Jim Lawrence
accessd at shaw.ca
Wed Jun 16 12:20:31 CDT 2010
The older computers usually need less power to run as their CPU could not heat a house and if you do not need the performance why upgrade. One of the costs of the new 64bit multi-core systems is costs of keeping the unit from frying. As most of the cost of running a computer is cooling, being able to remove the computer case and racking the systems in a lower basement should cut costs. If you have a sizable computer farm it would be well worth moving it to this region. Not only are the power costs considerably less but access to high speed pipes are cheaper. Most major centers have fiber-optic backbones. The internet makes supporting a remote system relatively easy. Google rack mounts all their computers. They just place each row of boards vertical, have a single power supply, that plugs into all the boards on the row, the row stack is 4 to 5 high and each column has a single large fan at the bottom blowing up. That way of mounting a cluster of computers is supposed to be very cost effective. According to someone that was working at Google, (no one is supposed to know where Google's main computer site is) they are planning to carve a large cave into a mountain, run up a couple of shafts inside, exiting far above and then using the venturi effect to create the appropriate refrigeration... Heady stuff. Jim -----Original Message----- From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gustav Brock Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 8:40 AM To: dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Faster, cheaper and better Hi Jim Cute indeed! But I would need a rather normal board with more ram, PCI bus, etc. which could run Win2003. At best in a 19" rack housing. Those power costs you mention, we can only dream about ... /gustav >>> accessd at shaw.ca 16-06-2010 17:19 >>> Hi Gustav: Here is a couple links that might interest you. http://beagleboard.org/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beagle_Board An aside: I understand the power costs over in much of Europe are very high. We here on the north coast of the NA continent are quite spoiled with some of the cheapest power (all hydro) anywhere so it has never been a real concern. (that is why Microsoft and Google are situated here along with a host of other companies... cheap power.) An average house here (15 to 30K sq footage), heating with electricty pays between $12.00 and $15.00 CDN (10 to 12 EUR) per month. Business rates are lower (35 kW per month and up). Jim -----Original Message----- From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gustav Brock Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 11:39 PM To: dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Faster, cheaper and better Hi Jim Yes, but these old boxes use a lot of power, and if such a box runs for 24 hours that _really_ adds up on this side of the pond. My thought was that an Atom-based board would use far less power while providing enough performance. /gustav >>> accessd at shaw.ca 15-06-2010 19:45 >>> Hi Gustav: Some of the best servers I have worked with are old beater boxes running some form of Linux but seem unfazed with 10,000 hits a day. I was working on an old Win2000 box that this company has been running as their web server and it seems secure and able to handle their web site requirements just fine.... so I recommended they keep it until it starts have problems or no longer supports their requirements. Jim -----Original Message----- From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gustav Brock Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 8:38 AM To: dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Faster, cheaper and better Hi Jim Certainly interesting for the big guys though with one potential limitation: 32-bit only. However, for a web site, who cares if you run sixteen 32-bit or four 64-bit virtual servers in parallel? For normal use it could be cool with a 8 or 16 x Atom CPU board ... /gustav >>> accessd at shaw.ca 15-06-2010 16:55 >>> Servers can be very expensive as they require huge boxes, many cooling fans, a power supply that requires the biggest UPS, heatsink and more fans. The CPUs have fans and heatsinks as big as a head. It requires two people just to roll them into place. Then we throw in redundancy... They can be a really pain in the back; literally... I know. Most of the pain, I understand is in the price (far beyond my pay grade) and subsequently the maintenance and power consumption. They suck power big-time. It is like turning on an electric stove or 20 hot plates and never turning them off... no wonder they need their own power circuits. But there isn't much that can be done about it. If you have a lot of data and need performance you just pay... well until now: http://venturebeat.com/2010/06/13/seamicro-drops-an-atom-bomb-on-the-server- industry/ Jim _______________________________________________ dba-Tech mailing list dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com