Opteron
processors and 3.5 petabytes of disk storage that can be dropped-off
overnight by a tractor-trailer rig. The idea is to plant one of these
puppies anywhere Google owns access to fiber, basically turning the
entire Internet into a giant processing and storage grid.

While Google could put these containers anywhere, it makes the most
sense to place them at Internet peering points, of which there are about
300 worldwide.
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20051117.html
Click to expand...

How might it be cooled?
 
How might it be cooled?
Click to expand...

I suppose the same way that containers holding fresh meat/vegs keep
the food chilled.

http://www.thaireefer.com/Refrigrated-Container_OK.gif
--
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Standard HTML, SHTML, MySQL + PHP or ASP, Javascript.
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from the wonderful said:
That's fine for keeping a bunch of frozen meat, but I was thinking as
much of the removal and disposal of heat from all the 5000 individual
CPUs and other components like RAM, in a confined space - quite a
challenge.
Click to expand...

You pour half a waterfall into the top, pump it away at the bottom to
drop it 100ft down an evaporator tower, collect, and repeat .. at least
that what we used to do with dirty great big mainframes, which had whole
electricity substations just to themselves. 8>.

If you have a really, really confined space, you have a problem ..
maybe switch the water for something less corrosive/electrically
conductive, and just pump it straight through the whole shebang?
 
The probable answer lies in one of Google's underground parking garages
in Mountain View. There, in a secret area off-limits even to regular
GoogleFolk, is a shipping container. But it isn't just any shipping
container. This shipping container is a prototype data center. Google
hired a pair of very bright industrial designers to figure out how to
cram the greatest number of CPUs, the most storage, memory and power
support into a 20- or 40-foot box. We're talking about 5000 Opteron
processors and 3.5 petabytes of disk storage that can be dropped-off
overnight by a tractor-trailer rig. The idea is to plant one of these
puppies anywhere Google owns access to fiber, basically turning the
entire Internet into a giant processing and storage grid.

While Google could put these containers anywhere, it makes the most
sense to place them at Internet peering points, of which there are about
300 worldwide.

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20051117.html
Click to expand...

Hmm, so another myth bites the dust.... the one about "if AMD is so great,
why is Google an Intel-only shop"?
 
You pour half a waterfall into the top, pump it away at the bottom to
drop it 100ft down an evaporator tower, collect, and repeat .. at least
that what we used to do with dirty great big mainframes, which had whole
electricity substations just to themselves. 8>.
Click to expand...

I remember back in the '70s I was working for Gulf Oil at their data
processing center in Houston. We had about 4 Sperry Univac mainframes
running at the time, and one day a construction crew working down the
street dug into and broke the city water main. After a few hours, we ran
out of water due to evaporation in the tower, and had to shut down all of
the mainframes, which was a very expensive proposition. The very next
week, a deep well was drilled on site. And of course, the electric motor
for the well was wired into the onsite emergency generators. Backups for
the backups -- it cost a LOT of money when those mainframes didn't run.
 
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So the name of this website is "Thai Reefer"?
Click to expand...

"Reefer" is trucker jargon for "refrigerated trailer."

_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( http://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ rm -rf /bin/laden >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

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So the name of this website is "Thai Reefer"?
Click to expand...

No idea what the name means tho. I knew something like that existed so
I got it off google with an image search for refrigerated container :P
 
The said:
No idea what the name means tho. I knew something like that existed so
I got it off google with an image search for refrigerated container :P
Click to expand...

I'd say Scott Alfter's explanation probably works.

Yousuf Khan
 
George said:
Hmm, so another myth bites the dust.... the one about "if AMD is so great,
why is Google an Intel-only shop"?
Click to expand...

But the one myth that still has no answer is, if Itanium is so great,
how come Google doesn't use it? :-)

Yousuf Khan
 
So the name of this website is "Thai Reefer"?
Click to expand...

Hehe, yup! I know that it just means "refrigerated trailer", but I
still couldn't help but crack up laughing when I saw that!
 
Hehe, yup! I know that it just means "refrigerated trailer", but I
still couldn't help but crack up laughing when I saw that!
Click to expand...

Erm, can somebody please explain what's the inside joke this time?
 
Reefer is a word for marijuana.

Yousuf Khan
Click to expand...

And back in the day, 30 to 35 years ago, "Thai Sticks" was one of the most
highly regarded, most sought after forms of marijuana. Forget about
Acapulco Gold, Panama Red, etc, "Thai Sticks" was THE premium stuff. Or so
I was told. I, of course, knew nothing about nothing, and even if I did, I
never inhaled (another inside joke).
 
And back in the day, 30 to 35 years ago, "Thai Sticks" was one of the most
highly regarded, most sought after forms of marijuana. Forget about
Acapulco Gold, Panama Red, etc, "Thai Sticks" was THE premium stuff. Or so
I was told. I, of course, knew nothing about nothing, and even if I did, I
never inhaled (another inside joke).
Click to expand...

Thai Stick price/performance wasn't very good compared Gold or Red
though. ;p
 
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