I'm sure they've done a lot of tests, but running servers in an environment with 65% humidity just doesn't sound good for them.
Facebook open sources its servers and data centers
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Re: Facebook open sources its servers and data centers
#12Not sure how many startups built their own servers anymore, this event seems like a response to the Greenpeace accusations of Facebook's environmental responsibility or wherever. Edit: I agree it's a good thing, it's just that hosting a press event rather than just making the announcement through a blog post suggests other motives as well.
This isn't a response to Greenpeace, this is a response to the real costs that it takes to run compute infrastructure at the scale of Facebook, Amazon, Google, etc. If a datacenter can run at 1.07 PUE (as Facebook's new datacenter does), then it directly translates to massive power cost savings. Environmental efficiency just comes along with it.
Okay, but why does it benefit Facebook's bottom line (and Google's!) to open-source that stuff? Wouldn't they be better off if their competitors had to pay those higher costs? It's not as if they have substantial computation-service providers they're buying from, or data-center-oriented companies they're selling to.
Re: Facebook open sources its servers and data centers
#13I'd be very interested in hearing from someone with more experience in running their own hardware what portions (if any) of what Facebook has announced today is applicable at the small scale of say having a couple of co-located racks in some datacenter. Maybe the base server designs?
Re: Facebook open sources its servers and data centers
#14Not sure how many startups built their own servers anymore, this event seems like a response to the Greenpeace accusations of Facebook's environmental responsibility or wherever. Edit: I agree it's a good thing, it's just that hosting a press event rather than just making the announcement through a blog post suggests other motives as well.
This is true. However, the services that startups use to host their servers (Amazon Web Services, Rackspace, etc.) could adopt these practices in new datacenters because the specs are open. This could lower costs for the startups that use these services, and be good for the environment. Seems like everyone wins.
Any large scale service already adopted such practices, may be not to the same degree. All large players buy custom hardware with specific tweaks to be more energy (read cost) efficient.
Re: Facebook open sources its servers and data centers
#15This is a great talent acquisition play.
Re: Facebook open sources its servers and data centers
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
This isn't a response to Greenpeace, this is a response to the real costs that it takes to run compute infrastructure at the scale of Facebook, Amazon, Google, etc. If a datacenter can run at 1.07 PUE (as Facebook's new datacenter does), then it directly translates to massive power cost savings. Environmental efficiency just comes along with it.
Okay, but why does it benefit Facebook's bottom line (and Google's!) to open-source that stuff? Wouldn't they be better off if their competitors had to pay those higher costs? It's not as if they have substantial computation-service providers they're buying from, or data-center-oriented companies they're selling to.
They are hoping that the same philosophies which apply to open source software will benefit Facebook providing open source hardware. They mention a few goals they have during the talk. Mainly that they hope people will offer criticism and help them improve the technology. Facebook's core competency is not hardware so any improvements to the hardware sector directly benefit Facebook's bottom-line.
Re: Facebook open sources its servers and data centers
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
This isn't a response to Greenpeace, this is a response to the real costs that it takes to run compute infrastructure at the scale of Facebook, Amazon, Google, etc. If a datacenter can run at 1.07 PUE (as Facebook's new datacenter does), then it directly translates to massive power cost savings. Environmental efficiency just comes along with it.
Okay, but why does it benefit Facebook's bottom line (and Google's!) to open-source that stuff? Wouldn't they be better off if their competitors had to pay those higher costs? It's not as if they have substantial computation-service providers they're buying from, or data-center-oriented companies they're selling to.
I too had this same thought.
The only thing I could come up with is that, anyone implementing these at scale (fb's competitors) has already committed substantial dollar amounts to existing infrastructure.
To leverage the minor improvements in design that will come of this, they would have to start by rolling out new facebook style racks/data centers.
Whereas, for facebook any design improvements would be easier to implement on a larger scale.
Either that or they are just do-gooders, which I highly doubt.
Re: Facebook open sources its servers and data centers
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
This isn't a response to Greenpeace, this is a response to the real costs that it takes to run compute infrastructure at the scale of Facebook, Amazon, Google, etc. If a datacenter can run at 1.07 PUE (as Facebook's new datacenter does), then it directly translates to massive power cost savings. Environmental efficiency just comes along with it.
Okay, but why does it benefit Facebook's bottom line (and Google's!) to open-source that stuff? Wouldn't they be better off if their competitors had to pay those higher costs? It's not as if they have substantial computation-service providers they're buying from, or data-center-oriented companies they're selling to.
Facebook's core advantage is the social graph, not the infrastructure operation, which is Google's thing. Consequently, Facebook has tight grip on the access of its graph whereas Google keeps the secrets about its search algorithm and server setup. By open-source it, Facebook is not only getting good PR but also undercutting the competitor.
Re: Facebook open sources its servers and data centers
#19say what you want about Facebook but I give them props for open sourcing so much code to the community. Cassandra, Thrift, Scribe,Hive, etc...
A list of Facebook's open-sourced applications and their major contributions to other open-source projects can be found here: http://developers.facebook.com/opensource/
Re: Facebook open sources its servers and data centers
#20I'm sure they've done a lot of tests, but running servers in an environment with 65% humidity just doesn't sound good for them.
> In August 2008, Intel conducted a 10-month study to assess the effectiveness of using only outside air to cool a data center. The temperature range was 64°F to 92°F. Humidity varied from 4% to over 90% and changed rapidly at times. No increase in server failure was observed.
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=power_mgt.datacenter_e...