Data Center Designers In High Demand 140
Hugh Pickens writes "For years, data center designers have toiled in obscurity in the engine rooms of the digital economy, amid the racks of servers and storage devices that power everything from online videos to corporate e-mail systems but now people with the skills to design, build and run a data center that does not endanger the power grid are suddenly in demand. 'The data center energy problem is growing fast, and it has an economic importance that far outweighs the electricity use,' said Jonathan G. Koomey of Stanford University. 'So that explains why these data center people, who haven't gotten a lot of glory in their careers, are in the spotlight now.' The pace of the data center build-up is the result of the surging use of servers, which in the United States rose to 11.8 million in 2007, from 2.6 million a decade earlier. 'For years and years, the attitude was just buy it, install it and don't worry about it,' says Vernon Turner, an analyst for IDC. 'That led to all sorts of inefficiencies. Now, we're paying for that behavior.'" On a related note, an anonymous reader contributes this link to an interesting look at how a data center gets built.
OK - what do they do? (Score:2, Interesting)
Do they constrain the end user to particular hardware, or is it just basic civil engineering?
I can see that a well planned installation can reduce cooling costs, but if Customer A insists on having his Superdome rather than a more energy efficient alternative, what does the designer do then?
Because the power grid has become very fragile (Score:4, Interesting)
Electricity generation hasn't grown ahead of demand due to government meddling, atom-ophobia, and environmentalist obstruction in the courts and on planning boards.
The rolling blackouts will be coming soon. It'll start with small ones. Then everyone will buy battery backups that draw a lot of power to recharge once power is restored. This will cause the duration of the periodic blackouts to go from a few minutes to a few hours in about 2 years.
Not long after that, we'll start building power generation capacity in the US again.
BOFH style designers? (Score:3, Interesting)
The BOFH cares about important things: Like service:
So, besides electricity usage, what else should you care about? How about heat? Your room can't be too hot (you can send all the heat to the swimming pool in the fitness centre...).
What about wires? Both a OHS issue, and a potential to kill off half your servers if you trip over an exposed power cord or network line. So you lay them under the floor?
Complicated stuff this...
endanger the power grid? (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't understand the peculiar emphasis the New York Times places on "endangering" the power grid. Even though a data center uses a lot of electricity, it's a high value operation that needs a stable power supply. What's wrong with the idea of paying more to insure that your power supply is sufficiently stable for your needs? The power company accepting those checks can then work on delivering that power. It's like saying that I'm somehow responsible for the stability of the oil production and distribution infrastructure because I drive a car. Perhaps, if I tweak my engine just so, I can engineer a democratic transformation of Saudi Arabia. I'll see if changing the oil does the trick.
At some point, you have to realize that the consumer, no matter how big, isn't responsible for the supply of resources by another party. If there's a problem with how those resources are supplied, be it fixed price (regardless of demand) power transmission lines, pollution, or deforestation, then that problem should appear as an increase in cost to the consumer. If it isn't, then it's a problem with how the resource is distributed, not a problem with the consumer.
Re:Because the power grid has become very fragile (Score:5, Interesting)
I would dare say that the future looks good for ARM and Via on that last account, at least.
There has always been a shortage (Score:4, Interesting)
It us a shame because it really has a lot of great career opportunities.
Data center work is just a subset of that-- it is hard to find people with the experience, but not impossible to train.
Re:Blackbox computing - scaling design skills (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:endanger the power grid? (Score:2, Interesting)
But yes, it's a priority application too - datacentres score as 'business critical' in most companies, so no matter how much it costs to run, it's cheaper than it 'not running'.
Part of the point of DC design is resiliency, and therefore you _do_ have to consider available services and supplies - like the local powergrid, and how screwed you'll be if it does hit the breaking point.
Video tour of data center design & constructio (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:incremental datacentre design ... (Score:3, Interesting)
The biggest secret is in providing enough space to allow for growth, changing needs, and eventually equipment replacement.
As for efficiency, I have to tell an aspiring co-lo that they will pay more for power than their OC-192s, and thatthe cost of a server is less than the power it consumes. It is easy for growing companies to ignore it at first, but it eventually catches up with you.
The old solution was to move the servers to a place with cheap electricity. That will backfire soon; you really need to shift focus to plan for energy efficiency, even if it means your fiber runs are longer (segregate by density rather than system or function).
Re:Use geography to solve the cooling problems... (Score:5, Interesting)
One answer may be heat wheels, but they are fairly new and unproven in the data center space. Take a look at http://www.kyotocooling.com/ [kyotocooling.com]
Re:OK - what do they do? (Score:2, Interesting)
I had the same several month long arguements in planning our new office. It's expensive. We cannot raise the ceiling (the building HVAC systems are in the plenum.) Do we really need 5ton air handlers. Do we have to have 2 of them. etc. etc. Well, my 12" floor became a 10" floor -- a compromise to make the ramp 2ft shorter, and 2 Lieberts became one because no one listened to my original specs and the landlords wouldn't buy the second one. (those things are expen$ive.)
Btw, that single point of failure failed within *4* months requiring basically the entire office to be shutdown all day to get it fixed. It was over 100F in there in less than an hour.
Re:IT = Volatile (Score:3, Interesting)