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Pimp My Datacenter

snydeq writes "InfoWorld has put together an in-depth, hands-on feature detailing the complete pimp-out makeover of Hawaii Institute of Geophysics' 1950s-era server room into a bona-fide 21st century datacenter equipped with 'some of the glitziest and most functional gear known to datacenter-building man.' The project — completed neither on time nor on budget — resulted in improved rack and cable management, more efficient cooling, higher security, and a wealth of remote management functionality to keep University of Hawaii IT staff from having to leave the beach to service glitches. Editorial coverage includes essential tips for completing a datacenter overhaul, video interviews, and deep-dive coverage of the technologies implemented, including state-of-the-art datacenter-planning software, power and cooling equipment, out-of-band management systems, physical security solutions, remote rebooting capabilities, and more."

33 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. I got a bad feeling about this . . . by cashman73 · · Score: 4, Funny
    Like all of a sudden, CNN's gonna pick up on this story, and start talking about "nerd caves",. . .

    1. Re:I got a bad feeling about this . . . by 1sockchuck · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Too late. They're already putting data centers in caves. They'll soon be filled with nerds.

    2. Re:I got a bad feeling about this . . . by pragma_x · · Score: 2, Informative

      In spelunker "culture" we have a word for people who enjoy spending an inordinate amount of time in caves:

      Troglodytes

      Or more colloquially: "Trogs". I think the word is quite apt here.

  2. I'll make my own datacenter by CrazyJim1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    With hookers and blackjack. Well screw the blackjack.

    Someday I'll get over cringing when people use the word pimp positively.

    1. Re:I'll make my own datacenter by WarJolt · · Score: 4, Funny

      Someday I'll get over cringing when people butcher a quote.

      I'll make my own datacenter... With hookers and blackjack. In fact, screw the datacenter.

    2. Re:I'll make my own datacenter by halln · · Score: 3, Informative

      I believe you have that wrong. You SCREW the hookers and PLAY blackjack. Simple mistake.

    3. Re:I'll make my own datacenter by Hooya · · Score: 4, Funny

      only a nerd would screw the datacenter. most would probably screw the hookers.

  3. Sigh by jaxtherat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Pimp My Datacenter Maybe I'm just too old to get it (26), but when did pimps become cool, and the word pimp become a verb commonly used to describe a process of improvement? I mean, when I was growing up, a pimp was a scumbag who hooked women (and some men) with drugs and threats and made them turn tricks. Hardly something laudible.

    Yes, I know "get off my lawn" etc...
    --
    http://www.zombieapocalypse.tv/
    1. Re:Sigh by ArchieBunker · · Score: 4, Funny

      Around the same time we started seeing "wiggers"

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    2. Re:Sigh by maxume · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It happened at least 10 years ago (I'm 28). Maybe about 50 years ago. (Don "Magic" Juan Yo)

      More likely than 'when did become' is 'where' not including the area that you grew up in.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    3. Re:Sigh by evilviper · · Score: 5, Funny

      when did pimps become cool, and the word pimp become a verb commonly used to describe a process of improvement?

      The 70s: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaxploitation
      The 80s and 90s: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimpmobile
      And the 00s: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimp_My_Ride

      Maybe I'm just too old to get it (26),

      You're not remotely too old... You were just simply an unpopular and stodgy individual.
      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    4. Re:Sigh by TooMuchToDo · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Isn't "Pimpmobile" one of Bender's top 10 most commonly used words?

      (see bouncy ball world war, featuring head of Nixon, Zap Brannigan, and Henry Kissinger)

  4. Lame by FSWKU · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not the datacenter itself, but the InfoWorld coverage. Two pages that could have EASILY been put on a single page (although that would decrease ad impressions and we can't have that, now can we?) and a complete lack of pictures of this supposedly awesome upgrade? Can we PLEASE stop posting stories from the dolts at InfoWorld? All we're doing is driving ad impressions on shoddy articles. Mod me as offtopic if you wish. I couldn't care less as I have plenty of karma.

    --
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    1. Re:Lame by Darein · · Score: 2, Funny

      That article pisses me off (like a lot of articles around lately, so little content and lots of ads). I am literally right next door to HIG, so good thing they gave the room number, maybe they will let me take pictures.

    2. Re:Lame by Das+Modell · · Score: 3, Informative

      I scanned the pages, found no pictures and immediately lost interest. Why was this posted on Slashdot, exactly?

  5. booyha! by ILuvRamen · · Score: 3, Funny

    They've gotta have LED fans in the servers and windowed cases with neons on the inside that pulse to the beat of the music, which is of course playing out some kickers and a biiiiig ass subwoofer :P

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  6. "deep-dive" ??? by Gothmolly · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is about as good an indicator as the phrase "best practice" that the speaker is a douche.

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  7. Wait a minute ... by ScrewMaster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The project -- completed neither on time nor on budget

    including state-of-the-art datacenter-planning software

    Am I missing something?

    --
    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  8. Re:Datacenter? by smittyoneeach · · Score: 4, Funny

    A datacenter is a point in space surrounded by just over 6.28 units of datacircumference.

    --
    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  9. In Soviet Russia ... by mrroot · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... the Datacenter pimps you

    --
    I Heart Sorting Networks
    1. Re:In Soviet Russia ... by jamesh · · Score: 3, Funny

      In Soviet Russia ... the Datacenter pimps you

      This is your datacenter management software speaking... due to increasing costs and decreasing revenue there is an opportunity for some umm... after hours work...
  10. I gotta agree. by khasim · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And the links to their videos ... are links to unrelated videos.

    And the "coverage" ... it's non-existent. WHY choose those items? Why THOSE items?

    I'm getting the feeling this is more about how someone could spend a HUGE budget instead of how someone could UPGRADE their data center.

    1. Re:I gotta agree. by afidel · · Score: 2, Informative

      HUGE budget? Not even remotely, we recently went from a data closet to a small datacenter and spent significantly more, and in a simpler manner. We went to all HP servers which can be completely remotely managed through their ilo port, no need for crazy PDU's or IP KVM's.

      We did go with APC InfraStruXture for racks, kvm, and PDU's, but went with Liebert/Emerson for HVAC and UPS. We don't have traditional raised floor and the APC inline stuff is a bit on the expensive side.

      We went from all servers being serviced by a single 60A breaker and a constantly failing APC AC unit (another big reason for not going APC, their name was tarnished even if it wasn't their fault due to shoddy installation) to dual UPS's powered off of separate generators and redundant chillers with separate condensers on the roof. We even managed to do it with only 5 minutes downtime for email/BES.

      --
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  11. OB Lebowski by Sir_Real · · Score: 5, Funny

    "wiggers" is not the preferred nomenclature. Wafrican-Americans please.

  12. Tag: nophotos by RealGrouchy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let me get this straight: they are talking about an upgrade from a really old datacentre to a really new one (both of which would make or interesting visuals), and there are no photos in the article, which is split into two short pages of text.

    Then, when I click on the link for the videos, it's a bunch of 60-second clips of an interview!

    Totally lame.

    - RG>

    --
    Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
    1. Re:Tag: nophotos by RealGrouchy · · Score: 2, Informative

      Upon closer inspection, it seems that all of snydeq's submitted stories are multi-page infoworld.com stories, and the one comment that shows up has him plugging yet another infoworld story. (Plus, surprise surprise, his website is listed as infoworld.com)

      Looks like a linkwhore to me.

      - RG>

      --
      Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
  13. Re:Tips from a project that was late and over budg by TomRK1089 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Well, this was my first thought too. But consider that now they can tell you how not to do it as well. Experience and all that, you know.

  14. Hawaii = Huge Data Center Power Bill by miller60 · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you're in Hawaii, you better be pimping the dickens out of your data center. Hawaii has the most expensive electricity in the United States, according to state-by-state energy prices, which show Hawaiian power prices at 16 to 17 cents per kW hour.

    1. Re:Hawaii = Huge Data Center Power Bill by popdookey · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If you're in Hawaii, you better be pimping the dickens out of your data center. Hawaii has the most expensive electricity in the United States, according to state-by-state energy prices, which show Hawaiian power prices at 16 to 17 cents per kW hour. Actually, with recent cost recovery adjustments, I pay just under .30/kWhr. Yeah, you heard me right.
      --
      Success without humility is an indulgence in arrogance
  15. Yawn . . . by jgaynor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There's nothing new about anything being done here. Here's what they're ooh-ing and ahh-ing over:

    - Hot Aisle / Cold Aisle
    - Environmental Monitoring (with Netbotz, how inventive)
    - At-a-glance rack power load
    - Hard & Soft Remote reboots (LOM, web-enabled PDUs)
    - Physical Access Control (card based(!), no biometrics)
    - Run-o-the-mill remote console and IPKVM
    - Good cable management
    - Paying people to move your crap for you

    I thought this was gonna be like an iris-scanning, fully Direct Current, liquid cooled, flywheel-UPSed, heat reclaming technological wonderland. Instead it's just more 'throw money at the first google hit.'

    1. Re:Yawn . . . by T3Tech · · Score: 2, Funny

      But.. but... remote management! so they don't have to drive into the datacenter in the wee hours. This has got to be the best thing since TCP/IP.

      --
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    2. Re:Yawn . . . by pimpimpim · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Really, who came up with the idea to ask an editor, and not a datacenter architect, to build this? Why did he get carte blanche to spend 400.000, no questions asked? Recently there was an article on slashdot that datacenter architects are in high demand, but this strikes me as being ridiculous.

      --
      molmod.com - computing tips from a molecular modeling