April 1, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Portable Data Centers
April 2, 2009 at 6:13 am
Just think of the trading value you could add to organizations! DBA in a box! (food and water sold separately, no assembly required)
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"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."
April 2, 2009 at 7:48 am
Excuse me, I am being dumb again, but I don't see the purpose of such a mobile datacentre. My server/s has my data for my company in it, why would I want it mobile. Unless of course you are make a roaring business of a hotdog stand and you want to move your datacenter with you where you go! Hey, just joking but really can someone enlighten me 'cause I don't understand.:hehe::hehe::hehe:
:-PManie Verster
Developer
Johannesburg
South Africa
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. - Holy Bible
I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times. - Everett Mckinley Dirkson (Well, I am trying. - Manie Verster)
April 2, 2009 at 8:03 am
Would be good should you need to move office, but it's not likely to happen regularly.
Probs better on a MUCH smaller scale, so that you could set up a network before deploying it to, for example, a new branch.
April 2, 2009 at 8:16 am
Security anyone ? Think of the ramifications for even the most basic security needs - access alone for starters. Imagine what the SOX and HIPPA auditors would think and say ...
RegardsRudy KomacsarSenior Database Administrator"Ave Caesar! - Morituri te salutamus."
April 2, 2009 at 8:22 am
It has potential to be really secure though. For example, HBOS has mobile Bank Branches for the most rural of areas!
Basically (probs a LOT more to it) a converted transit van which calls back into base to update databases and the like.
Thinking about it, they'd be quite good for that!
April 2, 2009 at 8:30 am
I have a problem, at least judging from the picture provided in the editorial. It looks like only one side of the racking is accessable to a person standing in the container. I don't know how much these units in the racking slide out, but it seems to me it could make things difficult to maintain. Over time, network configurations change, servers will get added, parts and equipment need replacing. While it may be possible to do that in one of these containers, it does look harder to work with the back side of the servers. As someone who's worked for a number of companies and needed access to both sides of the server racking, I see this as a detraction of this type of setup.
April 2, 2009 at 8:56 am
Move racks? Difficult you say? Not so. I watch people pull whole racks, disconnect them, move them a substantial distance and plug them back in. I've even seen it done by one person. And they are about to do it again. You can watch too if you want. These folk are going to move a bunch of stuff into whatever they wind up calling Node 3.
"What the hell is Charles talking about now?" Well don't think IIS. Think ISS! Put your "container" in orbit. Now hold on. This has possibilities. Near zero G means that you have only mass to consider, not weight, when moving things. Access is even easier when needed. "To reach that damn connector I'd have to be standing on my head." No problem. I'm physically challenged myself. This could be a big help. The commute sucks.
A Geo-Sync data center (centre) has other advantages. Spinning disk drivers are mini gyroscopes anyway. Gravity increases the wear. That would be reduced. As to power, it all has to be solar! Think Green. Heat dissipation got you concerned? The vacuum of space to the rescue. I still think that at hot side/cold side Stirling engine would be practical given enough space. Then just look at your C-zero. Psychical security is a no-brainer.
Now planning ahead would be key. "Can you pop over and just add an additional drive to the HR server? These job losses are giving us a wee bit of log pressure." Your MTBF numbers had better stand up to real world, well off-world, usage. :w00t:
OK, fun aside for now. There are down to earth practicalities for having your server complex movable. You need to put it on good shock mounts. I take earthquake preparedness seriously too. Properly done the center might survive even if most of the rest of the building does not.
ATBCharles Kincaid
April 2, 2009 at 9:02 am
I know of one company who has them sat on pallets - we don't get many earthquakes at all in the UK, so shock mounting isn't an issue. We do get lots of rain though, so in case of flooding, pallet mounted racks means that they can be quickly disconnected and forklifted into a lorry.
hmm.... Mass server theft anyone?!
April 2, 2009 at 9:02 am
HIPPA/SOX: Lots of hosting centers deal with security requirements by building a chain link fence around an area. It works, but it's not efficent, not that expandable, and arguably less secure since you can see in. Moving/consolidating racks as you grow gets hard.
However I could see that once you were of a certain size, you could rent an entire container for our equipment. Then you can secure that however you need. Motion sensors to prevent movement, independent alarms, etc.
April 2, 2009 at 9:04 am
Manie Verster (4/2/2009)
Excuse me, I am being dumb again, but I don't see the purpose of such a mobile datacentre.
It's not that you move often, but what about every 2-3 years when you renegotiate hosting? I've done that a few times, both for SSC and for larger companies. Deciding to leave a hosting company that's not performing well, or costs too much means you need to factor in moving costs.
Here it's potentially much easier to move your entire data center if it's a container or two.
What about DR? You could potentially pull one of these out of a DC, load it on a truck, and move it out of New Orleans, or some other disaster area.
There are advantages.
April 2, 2009 at 9:48 am
Not likely to fit in the building.
Interesting Idea. But leaving one out to cake in the elements, especially when the weather is not good when you open the door... explain "snowing in our data center took out the first rack" to the CEO.
And it will not be cheaper by any stretch of the imagination. The only intriguing idea is DR, but it also introduces more chaos with the potential for fence-snipping midnight theft of the entire pod. And ultimately, with the security perimiter needed, it would take more space.
April 2, 2009 at 10:00 am
The data centers have spaces for these built in, so there's no weather issue. It's a modular unit made to slide in and out of a building, but can be trucked around.
April 2, 2009 at 10:24 am
Sliding a unit in and out of a building will only work if your datacenter is on the 1st or 2nd floor. The places where the most 'green' is needed is in the major cities. Most major cities have hundreds to thousands of major buildings - each with multiple data centers. For example one place I worked at was 40 stories tall with data centers on the 7th, 12th, 22nd and 32nd floors ? Then you also have the opposite - buildings with multiple subbasements below ground with power and datacenters there as well ! The newest building I ever worked in had just been completed was 30 stories tall with the entire 15th and 20th floors as data centers - the building took up 1/4 of a city block !
RegardsRudy KomacsarSenior Database Administrator"Ave Caesar! - Morituri te salutamus."
April 2, 2009 at 11:10 am
Steve Jones - Editor (4/2/2009)
The data centers have spaces for these built in, so there's no weather issue. It's a modular unit made to slide in and out of a building, but can be trucked around.
Yup, they're designed to fit nicely inside a C-130 Hercules, with room for the guard detail. At least according to the confidential specs obtained from http://www.skynetresearch.com/[/url]. I'm sure that's only a coincidence, not any sort of indication about who funded the research which produced them.
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