I was actually hoping to get one dropped in my backyard. Just think of the positive return over the crabgrass! :-)
On Wed, 2006-10-18 at 11:15 -0700, David Mathog wrote: > Sun's project "blackbox" is pretty interesting. Basically it's a > prepackaged cluster in a shipping container. Water cooled. There's > currently a link to it from www.sun.com. Overall I like the concept - > it could change data center design from constructing one off > buildings to essentially setting up something like a trailer > park, albeit one with a huge amount of chilled water and electrical > power. > > On the down side, working inside that shipping container doesn't look > like a whole lot of fun. There's very little clearance in the hall > part, so pulling a node would have to be done from the side. > Awkward. Maybe they'll put in an overhead lift system on a rail down > the center. So pull the node out part way, hook it to the > overhead trolley, and then lift it out with a pulley and > carry it to the door and out. Certainly there isn't room > in there for opening a node for any real service work. > Heaven help you if you drop something behind one of those > racks! > > I'm not sure the prototype configuration would even be legal > in some locales, as there is only one door into it, at least > it appears that way from the photos. It would be bad news to be > at the distal end when the rack at the proximal end shorts out > and goes up in flames. There are > building code standards that address those sorts of issues, and > I suspect the far end of the box may be too far from the door. > Plus, again, if a whole rack does need to be pulled out it's > going to be hard to do that for one person from the side, but > if two people do it one gets walled into the container. Sun > could address this by cutting a second door at the far end. It > could be bolted shut (and flush on the outside) during shipping. > > Moving larger items around within the box seems like a nonstarter. The > racks and other largish equipment would have to be pulled out through > the double doors, rearranged, and then placed back into the box. It > would probably be possible to swap nodes around, but even that wouldn't > be fun given the tight central hall. Probably best to think of this > as a defined computing unit, with any major change requiring replacement > of the entire thing. > > Overall though, I think it's a very good concept, even if there are > details left to be worked out. > > Regards, > > David Mathog > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Manager, Sequence Analysis Facility, Biology Division, Caltech > _______________________________________________ > Beowulf mailing list, [email protected] > To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit > http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf _______________________________________________ Beowulf mailing list, [email protected] To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf
