Inside Dell's containerized data centers
Gordon Ross
Space in front of the racks ? #
Posted Saturday 13th December 2008 22:42 GMT
From the photos, it seems a bit tight in there. It doesn't look to me like there's enough room to pull a server out to replace it. Unless the whole front of the container opens up?
Sarev
Go on; I have to ask... #
Posted Saturday 13th December 2008 22:42 GMT

Finger-in-the-air, what would one of these cost, fully populated with high-end multi-core Xeon systems?
Also, how many cores would you be talking about (presumably 8 core CPU x 2 sockets x 2400 rack units)?
Jeffrey Nonken
Wow #
Posted Sunday 14th December 2008 16:20 GMT

It almost seems like Dell did some market research. Imagine that.
Good job.
Ben
Re: Space in front of the racks ? #
Posted Sunday 14th December 2008 16:20 GMT
Have to agree, it will be a tight squeeze. Looking around, I believe a shipping container is 8' wide, so 96". Out of that comes 39" for the depth of the rack, and then 36" for the depth of a full-size server at the front. That leaves 21" at the back, which isn't a huge amount but I guess is just about enough to get into if you need to swap a cable or something. I sure wouldn't want to go right to the far end if I was claustophobic though.
John
Wayne's World 2 #
Posted Monday 15th December 2008 10:23 GMT
Seems Dell learned Jim Morrison's lesson for Wayne and Garth that there is a difference between building a concert venue and booking the bands.
Daniel Garcia
a sauna! #
Posted Monday 15th December 2008 10:23 GMT

with all the heat enclosed there they forgot to include the sauna room for maximum energy efficency.
working there looks as atractive as work in a core deep gold mine.
Anonymous Coward
Fire the designer... #
Posted Monday 15th December 2008 10:24 GMT

Surely it would be more efficient to have the racks going along the outside edge; that way you only need one aisle to reach all of the servers.
Now, if only they did a version with a hot-tub on the top (heated by the servers)
Shaun
Yes - But.............. #
Posted Monday 15th December 2008 10:24 GMT
Very nice, but does it play GTA IV at a decent framerate?
Britt Johnston
how many USB connectors? #
Posted Monday 15th December 2008 13:06 GMT

...would be nice to see a picture of the I/O socket.
Anonymous Coward
Server Blowout? #
Posted Monday 15th December 2008 14:00 GMT

Wow I know how much a Dell server sucks (at the front) and blows (at the back) would be curios to see what cfm this wall of server fans pushes.. and with the access doors shut what sort of pressure differential exists between the cold and hot sides... loose server blowout problem? Also what sort of pressure 'altitude' are we talking do you need Breating Aperratus to work in the cold side? do the hot side workers need to go through staged decompression?
Anonymous Coward
@Fire the designer... #
Posted Monday 15th December 2008 14:00 GMT

Back to the drawing board for you... think again
Paris.. because she understands how important rear access is.
wsm
Now... #
Posted Monday 15th December 2008 18:51 GMT

every time I see one of those surplus ocean-going cargo containers in a parking lot, I will have to wonder what is really going on inside of it.
Is the supermarket down the street really a front for another cluster of government data processing nodes examining our Internet traffic?
Shane Menshik
Google owns the patent? #
Posted Wednesday 17th December 2008 11:47 GMT

http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202400961