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Microsoft Mulling Portable Data Centers
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Apr 05, 2007 05:32 PM
from the call-me-when-they-make-them-luggable dept.
from the call-me-when-they-make-them-luggable dept.
1sockchuck writes "An architect of the Windows Live team has published a presentation advocating portable container-based data centers as the future of data center infrastructure. James Hamilton, who previously was GM of Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services, contends that a distributed network of unmanned modular units 'transforms data centers from static and costly behemoths into inexpensive and portable lightweights. ... Multiple smaller data centers, regionally located, could prove to be a competitive advantage.' Both Sun and Rackable have rolled out prototypes of container-based 'data center in a box' products, and Hamilton notes that large generators are also available in trailers."
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Sun To Unveil Project Blackbox 175 comments
this great guy writes "A year ago, Google's secret plans for a portable data center in a shipping container were being revealed by Robert X. Cringely. Sun Microsystems is about to officially unveil its 'data center in a box' concept. Project Blackbox will involve the full-scale production of data centers in 20-foot-long cargo shipping containers." From the article: "The idea eliminates several major hurdles facing data center customers: finding an appropriate site, arranging the servers and cooling mechanisms in the most efficient manner, and waiting for construction to be complete. The company is touting energy efficiency as a crucial benefit of the confined space, as its patented cooling features can more accurately target hot spots than in giant warehouses. The box can hold hundreds of servers and save thousands of dollars per year in energy costs, the company said."
[+]
Technology: Intel Considering Portable Data Centers 120 comments
miller60 writes "Intel has become the latest major tech company to express interest in using portable data centers to transform IT infrastructure. Intel says an approach using a "data center in a box" could be 30 to 50 percent cheaper than the current cost of building a data center. "The difference is so great that with this solution, brick-and-mortar data centers may become a thing of the past," an Intel exec writes. Sun and Rackable have introduced portable data centers, while Google has a patent for one and Microsoft has explored the concept. But for all the enthusiasm for data centers in shipping containers, there are few real-world deployments, which raises the question: are portable data centers just fun to speculate about, or can they be a practical solution for the current data center expansion challenges?"
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What about maintenance and fixes? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
yeesh...
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Is that anything like NetBEUI?
(as /me ducks and runzlakhell from the gathering mob of angry CNA/CNE's...)
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But, rather than maintaining 3 or 4 big-ass DC's or even moderate DCs you can maintain one central DC that mirrors and backs up stuff, while the satellite units can provide local access to reduce latency, and branch center operations.
-nB
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
It will certainly make it easier to hijack someone's "web browsing experience" - just hook a semi up to the trailer and drive away with it.
Adds a whole new take to "never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of backup tapes."
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I got the same weird vision of a bunch of sea containers on wheels, too. So , the 'meet-me' room would be in the back of the Semi's cab where the driver sleeps? or will that be put in the passenger seat, instead?
# ping domain.com
PING domain.com (x.x.x.x) 56(84) bytes of data.
Reply From y.y.y.y : datacenter got a flat tire en route
Reply From z.z.z.z : driver
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Not that this matters. This is just Microsoft trying to find another way to stay ahead by taking other peoples ideas. I suspect it'll fail. Why? Cost, if nothing else, they always end up more expensive.
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There are remotely managed power strips for the rackmounts. Also, a blade chassis has this capability on its own. With PXE and storage arrays, it becomes a matter of hardware just dying -- which can happen to any OS.
Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)
I do not download from untrusted sources, use a Kaspersky-based anti-virus, a hardware firewall and Windows Defender, and I have never had a virus on my XP Pro machine (I manually check logs and the registry to be sure.)
I think most of the Windows "security holes" people complain about stem from porn downloads and shady websites (esp on admin accounts), where malware is to be
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
"You would have thought that M$ and all there money they are throughing at vist would be able to make a virus imune OS, but obviously not."
Its not to their economic advantage to do so. How many "unvalidated" copies would they miss if users didn't have to continually patch, update, and reinstall?
Remember - "Follow the money." Its always about either money or power - or in this case, both.
Re:What about maintenance and fixes? (Score:5, Informative)
I'm the documentation lead for a server [sun.com] with a LOM [sun.com] that's very fancy indeed. There's a graphic terminal service that supports things like interacting with the BIOS, or logging into the server's GUI. There's a LOM command line you can access using a serial connection or over SSH. The LOM also supports IPMI [wikipedia.org], which is kind of a basic necessity when you have a lot of servers, even if they're all down the hall.
This server is certified for Windows 2003 (and I understand a lot of our customers buy it for that fell purpose), so it would be ideal for Microsoft's container. However, we have a our own competing container product [sun.com].
And yes, the company I work for is Sun, and yes, we're selling Windows-based systems now. Shocking, isn't it?
Parent
Google? (Score:5, Insightful)
Hasn't Google already been doing this for a couple years now?
Re:Google? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Dupe (Score:3, Informative)
Sun To Unveil Project Blackbox [slashdot.org] Oct 17, '06
Yes, they are about Google and Sun, but does "OMG Micro$oft is doing it too!!!!1111" count as news?
Internet Archive talked about that years ago. (Score:2)
Idea was multifold:
- Backup against natural disasters,
- eliminating transcontinental bandwidth bottlenecks for archive users,
- having a cheap, easy-to-build-and-deploy datacenter (Build, test, and load initial content where convenient, then ship it cheap, install it, check it out), and
- have a low-profile si
Small decentralized datacenters (Score:2)
It's deja vu all over again.
Borg (Score:5, Funny)
This takes Microsoft one step closer to becoming the Borg. Just wait until one of these mobile data-centre 'cubes' appears outside a rival software company, the voice of Ballmer comes booming out of a loudspeaker: 'We are Microsoft. Open your doors and surrender your intellectual property. We will take your technological innovation and call it our own. Your culture will adapt to service ours. Resistance is futile.'
In fact, didn't I see one parked-up outside Novell HQ recently?
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Re:Borg (Score:5, Funny)
It didn't broadcast Bill Gates speeches on the road, but it had the same problem as all Microsoft software- features you didn't ask for, that don't work, that can't easily be removed or disabled. He would park this thing in his garage, and once a month some process would turn on at 3 AM to condition the battery or something silly. It would crash midway through and he kept waking up in the morning to a BSOD and a dead battery powering the dim blue glow of the pixels with its last gasp.
He kept having to take his car to the shop for patches. We loved hearing about this stuff at work, because the car always crashed for something different, but he was getting sick of it, like everyone else at the dealership. Finally one day it screwed something up again- left his windshield washer pump going all night or something- and he took it in for the last patch. The ride home was Linux powered and the fun stories came to an end.
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whoa, slow down there! (Score:5, Funny)
i seen a photo of Sun's (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:i seen a photo of Sun's (Score:4, Interesting)
The first job I had was building a portable data centre for the Australian air force. When operating in a remote area they needed a way to analyse all the engineering data from their aircraft.
Now for me, that made sense. The shipping container is a bad environment to work in but the military know how to cope with problems like that, and they have a genuine need for mobility.
These days for civilian applications it should almost always be easier to get a fast line to your site and use a fixed data centre somewhere, or a combination of systems.
Parent
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/linux-works/sets/721
you mean like this, from Sun, from 2006 (Score:4, Insightful)
A Novel Datacenter Concept
Project Blackbox packages compute, storage, and network infrastructure capabilities into scalable, modular units outfitted with state-of-the-art cooling, monitoring, and power distribution systems. Customers will be able to order a variety of standard and custom configurations of systems, storage, networking, and software. Housed in a standard 20-foot shipping container for maximum flexibility, Project Blackbox will be easily transported using common shipping methods. Simple hookups for water, AC power, and networking will enable customers to quickly deploy Project Blackbox upon delivery.
*snore* (Score:4, Informative)
As usual, the "visionaries" at MS simply feed us what others have invented as their great ideas.
It's one thing... (Score:2)
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Re:It's one thing... (Score:4, Insightful)
X is neither a good solution for that, there is something out there that is comparable to X and lightweight, but I forgot the exact name. SSH works great over 28k... if you don't have too much of stuff scrolling through the windows (cat
Parent
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The Sun (Microsystems) is rising... (Score:2, Interesting)
(And no jokes about hijacking the container with a forklift or breaking into it... That's why you hire 24/7 security if the data is important to you
More B.S.-Ware? (Score:2)
Someone needs to explain to me who is rushing to buy these things.
High-voltage lines into the box and having air-conditioning running 24-7 just sitting in a parking lot will probably inspire a visit from the local city inspector.
Certainly after the neighbors complain.
Already in progress. (Score:2)
They've been doing "cell cite in a container" for years.
- Bring in the power and fiber or whatever (assuming it's not going to use a directional microwave link for the uplink side). - Pour a slab for the tower and container foundation.
- Erect a fence.
- Bolt the tower / antenna assembly onto the slab.
- Deliver the container to the slab and bolt THAT down.
- Hoo
Imagine a... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Imagine a... (Score:5, Funny)
(stop staring at me like that).
Parent
White elephant (Score:3, Insightful)
Both Sun and Rackable have rolled out prototypes of container-based 'data center in a box' products, and Hamilton notes that large generators are also available in trailers."
This strikes me an awful lot like a white elephant- it's not terribly hard to stuff a bunch of computers and an air conditioner/heating system into a shipping container with (physical) shock isolation. For Sun, it sounds like they didn't do much more than install water blocks in their servers ("cyclonic cooling", my ass.)
More laughs:
It's not completely plug-n-play, however. The "data center in a box" requires chilled water to support the cooling system, in addition to Internet connectivity and appropriate power infrastructure. Markoff's story notes that the prototype "sits in a container case adjacent to a Sun office building here (Menlo, Park, Calif.), connected to two large fire hoses for water cooling and 500 kilowatts of redundant power."
500kW (which at 220V is over 2,000 amps- which is a HUGE hookup) of power is probably just for the computers. Figure at least some sizable chunk of that for cooling...
Power, cooling, security...this seems rife with problems...
MS clueless about large-scale installations (Score:3)
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Be honest now... would you?
Not original (Score:2)
Embrace and extend, indeed.
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Unmanned? (Score:4, Funny)
Sun Microsystems ... Been there ... Done that. (Score:2)
I took the tour today, got a neat tee shirt and free lunch too!
What an original idea! (Score:2)
Exchange? (Score:2)
Am I the only one that read that last bit as "Microsoft Hostage Exchange Services"? I mean, I know MSFT likes to lock up your data in proprietary formats, but that's going a little too far....
the Sun blackbox (photos) (Score:2)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/linux-works/sets/721
its really cool to see in person. the equipment is very tightly placed inside. the water input and output valves are equally impressive.
Rackables is crap (Score:4, Informative)
The number of servers per rack is constrained by electricity. For a while we couldn't figure out how they fit 48 servers into the same amount of electricity that our current server vendor used to power 24 + 1 switch. That is until we pulled a server apart and saw that they are using LAPTOP CPUS. The servers don't perform nearly on par with normal ones. They were, and are, selling snake oil.
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And any forklift driver with a pair of bolt cutters can take it from you. These things will normally be sited in industrial areas. You are one forklift or truck driver away from losing that asset, ether physically or because of an accident.
This is a really important point - anything portable can be stolen and a box loaded with computer hardware is going to pretty desireable. So there may be advantages in more localised systems but there's going to be some security costs as well.
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I just wouldn't park anything too important near that portable datacenter.
Re:Follow the money. (Score:4, Insightful)
The 20' container alone has a tare weight of about 4500 pounds. A 1U server can weigh as much as 40 pounds. lets say we have 8 48U racks inside the container thats 48*8*40 which gives us 15,360 pounds. Add to that the weight of a cooling system, power equipment including a UPS, rack enclosures and cable management and you have quite a bit of weight. I am going to conclude that your looking at least 30,000-40,000 pounds for a loaded 20 footer. A forklift to move 30-40,000 pounds is very large and weighs so much that you need a tag trailer or slide axle semi trailer to move the damn thing. Its going to be allot easier to just open the container and rob the equipment. Or possibly use a roll back equipment truck and drag the thing on with a winch assuming it isn't anchored to the ground.
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