Managing the Most Remote Data Center In the World 98
blackbearnh writes "Imagine that your data center was in the most geographically remote location in the world. Now imagine that you can only get to it 4 months of the year. Just for fun, add in some of the most extreme weather conditions in the world. That's the challenge that faces John Jacobsen, one of the people responsible for making sure that the data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory makes it all the way from the South Pole to researchers across the world. In an interview recorded at OSCON, Jacobsen talks about the problems that he has to face (video), which includes (surprisingly) keeping the data center cool. If you're ever griped because you had to haul yourself across town in the middle of the night to fix a server crash, this interview should put things in perspective."
You don't need to go as far (Score:4, Informative)
I don't envy someone with a job like that. It is already very difficult to serve locations less remote. E.g. to offer a SLA for a network which spans over 30 locations in the world, we have to make sure that spare parts arrive around the world within a well defined time frame. We don't want anything fancy: a week would be finde by us. But i haven't found any transportation company that guarantees delivery on site in 3rd world countries (big cities) within that time frame. All make exceptions like "customs", which doesn't help me.
CU, Martin
Re:You don't need to go as far (Score:4, Informative)
Or just blow the budget and have a spare set of equipment at each location. When something dies, take out the replacement that is already there, then worry about shipping a new replacement.
According to the customer, this has been tried and failed... Unused spare equipment has a tendency to vanish.
CU, Martin
Griped (Score:1, Informative)
You know: "I have a gripe with my boss" that sort of thing.
Re:grammar (Score:2, Informative)
Grammar nazi fail:
remote /rmot/ Show Spelled [ri-moht] Show IPA adjective,-moter, -motest , noun
- 5 dictionary results
remote
–adjective
1.
far apart; far distant in space; situated at some distance away: the remote jungles of Brazil.
2.
out-of-the-way; secluded: a remote village; a remote mountaintop.
3.
distant in time: remote antiquity.
4.
distant in relationship or connection: a remote ancestor.
5.
operating or controlled from a distance, as by remote control: a remote telephone answering machine.
6.
far off; abstracted; removed: principles remote from actions.
7.
not direct, primary, or proximate; not directly involved or influential: the remote causes of the war.
8.
slight or faint; unlikely: not the remotest idea; a remote chance.
9.
reserved and distant in manner; aloof; not warmly cordial.
Re:Space probes (Score:5, Informative)
What I find even more impressive is how NASA, ESA and others manages space probes I think, that's really extreme conditions in every way.
Antarctica can be meaner in several ways: - you don't have a direct line of communication with the rest of the world (space probes do). Hell, you can't even have a direct comm with geosync satellites. - water ! Take thin crystals of ice, add lots of wind and you end up with water deep inside even sealed boxes; hence shorts and very quick rusting of components. - temperature changes. In space you surround your satellite with some heat conductive sheets and the temp basically never changes (unless you go into the earth shadow). In antarctica you can have -80C in winter, -10 in summer. To say nothing that the cold has unforeseen effects on materials (dielectric changes, materials becoming brittle...) - unstable power: the power comes from big diesel generators and is shared between experiments, people, etc... It goes out, the temp of the room where your computer is falls to -60 in 15 minutes. Power comes back, computer tries to boot. Bye, bye hard drive. - budget: experiments for Antarctica have much less than 1/10 the budget of equivalent space experiments. And most of it is eaten by logistics. So you end up with standard computers and a few hack and a guy standing nearby (me [gdargaud.net]) to kick it if necessary.
Re:Remote, But Not Remotest (Score:3, Informative)
Attenuation [sss-mag.com], plain and simple. At 145MHz, the attenuation of 200' of ok coax (LMR-400 @ $0.86/ft) is almost exactly 3dB - that's 50% of your transmitted power wasted heating the coax. Additionally that makes your receiver 3dB more deaf to weak signals.
At 450MHz, it's even worse. Attenuation is 5.4dB, which steals about 71.3% of your signal.
Stepping up to 1/2" Andrews DF4-50A heliax, you find the price jumps to $1.69/ft but the attenuation at 450MHz drops to only 2.9dB for 200'. We're still losing 50% of our signal.
Stepping up again to 7/8" hardline (3.99/ft), attenuation is 1.44dB @ 450 MHz - you _still_ lose 30% of the signal.
By putting the transmitter, computer, etc at the top of the tower, you get the best of all worlds - very low attenuation in the RF path, no long computer cables to pick up stray RF or lightning-induced surges, and fewer vandals. The downside is that you have to run power up the tower (usually 120VAC, since running 12VDC hits the same sorts of snags as coax - lots and lots of loss. Imagine 200' of welding cable - $$$ and heavy!). As long as you have a decent AC filter up the tower, you're safer than separating the components. The downside, however, is a beastly climb if anything fails catastrophically.
Re:Remotest? (Score:3, Informative)
Main Entry: 1remote
Pronunciation: \ri-mt\
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): remoter; remotest
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin remotus, from past participle of removre to remove
http://east.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/remotest [merriam-webster.com]
(emphasis mine)