[dba-Tech] MemSQL Claims to be Fastest Database on the Planet - 80, 000 queries per second

The government surplus recycling distributor was selling lots of old beater
boxes, that had 4GB RAM and a 100GB HD, 1.87GHz for $35.00 per box and they
were all guaranteed to be in working (functioning) order. They only had XP
on them but you would just be installing Debian/Ubuntu on them anyway.  

The only down side was you had to buy a case-lot of one hundred. But for
$3,500, you could build yourself a pretty fair node cluster. You would have
to re-wire your house or apartment or course. The good news is you would
never have to turn on heat again but you would have to buy share in the
local hydro company...can you imagine the costs of running 3
air-conditioners 24x7? 

Aside: Google has all the computers out of their cases, just the
motherboards, plugged in, side by side, in a tower of three or fours levels
with big fans at the bottom blowing up, row after row. They have
air-conditioning ducts that are big enough to drive a small car down.
(That's why they have set up in northern Washington, as who can beat
electricity at 0.03 a kilowatt.)

And finally, that "high-speed" internet might have to be upgraded; half a
dozen broadband 500 connections and your ready for business. ;-)

Jim 

-----Original Message-----
From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Arthur Fuller
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2012 6:29 PM
To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] MemSQL Claims to be Fastest Database on the Planet -
80, 000 queries per second

In The Google Story, it said that the whole design was to use thousands of
off-the-rack boxes and never repair any of them, just swap them out
whenever anything broke. So I conclude that there was no necessity to buy
server-class machines, but rather lots and lots of consumer boxes, and to
regard them as no more important than disposable razors.

Which is not of course to say that serious boxes would be wasted. Obviously
not. But even buying current boxes one at a time, retail, 8 gigs of RAM and
4 cores are not much money, especially when you don't need a keyboard or
monitor or mouse or dvd burner etc. Imagine what the price is when you buy
in hundred-lots or thousand-lots.

A.