Photo Tour of Google's Data Centers

For anyone curious about how Google's data centers look on the insidie, NMajik writes with word that Google published a photo tour of their secretive data centers. They look like the future, with a soft blue glow and color-coordinated cooling pipes.

Comments

Re:And it's all for ads

[PhreakinPenguin]

Except they offer more than search and ads. TOns of other services make up their server farms. Especially their new tech like fiber to homes and TV

Re:And it's all for ads

[TomNext70]

How did that work out for them? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuil

Re:You're all rick rolled now!

[Dupple]

My god! It actually is a series of tubes!

http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/gallery/#/tech/8

Re:WarGames

[Intrepid imaginaut]

They aren't giving away much from what I can see. I'd be much more interested in looking at their NOC, that would be fun.

Re:And it's all for ads

[telchine]

Search doesn't take that many servers. Cuil only had a few hundred machines.

Yeah, but they also only had a few hundred users :p

Some background information in Wired article

[concealment]

Journalist Stephen Levy goes into the data center itself:

"Google Throws Open Doors to Its Top-Secret Data Center"

Pretty fascinating stuff. I didn't expect the whole thing to be run on C-64s.

Re:I wonder

[vlm]

LOL noobs. Four IBM 3370 bolted together side by side sounds just about right for a late 70s mainframe installation. Not too big, not too small.

Probably the OP is confusing his dates. A single 3380 DASD unit stores well over two gigs, but it wasn't released until June of 1980. OP was probably still wearing disco pants and gazing at lava lamps, early 1980 is "close enough" to the 70s.

Re:Delete my history

[Anonymous Coward]

Except that they do. See http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=465 and https://history.google.com/history/ to delete your history.

Storm Trooper

[ewrong]

+1 http://bit.ly/RFEHRk

Terrible inteface

[hackertourist]

The photo tour has one of the worst interfaces I've seen for viewing photos. Hiding half of the photo caption by default? Who comes up with this idiocy?

One small redeeming feature is that they haven't hijacked the right-click with a bloody Lightbox script.

Re:Terrible inteface

[mounthood]

The photo tour has one of the worst interfaces I've seen for viewing photos. Hiding half of the photo caption by default? Who comes up with this idiocy?

Worst. Interface. Ever. - It's slow! Collapsed text at the bottom. Little popup text links hidden in the photo. Photos are either resized or cropped.

color condinated pipes !

[mjwalshe]

Sometimes Goolers show then naivete in strange ways er there are long established standards for pipe colors for for a very good reason - its so you know what the fuck is running through them.

http://www.pipemarkers.com/facility-pipe-marking.php

Re:color condinated pipes !

[motokochan]

Looking at the chart, and reading their descriptions, it does look like they are following insustry-standard codes for what they mention at least. The only difference is that they are painting the whole pipe, not just marking by bands.

Examples:
Picture 5 (http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/gallery/#/all/5)
Caption: "The blue pipes supply cold water and the red pipes return the warm water back to be cooled."
The suggested markings ("Chilled Water Supply" and "High-Temp Hot Water Return") match the colors shown. You can also see labels on the pipes over on the right of the picture fitting the description.

Picture 9 (http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/gallery/#/all/9)
Caption: "The bright pink pipe in this photo transfers water from the row of chillers (the green units on the left) to a outside cooling tower."
The suggested markings state that this color should be used for condensate / steam, which seems to match the description. Likewise, you can see a label to the left on the green pipe stating "Chiller Condenser Water Supply". The suggested markings indicate this would also match. The label on the yellow pipe is "Chiller Condenser Water Return", which might possibly fit with "Low-Temp Hot Water Return" as suggested on the linked page.

So, it looks like they are following standard conventions as close as possible. Keep in mind this tour isn't just for people who live and breathe pipe standards, it's also for the average person too and is meant to be a little fun.

Re:color condinated pipes !

[thegarbz]

its so you know what the fuck is running through them.

Which is relevant to some idiot plumber called out to fix a leaking pipe in some standard looking government building, not to a closed building serviced and maintained by trained staff on site.

Who the hell cares what colour they paint them or what the industry standards say as long as the people who maintain the system know?

Re:You're all rick rolled now!

[epSos-de]

Google is selling services and access to those server factories. They need to advertise them to common folks. This is why the tubes had to be instilled, becasue the Internet is obviously connected by tubes.

Re:WarGames

[laptop006]

I work in what you'd consider to be Google's NOC.

It's just a standard office, nothing special.