Inside Google's Data Centers

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Google has unveiled a new website that gives you a sneak peek behind the scenes at its massive data centers. I think the company's facility in Douglas County, Georgia is my favorite. Thanks to everyone that sent this one in.
 
The pipe pictures look more like a brewery than a datacenter.
 
I don't even know what I'm looking at. What are all the pipes for? Watercooling? Looks more like a sewage treatment plant than a server farm to me.
 
J So said:
I don't even know what I'm looking at. What are all the pipes for? Watercooling? Looks more like a sewage treatment plant than a server farm to me.
Click to expand...

That's how they make the search more efficient. They filter out the shit.

Literally.
 
I see Nintendo suing Google for copying the Mario series in their Datacenters.
 
J So said:
I don't even know what I'm looking at. What are all the pipes for? Watercooling? Looks more like a sewage treatment plant than a server farm to me.
Click to expand...

That is a chilled-water air conditioning system. Rather than cooling the air directly (like your home AC does), the AC is used to cool water. The chilled water is then pumped throughout the building to various air handlers where air is blown over the pipes containing the water to cool the air. For large installations, chilled-water is cheaper and allows much more control because you can separate out the building into different air handlers, each with their own supply of chilled water.
 
Sounds like they are taking water in, and cycling it back out. I'd like to see how them dumping heat into the ocean/gulfs has changed the ecosystem, whether the heat has made life flourish, or if it's too much and killed off the ecosystem.
 
damicatz said:
That is a chilled-water air conditioning system. Rather than cooling the air directly (like your home AC does), the AC is used to cool water. The chilled water is then pumped throughout the building to various air handlers where air is blown over the pipes containing the water to cool the air. For large installations, chilled-water is cheaper and allows much more control because you can separate out the building into different air handlers, each with their own supply of chilled water.
Click to expand...

damicatz brings the knowledge! Thanks!
 
Actually it reminds me of the Enterprise's engine room...er, I mean the Budweiser plant.
 
Xrave said:
The pipe pictures look more like a brewery than a datacenter.
Click to expand...

It's called efficiency... Use the heat byproduct to cook your brews, then make sure to keep them at the proper temp while they age. Then super-cool them to drink, all while hosting huge data-centers...
 
Server rack picture made me think of the Borg first and the Matrix second.

Thanks for the link, very interesting site.
 
c4v3man said:
Sounds like they are taking water in, and cycling it back out. I'd like to see how them dumping heat into the ocean/gulfs has changed the ecosystem, whether the heat has made life flourish, or if it's too much and killed off the ecosystem.
Click to expand...

oh please. They couldn't generate enough heat to dump into an ecosystem to effect it in any meaningful way. 1 volcano eruption over a period of years like Kilauea has a much larger impact on eco-systems and even that isn't saying much.
 
c4v3man said:
Sounds like they are taking water in, and cycling it back out. I'd like to see how them dumping heat into the ocean/gulfs has changed the ecosystem, whether the heat has made life flourish, or if it's too much and killed off the ecosystem.
Click to expand...

:eek:
 
Methadras said:
oh please. They couldn't generate enough heat to dump into an ecosystem to effect it in any meaningful way. 1 volcano eruption over a period of years like Kilauea has a much larger impact on eco-systems and even that isn't saying much.
Click to expand...

Please share with us your credentials relating to ecology...
 
I know what that guy with the logitech mx518 did after taking the picture.
 
Methadras said:
oh please. They couldn't generate enough heat to dump into an ecosystem to effect it in any meaningful way. 1 volcano eruption over a period of years like Kilauea has a much larger impact on eco-systems and even that isn't saying much.
Click to expand...

Even if it's as simply as the dump-pipe having excessive coral growth or something it'd be neat to see. To assume that the heat being output won't have a small-scale impact in a limited area (5-10' from the output of the pipe) seems shortsighted.

I'm not saying it's bad in any way, I'm not an AGW proponent, I'm just honestly curious what the end of the dump pipe looks like...
 
c4v3man said:
Even if it's as simply as the dump-pipe having excessive coral growth or something it'd be neat to see. To assume that the heat being output won't have a small-scale impact in a limited area (5-10' from the output of the pipe) seems shortsighted.

I'm not saying it's bad in any way, I'm not an AGW proponent, I'm just honestly curious what the end of the dump pipe looks like...
Click to expand...

If they're in Florida, they probably look like this: http://current.com/community/91886882_manatees-huddle-near-power-plant-during-fla-chill.htm

Search "thermal pollution" on Google Scholar, or better yet, Web of Science if you have access to it. No, thermal pollution is not the same as a radiation leak like Chernobyl, but it absolutely does affect ecosystems.
 
If it helps, I visited a local nuclear power plant as a kid and I remember them saying that the water returned from the outtake is less than 1c hotter than the intake.

(I wish it was more, the waters around the UK are too fucking cold!).
 
The color scheme is terrifying, but over all I really enjoy seeing these kinds of things, as it gives a sense of scale, plus it's just neat to see all that technology!
 
There is no, life I know, to compare with pure imagination

Living there, you'll be free, if you truly wish

too

be.........

*Chews on candy corn cup*
 
I like green pic of the server aisle. Looks like it could be a scene from a movie where the venting system is blocked by crossing steel bars. It has this caption "A rare look behind the server aisle. Here hundreds of fans funnel hot air from the server racks into a cooling unit to be recirculated. The green lights are the server status LEDs reflecting from the front of our servers"

Very cool indeed!
 
tehblue said:
I like green pic of the server aisle. Looks like it could be a scene from a movie where the venting system is blocked by crossing steel bars. It has this caption "A rare look behind the server aisle. Here hundreds of fans funnel hot air from the server racks into a cooling unit to be recirculated. The green lights are the server status LEDs reflecting from the front of our servers"

Very cool indeed!
Click to expand...

^^^^
 
can you imagine how much porn is on all these servers?

1350502917t9i5MLMFlF_1_3_l.jpg
 
I do mechnical insulation. That is a DREAM job for me right there! All that piping to insulate and PVC jacket plus rubber and pump boxes. Lovin' it!

I actually did a Visa processing plant and Switch Communications. Quite a bit of good work in those too :D

Even when they build these they are as clean as can be. They dont allow the jobsite to get real dirty AT ALL and they will shitcan you in a heartbeat.
 
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