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Managing Servers In the Frigid Cold
1sockchuck writes "Some data centers are kept as chilly as meat lockers. But IT operations in colder regions face challenges in managing conditions — hence Facebook's to use environmentally controlled trucks to make deliveries to its new data center in Sweden, which is located on the edge of the Arctic Circle. The problem is the temperature change in transporting gear. 'A rapid rate of change (in temperature) can create condensation on the electronics, and that's no good,' said Facebook's Frank Frankovsky."
Oh I thought of another one. The problem has nothing to do with temperature. The problem is when the indoor/outdoor/dew points intersect which happens all the time, not just when its cold.
One excruciatingly humid summer day I was hauling around a protocol analyzer worth about as much as my car, and it cold soaked in front of the car air conditioner duct cooling itself to 40 degrees or whatever the AC output is, then it was dripping condensed water as I carried it into the customer premises, an un-airconditioned factory floor. So I'm sitting there doing nothing and explaining to the customer how I have to do nothing, until the test set dries off because its too cold (customer VP looks out window at blue sky 110 degree day). Yes that was an unpleasant meeting.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
A few years back while doing Tier 2 level support for a major Canadian telco, I started seeing overheating alarms from some Nokia DSLAM's. The odd thing was that it was -40C outside at the time. It turns out the fan's on these DSLAM's froze solid and the devices thought they where overheating and throwing alams left right and centre. We had to put a tarp over them with a heater during the winter to make sure they kept going.