Nuclear Bunker Houses World's Toughest Server Farm 152
Lanxon writes "Deep inside the Swiss Alps, a former nuclear bunker is now the ultimate hiding place for the world's most sensitive secrets — the Swiss Fort Knox. In a lengthy feature, Wired gains access to the server farm designed to survive a full-scale military attack. From the article: 'As we punch our codes at the checkpoint, the yellow door opens into what looks like a city of server towers, their green LEDs flickering as a technician in a white jumpsuit runs diagnostic checks. [Later], we are in a dimly lit tunnel next to what looks like a metal oven door carved into the side of the rock. "These are expansion rooms in case you have an atomic explosion outside," Christoph Oschwald, a retired Swiss paratrooper turned contractor, says. The thinking behind the rooms, he explains, is that if there were a nuclear explosion, the rush of high-pressure air would fill them through vents in the opposite side. Then, the vents would snap shut, trapping the air before it had a chance of damaging the fortress. "There is a lot of protection you can't see," he says. We stroll past an intricate network of insulated pipelines that carry water up from the underground glacial lake to the cooling system.'"
What good is it if you can't get to it? (Score:3, Insightful)
(*SNIP!*)
Exactly how often are we going to hear this? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is deja vu all over again. First off, if it's not a chain of similar setups you have a single site problem - BLAM goes your redundancy. Secondly, define "nuclear attack". If that means "survive the EMP from a nuclear blast" there would be some value in it, but that's going to be a tad hard to prove without seriously upsetting neighboring Gstaad with radiation :-).
However, most importantly, this stopped being news several years ago - if this is a new setup it's just yet-another-one, if it's not it's not news either. Some of these setups are quite cute, but the idea isn't exactly novel.
Ah, got it. The hint is in the article: "Rauber and his team, a public-relations representative" - who paid who for what here?
Yawn.
Re:What secrets do the Swiss have? (Score:1, Insightful)
Ahem... (Score:4, Insightful)
World's toughest server farm that you know about.
It's not nearly as secure now that we all know that it exists and where it is...
Way down on my list (Score:5, Insightful)
If things get so bad that Switzerland is getting nuked, then my data will be one of the least of my worries.
Re:Pointless (Score:4, Insightful)
Proper availability is generally achieved by multiply-redundant, geographically distributed, block-replicated silly stunts like this. Who says it's just one bunker?
Re:What secrets do the Swiss have? (Score:3, Insightful)
Ah, there's your mistake; "Nazi" stands for "National Socialist", so the Nazis were left-wing, not right. Of course, the current crop of lefties would VERY much like us all to forget that part.....
Hoping you're trolling, but anyway - National Socialist was just a _name_ as the Party was born out of the German Labor movement, indeed like a lot of left-wing parties. That's where the connection begins and ends however - you certainly can't call many of the Nazi policies "left wing": - extermination of disabled / homosexuals / Jews / Gypsy(Roma) - promotion of idea of _one_ perfect race - class system that discriminated against particular groups ... and that's just for starters. Pray tell, apart from having the word "Socialist" in their name, how on Earth can you describe the Nazis as being left-wing?
Re:What secrets do the Swiss have? (Score:3, Insightful)
Interestingly their official party program was socialist, it's just that they decided they didn't want to implement it as they were quite happy with the bribes they got from the industry sector and they were much more interested in the racial purity and imperialism anyhow.