AOL: Outdoor Server Huts Are the Future

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AOL: Outdoor Server Huts Are the Future

Posted by timothy on Saturday July 7, 2012 @04:27AM from the would-look-good-on-the-cover-of-2600 dept.

1sockchuck writes "While Facebook and Apple are investing in huge data cathedrals, AOL has decided to go in a different direction: a distributed network of rack-sized server huts that live outdoors. AOL is taking the concept for its unmanned data center and shrinking it into a 'micro data center.' AOL envisions a distributed network of these units, allowing it to quickly roll out new IT capacity for hyperlocal news sites and create its own content distribution network."

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CBG by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-07 04:30 · Score: 5, Funny

envisions a distributed network of these units, allowing it to quickly roll out new IT capacity for hyperlocal news sites and create its own content distribution network
Ahh someone's been visiting the Corporate Bullshit Generator LOL!
1. Re:CBG by camperslo · 2012-07-07 04:32 · Score: 2
  
  What content is it AOL has that people want to see?
  Maybe they should find existing sites to put the servers.
  How about Pizza Huts? Help heat the pizza ovens.
2. Re:CBG by Pringless · 2012-07-07 04:36 · Score: 1
  
  You can't heat pizza ovens with servers that never heat more than 80 degrees... Google is stupid, but they're not that stupid to actually try it.
3. Re:CBG by icebike · 2012-07-07 04:41 · Score: 1
  
  oops, AOL, not amazon, my bad.
  
  --
  Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
4. Re:CBG by Grishnakh · 2012-07-07 04:49 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Yes, you can. You obviously wouldn't use the servers as the sole heat source in a pizza oven, but you could use their waste heat to keep the oven warm, so that the mean heating element doesn't have to use as much energy to reach the operating temperature. Granted the savings would probably be minimal, but it can be done. But it probably would take a while to recoup the investment in actually putting it all together.
  There's a lot of energy-saving things involving heating and cooling that can be done that people don't bother with because the return on investment would probably be too long. For instance, everyone has a refrigerator in their house, which produces a fair amount of heat in cooling its interior (there's coils on the backside, for cooling the compressor). In the winter, this is no problem, since you want your house warm anyway, but in the summer this is counteracting your house's A/C, making it work harder to keep it cool inside. What if there were some way of diverting that heat to the outside of the house in the summer, but in cooler months keeping it inside? It could be done with some custom ducting, a fan, and temperature-controlled louvers. But you never see this because that's a lot of work, and therefore expense, when the gains are probably minimal.
  Similarly, clothes dryers produce a LOT of waste heat, but this is usually just ducted outside. My house actually has a diverter box in the ductwork so that in the wintertime, I can move the flap and let all the hot air blow into the house (through an additional screen to keep the lint down), which reduces my heating bills. Unfortunately most houses don't bother with this, though it'd probably have a much bigger effect than the refrigerator idea above.
  As energy costs rise, I imagine we'll be seeing a lot more energy-saving strategies like these.
5. Re:CBG by KhabaLox · 2012-07-07 04:59 · Score: 2
  
  Corporate Bullshit Generator
  
  Bookmarked. I'm going to try to use a line from there in my PP presentation to Sales on Monday. Ahh, here we go:
  "Market-driven cost efficiencies influence our perspectives."
  
  --
  Ceci n'est pas un sig.
6. Re:CBG by TheMiddleRoad · 2012-07-07 05:14 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  You must like it humid in the house.
7. Re:CBG by drinkypoo · 2012-07-07 05:30 · Score: 1
  
  Humidity traps for these systems are readily available. They don't work amazingly well, but they do remove a notable amount of the moisture from the air in question.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
8. Re:CBG by drinkypoo · 2012-07-07 05:59 · Score: 1, Offtopic
  
  Humidity traps for these systems are readily available. They don't work amazingly well, but they do remove a notable amount of the moisture from the air in question.
  Well which is it? Either they don't work well, or they do.
  Well which is it? Either you own a dictionary or... well, I see you don't.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
9. Re:CBG by OrigamiMarie · 2012-07-07 06:12 · Score: 2
  
  If you are running the dryer on natural gas, you need to think carefully about carbon monoxide before venting it indoors. Or set up a complicated heat exchange system.
10. Re:CBG by codewarren · 2012-07-07 06:23 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Your refrigerator idea won't save energy in the summer. The efficiency of the fridge is related to the temperature difference between the coils and the air around them. If they are exposed to a hot outdoors, the fridge will simply work harder. If you expose them to the cool indoors, the fridge gets a break at the expense of the house's A/C which has to pump the extra heat away.
  In other words, something has to overcome the temperature difference to push the heat outside. It's either the fridge or the fridge + A/C and in neither case are you going to see any savings.
11. Re:CBG by error_logic · 2012-07-07 06:55 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  During the winter months (when the heating would be necessary), additional humidity is often beneficial. Air inside can get *dry* with the temperature difference's effect on relative humidity.
12. Re:CBG by CanadianRealist · 2012-07-07 06:59 · Score: 1
  
  I've thought about a number of different options for saving energy related to heating and cooling.
  In a house you could use a diverter to run water from the bathtub drain through a radiator in the basement in winter instead of just sending all that heat into the sewer.
  In the summer time you could make use of a radiator on the water supply to dump heat from the house into the water that's been cooled by the ground, then send that heat into the sewer.
  When I see an indoor rink with a pile of ice from the zamboni sitting outside in the summer I wonder why they don't use the ice to dump heat from the cooling system that created it in the first place.
  I have a dryer in my apartment and divert the hot air inside in the winter. I also use a dehumidifier to get rid of the excess humidity. The heat generated replaces heat that would otherwise come from electric baseboard heating.
13. Re:CBG by pete6677 · 2012-07-07 07:09 · Score: 1
  
  Someone at AOL must know this entire idea is simply ludicrous but if it gets the financial backers of AOL (whoever the hell they are) to let the company live another day then its worth a long shot.
14. Re:CBG by postbigbang · 2012-07-07 07:17 · Score: 1
  
  No, it doesn't. The backers get strung out and lose the investment. The mgmt at AOL/HuffPo/etc. don't get changed. Civilians that invested in AOL get screwed. Living for another day isn't necessarily a good thing. When the entire economy is down, then the tendency for everyone to take their lumps at once is a well-known way to keep financial pain from having an effect on stock price. But that isn't the case here. AOL is portending that this is somehow visionary, and solves big problems, where it doesn't do that. At. All.
  
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  ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
15. Re:CBG by DarkOx · 2012-07-07 07:20 · Score: 1
  
  The dryer thing sounds like a fabulous idea to me. The fridge I kinda have my doubts. If you went the fans and duct work route the compromise to weather envelop of an otherwise well insulated house would likely result on the loss of more energy then you spend having the AC move the waste heat out. Keep in mind most energy loss is around doors and windows, solid wall with insulation and house wrap over it has a pretty high R value.
  The better approach to the fridge might be some valves to select of a secondary radiator loop outside the house rather than the one on the back of the unit. Those lines are tiny like 3/8" so they could be extended through the wall without much energy loss and calked around easily.
  Trouble is though the fridge is a heat pump. Heat pumps become less efficient the more against the gradient you try to go. So your fridge is going to use more power trying to cool the inside if forced to dump the waste heat into the 90 degree out doors rather than the 74 degree indoors. Now unless your A/C unit is 100% efficient it will still take more energy to move the now greater heat generated by the fridge's imperfect efficiency; so it should be a net win but we are talking something vanishingly small.
  
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  Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
16. Re:CBG by TheMiddleRoad · 2012-07-07 07:21 · Score: 1
  
  I keep hearing about that, but I have not experienced this, at least in California. The dry days, evidenced by bloody noses, happen in the summer with the AC running. We also had a humidity gauge awhile back. It varied by rainy days and such, but otherwise not much.
17. Re:CBG by gottabeme · 2012-07-07 07:49 · Score: 1
  
  "Brevity is the essence of wit."
  
  --
  "Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
18. Re:CBG by laejoh · 2012-07-07 08:03 · Score: 1
  
  Make sure to use Comic Sans, if it's good enough for the CERN then it's good enough for you!
19. Re:CBG by zippthorne · 2012-07-07 08:05 · Score: 1
  
  What should really happen is that the fridge and the AC shouldn't be separate units. The AC should offer a refrigerant tap and communication feedback line for the fridge so they can be combined into a single system so that the fridge's compressor is completely bypassed during the summer.
  
  --
  Can you be Even More Awesome?!
20. Re:CBG by drinkypoo · 2012-07-07 08:22 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  "Brevity is the essence of wit."
  I see what you
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
21. Re:CBG by gottabeme · 2012-07-07 08:29 · Score: 1
  
  Now you're starting
  
  --
  "Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
22. Re:CBG by DarkOx · 2012-07-07 09:08 · Score: 1
  
  If you are in climate you use the AC all year round or in one where you turn it around and use it to pump heat in in the winter I can see that. There are lots places where the AC unit is simply not used though during 6+ months of the year and it would be way to large to use to efficiently keep a fridge cool.
  
  --
  Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
23. Re:CBG by zippthorne · 2012-07-07 09:56 · Score: 1
  
  That's why I said, "bypass" and not "replace"
  The problem could also be solved by having a pony compressor unit for use when the AC demand is limited to the refrigerator. It shouldn't matter that the refrigerant is delivered to other parts of the house as well if the refrigerant is actually a room temperature liquid that cools by endothermic phase transition.
  But yeah, modern refrigerators use what.. 50W average? Unless there's a huge COP (and it can't be more than 15 for a 4C fridge in a 25C room), it's probably less than the lighting or a couple sleeping adults.
  
  --
  Can you be Even More Awesome?!
24. Re:CBG by Grishnakh · 2012-07-07 10:14 · Score: 1
  
  I live in Phoenix. A little extra humidity inside in the wintertime is a welcome thing.
25. Re:CBG by Grishnakh · 2012-07-07 10:17 · Score: 2
  
  Take a short drive to Phoenix. It's dry in the winter (it's dry all year, except during the "monsoon season" in the summer), and while not exactly "cold", it can be chilly enough to want a little bit of heat, and the small amount of humidity that dryer exhaust would add to the air isn't a problem, instead it's probably welcome.
26. Re:CBG by Grishnakh · 2012-07-07 10:20 · Score: 1
  
  How is living another day not a good thing? Yes, the investors and backers may be screwed, but who cares about them? The only important people are the executives, and as long as they get more bonuses, that's all they care about.
27. Re:CBG by Grishnakh · 2012-07-07 10:23 · Score: 2
  
  If you still have soap in your clothes when you dry them, you're either using way too much soap (quite likely; lots of people make this mistake, thinking they need 4x as much detergent as they really do), or you need a new washer. The rinses (multiple) are supposed to get rid of all that. "Wash byproducts"? Like what? There shouldn't be anything going into the dryer except wet, clean clothing. The clothing material thing I might buy, but even there you should be using heat appropriate for the fabrics; unless it's all cotton, don't use high heat, turn it down to low or medium (another common mistake people make is using high heat all the time).
28. Re:CBG by Grishnakh · 2012-07-07 10:31 · Score: 1
  
  All that moisture would just help mold and mildew grow.
  Mold and mildew isn't a problem where I live; it's a desert here in Arizona, there's barely any humidity in the winter air at all. Humid air from the dryer is a good thing.
  There are coils, not there is (there's) coils. But I digress.
  Wrong. "There's [plural words]" is perfectly acceptable colloquial speech. I'm not writing a formal dissertation here, this is Slashdot.
  http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002447.html
29. Re:CBG by Grishnakh · 2012-07-07 10:36 · Score: 1
  
  But yeah, modern refrigerators use what.. 50W average? Unless there's a huge COP (and it can't be more than 15 for a 4C fridge in a 25C room), it's probably less than the lighting or a couple sleeping adults.
  My point exactly. Even if we did come up with some elaborate way of improving the total system efficiency by piggy-backing onto the house's A/C or whatever, the actual energy savings would be quite minimal compared to the expense required to achieve that gain. At current energy prices, it just isn't worth it (and refrigerators have gotten more efficient by themselves in the last few decades too, don't forget). But who knows what'll happen in the future if energy gets more expensive.
30. Re:CBG by evilviper · 2012-07-07 11:12 · Score: 2
  
  In other words, something has to overcome the temperature difference to push the heat outside. It's either the fridge or the fridge + A/C and in neither case are you going to see any savings.
  This is nonsense. Your home A/C isn't 100% efficient, and the refrigerator's compressor motor generates its own waste heat (in addition to the heat it's pumping out) which can be vented to outside with no additional energy required.
  
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  Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
31. Re:CBG by codewarren · 2012-07-07 11:21 · Score: 1
  
  Neither is 100% efficient. Running one harder or the other harder will make no significant difference. The compressor was partially my point. If you expose the fridge coils to the outdoors, the motor has to run harder, so it may even be less efficient. In addition to this, A/C units tend to use less power per unit of heat exchanged (i.e. are more energy efficient) so having them do the work is better, meaning that the GP's idea won't work (as I said).
32. Re:CBG by jbengt · 2012-07-07 11:50 · Score: 2
  
  Your refrigerator idea won't save energy in the summer.
  No, unless you have a perfect reversible refrigeration cycle, you will save a little energy.
  You might be able to save a considerable amount of energy in the winter, though, by rejecting heat directly to the outdoors, or using "free" economizer cooling when (and if) the temperature outside is below the refrigerator temperature. Of course, if you're heating with electricity, anyway, it wouldn't really make a difference.
  An better energy saving idea, though kind of expensive, would be to use water-cooled heat pump systems using ground-coupled water loops for heating and cooling of the house, fridge, and domestic hot water.
33. Re:CBG by jbengt · 2012-07-07 12:00 · Score: 1
  
  The dryer thing sounds like a fabulous idea to me.
  It's a recipe for mold and moisture damage, unless you were to go to considerable trouble to get rid of excess humidity, especially in the space where the dryer is located. (I had an unvented dryer in my basement once for a year or so, I stuck the flex vent out the window in the summer, but tried to let it vent indoors in the winter - it wasn't a great idea) YMMV, though, as this depends partly on the climate.
34. Re:CBG by TheMiddleRoad · 2012-07-07 12:51 · Score: 1
  
  ...
35. Re:CBG by cusco · 2012-07-07 16:06 · Score: 1
  
  Live anywhere that homes have to be heated to 50 or more degrees over the outdoor temperature and you'll experience dry air and static electricity like you've never known existed.
  
  --
  "Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
36. Re:CBG by LeanSystems · 2012-07-07 16:06 · Score: 1
  
  FTW
37. Re:CBG by TheMiddleRoad · 2012-07-07 16:37 · Score: 1
  
  Hence I dislike going to Tahoe.
  On the coldest nights and mornings at our house, we'll hit around 30F. We keep the inside at something like 60, but the days heat makes the night heating not too bad. When the nights are in the 30s, the days are usually in the 50s.
38. Re:CBG by rev0lt · 2012-07-08 01:36 · Score: 1
  
  As to AOL's distributed "NOC", the rationale for it is almost ludicrous.
  And it's not even clever. Some "datacenter on a container" providers already exist, that go way beyond a couple of racks, have neatier insulation and are completely mobile if you need it. And if you want small, there are half-container solutions.
39. Re:CBG by mattack2 · 2012-07-09 08:09 · Score: 1
  
  What content is it AOL has that people want to see?
  AOL owns the Huffington Post, amongst a lot of other sites, that get a lot of hits.
40. Re:CBG by evilviper · 2012-07-10 15:13 · Score: 1
  
  Until you can be bothered to run the numbers on your scheme, you are just an ignorant loud-mouth that likes to argue.
  
  --
  Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
41. Re:CBG by swalve · 2012-07-15 07:40 · Score: 1
  
  Just because something is common doesn't mean it is acceptable. "There is coils" is wrong.
42. Re:CBG by Grishnakh · 2012-07-15 07:45 · Score: 1
  
  Actually, yes it does, when you're talking about language, especially the English language. Language is defined by how people use it. The "proper" usage is defined by how it's used by the people who speak it. So if it is common, by definition, it IS acceptable.
  If most people start saying "There is coils", then by definition, it is correct.
Makes sense by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-07 04:34 · Score: 4, Funny

Their clients still live in huts, so it makes sense to move their servers there too..
If only by GeneralTurgidson · 2012-07-07 04:35 · Score: 1

If only we could shrink a data center into a small enough form factor that we could mail It to unsuspecting Americans...
1. Re:If only by Brucelet · 2012-07-07 04:54 · Score: 1
  
  Is that "mail IT to unsuspecting americans"? Interesting use for a mobile data center...
Have they thought this through? by UnknowingFool · 2012-07-07 04:36 · Score: 1

According to AOL, the servers can operate in warmer temperatures. But is warmer mean 80 F or say 100+ F in Texas in the middle of summer. These servers are remotely managed which is great until they stop responding because a small rodent chewed through a cable. If you are outside, the chances of things like this happening are greater.

--
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
1. Re:Have they thought this through? by Joe_Dragon · 2012-07-07 04:41 · Score: 1
  
  also what about being hit by cars / trucks?
  Hit by wind blown debris??
  Stuff getting jammed / blocking air vents?
  Flooding?
2. Re:Have they thought this through? by pem · 2012-07-07 04:59 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Being picked up and carried off? (Kind of like an ATM, but for the data inside instead of the cash.)
3. Re:Have they thought this through? by Nidi62 · 2012-07-07 05:00 · Score: 1
  
  Sounds like a pretty good target to see how accurate that new hunting rifle is
  
  --
  The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
4. Re:Have they thought this through? by Idbar · 2012-07-07 05:02 · Score: 1
  
  Actually, I have been thinking about that. Just make them pretty, like water fountains, and cool them down while they look pretty in a park.
5. Re:Have they thought this through? by Hognoxious · 2012-07-07 07:23 · Score: 1
  
  I guarantee you that it's much easier to seal every half-inch crack a rodent could squeeze through in a rack-sized enclosure than it is to seal every half inch crack in a fucking 500,000 square foot data center.
  
  It's a lot easier to seal the perimeter of one 500,000 square foot data center than of 500,000 one square foot centers.
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
6. Re:Have they thought this through? by Pieroxy · 2012-07-07 10:18 · Score: 1
  
  I guarantee you that it's much easier to seal every half-inch crack a rodent could squeeze through in a rack-sized enclosure than it is to seal every half inch crack in a fucking 500,000 square foot data center.
  It's a lot easier to seal the perimeter of one 500,000 square foot data center than of 500,000 one square foot centers.
  True but the impact isn't the same. If you miss 100 of your 500k one square foot centers, only 0.02% of your servers are compromised.
  If you miss 100 spots in your 500k sq ft data center, 100% of your servers are at risk.
  
  --
  Write boring code, not shiny code!
7. Re:Have they thought this through? by M.+Baranczak · 2012-07-07 16:12 · Score: 1
  
  "The data inside"? This is AOL. They can't give their data away.
Lol by masternerdguy · 2012-07-07 04:36 · Score: 2

As if AOL can tell us about the future.

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To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
Counting the minutes... by Bieeanda · 2012-07-07 04:37 · Score: 2

...until some scumbag with a sawzall realizes that there's expensive computer hardware inside those black boxes.
1. Re:Counting the minutes... by Grishnakh · 2012-07-07 04:50 · Score: 1
  
  It definitely wouldn't work where I live, in Phoenix Arizona. Half the area's inhabitants are meth-heads who'll steal anything that isn't bolted down.
2. Re:Counting the minutes... by KhabaLox · 2012-07-07 05:01 · Score: 1
  
  It definitely wouldn't work where I live, in Phoenix Arizona. Half the area's inhabitants are meth-heads who'll steal anything that is or isn't bolted down.
  FTFY
  
  --
  Ceci n'est pas un sig.
3. Re:Counting the minutes... by pem · 2012-07-07 05:01 · Score: 1
  
  Is it the hardware?
  Or the data?
  Maybe they have some good encryption and intrusion detection, maybe not. Maybe you have to toast the first few boxes before you figure out how to suck the data out of one without it suspecting.
4. Re:Counting the minutes... by Dahamma · 2012-07-07 06:20 · Score: 1
  
  You must not have read the article!
  “Security is always a concern, but in general these devices have more in common with equipment you would see in an equipment yard for most buildings than standard data center environments,” he said. “Wide-scale deployed units won’t have the fancy paint jobs and logos, so they will very much look at home in those equipment yards.
  See? It's even better than security through obscurity, it's security through paint jobs! I hear covering it in dog shit also helps.
5. Re:Counting the minutes... by Grishnakh · 2012-07-07 10:13 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe, maybe not. Remember, in many places in the country (including meth-head infested areas like Phoenix), we have copper thieves getting themselves electrocuted so they can steal electrical cables, plus people stealing catalytic converters from underneath parked vehicles. I'm not sure how large this "server hut" is, but I sure hope it isn't on wheels like a trailer or else it'll be easily stolen.
6. Re:Counting the minutes... by Grishnakh · 2012-07-07 10:29 · Score: 1
  
  Yep, and they also have portable sawzalls so they can steal catalytic converters!
Hmmm. by Frosty+Piss · 2012-07-07 04:39 · Score: 1

New account, 100% MS AstroTurf... One wonders...

--
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Why? by hawguy · 2012-07-07 04:39 · Score: 1

I don't see the use case for these. Any sizeable office that wants server capacity is going to have a room indoors where they can put it - pouring a concrete slab outside and running power + network + water to it doesn't seem much better than dedicating a small server closet inside the building. I can see some niche market in remote sites (mining sites, research sites, etc) that need more servers than they can stack in the corner of their office trailer, but if they have that many servers, this single rack is probably not what they are looking for. They are probably more interested in a datacenter in a shipping container.
How does this tie in to AOL? If they want to get their content closer to users, colocating the servers at the telco or ISP makes more sense since the only way I'm going to get data from the server pod across the street is via my ISP connection. I don't think I'm going to want AOL content badly enough to set up a point to point wireless link or trench a data line under the street.
1. Re:Why? by couchslug · 2012-07-07 04:59 · Score: 2
  
  "They are probably more interested in a datacenter in a shipping container."
  Indeed. ISO containers are cheap and you can send one to your site with everything you need AND have storage or workspace INSIDE the container protected from the weather.
  If your "AOL in a can" breaks in foul weather, then you need to COVER it to OPEN it.
  You don't need to pour a slab for ISOs as they are supported by the corner fittings. A railroad tie under each end is usually just fine.
  I use ISOs for personal shop buildings and storage, and have worked in and with them while deployed.
  ISO containers are available in small 10-foot configurations too.
  Generic example:
  http://www.shippingcontainertrader.com/johnads/6/Tmp0002F.jpg
  If you are going to pour a slab, USE all of the square footage. Pot four twist-locks in the slab, install ISO, and lock it down. Even a hurricane isn't likely to shift it. Alternately, bolt it down with common expansion anchors through welded-on tabs of your choice then tack weld the bolt heads to the tabs. It ain't leaving on its own.
  ISO containers don't have a proprietary form-factor container to deter upgrades either.
  I don't sell ISOs, but do have morbid nasty love for them.
  Sea Box website with MANY examples of container mods. Your local welding and fab shop can roll your own easily:
  http://www.seabox.com/
  
  --
  "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
2. Re:Why? by bill_mcgonigle · 2012-07-07 06:32 · Score: 1
  
  I don't sell ISOs, but do have morbid nasty love for them.
  Where should somebody aspiring to this level of sickness start?
  
  --
  My God, it's Full of Source!
  OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
3. Re:Why? by Johann+Lau · 2012-07-07 08:48 · Score: 1
  
  http://tech.slashdot.org/story/08/09/22/1448226/microsoft-innovates-tent-data-centers
  ^^
A solution in search of some problems by Cute+Fuzzy+Bunny · 2012-07-07 04:45 · Score: 1

Right off the bat, you're going to combat environmental issues, but the biggest problem I see is how you secure these systems, their code and data in an adequate manner.
In short: stupid!
Re:Google abuses forests by couchslug · 2012-07-07 04:47 · Score: 2

"I can clearly see that they don't care about the environment."
Citation fucking needed NOW.
The tiny servers-in-a-can model is cute, (the stupid black paint job has to go, try that in AZ in August and you couldn't even open the door without burning your hand), but centralization makes for much easier operation and maintenance for large server farms.

--
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Re:Google abuses forests by camperslo · 2012-07-07 04:50 · Score: 1

Citations please? The have been articles describing things Google has done that lowered the cost and power consumption of servers. They did things like using higher efficiency power supplies, and avoiding some extra DC-DC conversion.
Although large businesses can often be criticized for choosing higher profits over environmental responsibility, servers farms are clearly an area where better environmental impact generally means lowered costs. More efficient servers cost less to power, maybe be more reliable when producing less heat, and have lower cooling costs when producing less heat.
Maybe some can find ways when the heat is always put to use? That doesn't seem easy to do all year around, but perhaps some oil refining, chemical processing, recycling, or other manufacturing process could use the heat as part of some process where heat is always needed. Some might be able to shift loads to servers in cooler locations where they could help heat buildings. They might get a break on space rental in exchange for lowering the energy costs to a complex. Not everyone will have the flexibility to pick locations where such things are possible, but hopefully it can still be done increasingly.
I find it hard to believe that Google wouldn't go for efficiency whenever possible, even if motivated only by the bottom line.
If There's Ever A Company To Trust by l0ungeb0y · 2012-07-07 04:52 · Score: 5, Funny

If there's ever a company to trust when it comes to predicting the future, it's AOL. Why just three years ago they predicted they'd have to move away from dial-up since broadband would be the wave of the future and look at how right they were.
1. Re:If There's Ever A Company To Trust by garyoa1 · 2012-07-07 05:14 · Score: 1
  
  Not to mention they can charge double since broadband was their idea. Along with Al's.
  
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  Wuddooeyeno? IITYWYBMAD? Like nuts? eclecticallyincorrect.com
Here's a citation about google and the environment by pem · 2012-07-07 04:58 · Score: 2

http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/2011/1220/Google-invests-94-million-in-California-solar-farms Oh, wait...
Interesting choice of color by Dzimas · 2012-07-07 05:01 · Score: 1

The utility box shown in the photo is painted black. I sincerely hope that's just for worst-case testing, because there's nowhere in the continental US that you'd want to leave a server baking in the summer sun in a black box. Of course, a light grey utility box also gets extremely hot, so one would hope that they have some sort of simple sun shades that keep these units out of direct sunlight. On the off chance that they don't, I should patent it -- "Passive shade cooling system for outdoor data center systems," here I come.
1. Re:Interesting choice of color by girlintraining · 2012-07-07 08:04 · Score: 1
  
  You're about two years too late. Look up patent 20100003911, "Passive Cooling Systems for Network Cabinet", issued to Panduit corporation. -_-
  
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  #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Security? by KhabaLox · 2012-07-07 05:03 · Score: 2

Isn't one of the tenets of network security physically securing access to the servers? How would they prevent someone from tapping into the boxes and either sniffing traffic or directly stealing content?

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Ceci n'est pas un sig.
Bonanza! by RKBA · 2012-07-07 05:04 · Score: 3, Funny

This is a bonanza for scrap metal dealers and the scroungers who steal things like lamp posts, wiring and plumbing from abandoned houses, etc., because the contents of one of these unmanned micro data centers must be worth lot more than a lamp post to scrap dealers.

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9/11 Eyewitnesses to Explosive WTC Demolition 1 of 2
No Bad movie references yet? by Rabidcat · 2012-07-07 05:04 · Score: 1

Come on guys, this is Slashdot, no one has yet made the comparison of this idea to one of the worst movies of all time, that being Manos: The Hands of Fate given the name of the CTO at AOL that is announcing this "breakthrough" in computing?
And here's an idea to help with the cooling on this outside enclosure - don't paint it BLACK!

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"When I want to do something mindless to relax, I reinstall Windows 95." - JLG
Cool by benjamindees · 2012-07-07 05:12 · Score: 1

This has seemed like an obvious idea to me for a while. I figured Google would be the first. But I'm glad somebody is finally doing it. I wonder how many of these AOL could possibly roll-out? Hundreds, at least. Thousands?

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"I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
Bargaining chip by Animats · 2012-07-07 05:21 · Score: 1

Sounds like a bargaining chip as they negotiate for colo space in switching centers. It might be useful in some special situations where you can terminate dark fiber into your own box and save on backbone costs, then have a short distance link into some other facility.
I would have expected this from Comcast or Verizon. If a local box held a few thousand hours of video cache, including recent TV and movies, most requests might be satisfied locally, unloading the upstream network.
Humidity? by crow · 2012-07-07 05:23 · Score: 1

How will they handle humidity? They've been designing servers to handle higher temperatures to save on air conditioning, but they won't deal well if the humidity gets too high. I expect these outdoor servers will get lost in the fog.
They'll also have issues with air pollution, insects, and animals.
There are plenty of data centers that use outdoor air for cooling, but they filter it and monitor the humidity.
1. Re:Humidity? by benjamindees · 2012-07-07 05:46 · Score: 1
  
  It sounds like the units have air conditioning as well as direct air cooling.
  
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  "I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
2. Re:Humidity? by petermgreen · 2012-07-07 08:03 · Score: 1
  
  What matters to electronics is relative humidity not absolute humidity (and the tolerable range is pretty wide 5% to 95% according to wikipedia) snd the absense of condensation. Condensation is generally caused by rapid changes in air temperature that leave solid objects colder than the surrounding air.
  So as long as the following conditions hold I don't think humidity will be too much of a problem.
  1:internal temperature is higher than outside temperature (it will be unless you are employing refridgeration techniques)
  2:incoming air is mixed with recirculating air
  3:no significant moisture is released inside the datacenter (e.g. humans are kept out as much as possible)
  4:rapid changes in internal air temperature are avioded (this can be acheived by altering the mix ratios in response to outside air temperature)
  In this way the absoloute humidity of air circulating in the datacenter will be about the same as the absoloute humidity outside and the relative humidity inside will be lower than the relative humidity outside.
  
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  note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
'Live' outdoors by Frankie70 · 2012-07-07 05:47 · Score: 1

I for one welcome our new Living Server Overlords.
And for the broader view... by Zemran · 2012-07-07 05:54 · Score: 1

I could not think about this without wondering what Compuserve are up to ... so I looked at their site http://webcenters.netscape.compuserve.com/menu/about.jsp and cracked up when I saw the Netscape logo at the bottom... These people still think that they are important :-)

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I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
1. Re:And for the broader view... by pete6677 · 2012-07-07 07:05 · Score: 1
  
  They have actually updated their "dialer" software for Windows 7, as if there is anyone who upgraded to Windows 7 but connects to the internets via dialup. There must be a group of computer programmers from the 90s that have been kept in a cave somewhere that still maintain the CompuServe network and are mostly unaware of what has changed in the last 15 years. Maybe 5 years from now they'll find out about that Facebook thing everyone has been talking about.
Seems to me by fustakrakich · 2012-07-07 06:21 · Score: 1

They could go a little smaller

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“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Re:Google abuses forests by couchslug · 2012-07-07 06:51 · Score: 1

Centralization puts similar objects where a small group of techs can have immediate hands-on access, store spare parts and spare machines, have backup power with economies of scale (large diesel or Capstone turbine gensets), and directly guard and monitor equipment.
That's simple physical, observable reality not requiring citation.
Isolated units which are small involve sacrificing advantages of immediate service. If no workee, dispatching a tech by car or truck with tools and parts is required. If it gets severely damaged by (for example) lightning strike, fire, vandalism or theft that means delivering and connecting a replacement.
"HOLY FUCK I BET THEY NEVER CONSIDERED THAT THEY COULD ALSO PAINT THE CABINET WHITE!"
If so, they would have done that and used an appropriate constrasting Aologo.
See these for commercial examples "light color" use:
http://www.capstoneturbine.com/
Citation needed for the assertion re: Google being environmentally irresponsible because their processes are not simple and easily observed.
Also, post with your nick, bitch. ACs eat shit. :-)

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"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Re:The next headline... by couchslug · 2012-07-07 07:11 · Score: 1

True as anyone who's done HVAC maintenance knows.

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"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Similar to electricity distribution AC vs DC by j-stroy · 2012-07-07 07:12 · Score: 1

This is reminiscent of the original standards battle between AC vs DC distribution systems.. monolithic centralized infrastructure vs distributed regional systems. You remember the one where Edison electrocuted an elephant.

Anyways the pendulum goes back and forth on these things, and if period doubling is occurring that means that fine grained rapid deployment is required to keep pace with that. Won't be long before data centres are riding electric trains, semi-trucks (a la Walmart's warehouse on wheels model) or even public transit busses with high speed datalinks to physically shorten that last mile.

Why is Google so interested in autonomous vehicles anyways? Could it be something do with an inevitable trajectory towards automated containerized data centre deployment? After all, there is a similarity with a third world concept where poverty drives innovation. So really shouldn't the discussion be about graphing costs of data delivery vs cost of caching & updating?
Does this mean... by Bill_the_Engineer · 2012-07-07 07:38 · Score: 1

Does this mean their service is so crappy you have to keep it outside?

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These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
Re:Google abuses forests by Belial6 · 2012-07-07 07:42 · Score: 1

Centralization for the benefit of maintenance is not inherently better. It is better if you have high failure rate hardware. Whether there are physically reliable enough servers at this point in time is a different question. Certainly at this point, a project like this would only be connecting a replacement on site. It shouldn't take any more local skill or time than inserting a Super Nintendo cartridge.
And if History Repeats Itself... by NickRCody · 2012-07-07 08:02 · Score: 1

Their end goal is that these huts will eventually become so small AOL will include one in each issue of PC World.
1. Re:And if History Repeats Itself... by almaden · 2012-07-07 08:07 · Score: 1
  
  Is AOL anything more than the Huffington Post and Tech-Crunch these days?
Re:Google abuses forests by zippthorne · 2012-07-07 08:13 · Score: 1

Avoiding DC-DC conversion? I thought they made more use of it to simplify the power supplies themselves, the connectors, and the motherboards.

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Can you be Even More Awesome?!
will it have? by dutchwhizzman · 2012-07-07 08:28 · Score: 1

Will it have a door with a heart shaped hole cut into it? How about a horizontal board about 2 feet from the ground with a 1 foot hole in it?

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I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
...and by Konster · 2012-07-07 08:58 · Score: 1

Jabba the server Hutt.
Re:Google abuses forests by camperslo · 2012-07-07 10:02 · Score: 1

IIRC the consolidation I'd read about was partly a matter of skipping going from DC to 120 VAC 60 Hz and back to DC again following individual UPS batteries. I believe the motherboards had an efficient high-frequency switcher for the bulk of the load, but not a full DC-DC converter. There was no isolation transformer and no rectifier beyond commutating diodes.
The DC distribution voltage wasn't really low, which helps avoid excessive conductor losses and those in the preceding rectifier. I might not be recalling all of the details correctly. But it came across as a simple low cost optimization that most others just don't bother with. That wasn't surprising to me since many developers and digital designers have little background in analog / power supply design, or r.f. considerations for that matter. I don't recall if anything special was needed to constrain battery charging.
If, and ONLY if... by Shag · 2012-07-07 10:08 · Score: 2

...they make each "hut" look like a Tardis.
Then, we can talk.

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Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
That's sweet. by aix+tom · 2012-07-07 10:31 · Score: 1

... "Out on a lonely slab of concrete in the back of one of the buildings" ...
I bet there will be a big opportunity for "second hand" datacenter trade in shady pawn shops sooner or later.
But.. When it is very cold it is dry. by bdwoolman · 2012-07-07 10:52 · Score: 1

The colder the dryer. In Moscow we ran a humidifier in winter to improve indoor air quality. So if you are in a continental deep freeze this rather sweet clothes dryer hack would give a double benefit.

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"No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy
1. Re:But.. When it is very cold it is dry. by TheMiddleRoad · 2012-07-07 12:08 · Score: 1
  
  So you're saying that in Soviet Russia, dryers un-dry you?
AOL: We hate our IT workers.... by Lumpy · 2012-07-07 11:15 · Score: 2

Server huts... so you get to work outside when you work on these things. Rain, snow, 120 degree heat. No thanks.
I worked long enough in the Cellular industry to be abused by working on these god-for-saken "huts" they think they invented... The Cellphone industry has had them cince the late 90's.. it's not new, they are not innovative. And they SUCK to work on.

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Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
1. Re:AOL: We hate our IT workers.... by cusco · 2012-07-07 16:45 · Score: 1
  
  We have a couple of customers who have network video recorders in NEMA-4 enclosures. What a pain in the rear, especially in Seattle in the rain.
  
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  "Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Re:Google abuses forests by dbIII · 2012-07-07 14:29 · Score: 1

It gets expensive when a lot of power is being consumed. Those big fat copper busbars you need to carry a lot of DC cost a big fat copper price at the moment.
Per rack is a different story and a lot less watts, but still, moving things to DC means moving everything to DC including test setups. There's far too much mucking about until you can dump a faulty server on a table and plug it into a DC socket.
sounds like AOL to me by slashmydots · 2012-07-08 02:52 · Score: 1

An unmanaged, unguarded, basically zero security server rack in the middle of nowhere with suicidally high downtime potential due to environment conditions...sounds like AOL to me.
Exactly! by bdwoolman · 2012-07-08 05:44 · Score: 1

Nobody is dry in Russia...
**Hic**

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"No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy