The Data Center: Alive and Well

Managing operations in a data center can be pretty stressful, so one of my favorite ways to relax is reading scientific literature. I know it doesn’t sound like a very riveting hobby, but I’m rarely happier than when I have a copy of New Scientist or Scientific American in my hands. I consume the material with a voraciousness that might cause some to question my sanity. Mental health aside, I was reading an interesting article in Discover this month that provided one of those really great “ah ha” moments that related to The Planet’s data centers. Or more intimately, the place where your server lives.

The article covered some math that had been performed to determine the true, actual weight of the data that makes up the Internet. Starting with the weight of a single electron (2 x 10^-30 pound), the author broke down the number of electrons required to charge a single capacitor (the charge equaling a “1” in binary) in a computer’s memory (40,000), assuming a roughly 50 – 50 split on 1’s and 0’s in a typical 50 kilobyte e-mail. The resulting sum can then be used to determine an electron count per message (8 billion), landing us at a weight for a single e-mail of two ten-thousandths of a quadrillionth of an ounce. Now extrapolate that math across the whole of all Internet traffic; all the e-mail, Web pages, music, videos, instant messages and everything else we all contribute to the Internet. Data-wise you arrive at a mind-blowing 40 Petabyte number. However, that 40 Petabytes only equates to a weight of 1.3 x 10^-8 pound. That’s right … in real-world terms, all that data equals the weight of the smallest possible grain of sand, one measuring only two-thousandths of an inch across.

It’s pretty bewildering to think that all the effort and energy we contribute to this industry equates to such an infinitesimal true weight. Pondering that breakdown about the Internet, my thoughts drifted to another possible dissection: the data center. However, I wasn’t thinking in terms of the sub-atomic, but rather of the cellular. Let’s move from physics to biology.

Data centers are huge installations with myriad of moving parts that work to keep your server online and operational. So much so that you could liken the whole amalgamation to a living, breathing entity. Breaking down those parts to a cellular level proves to be an interesting exercise.

All organisms need sustenance, just as the data center needs AC power to survive. Think of the servers as cells in a body, varied infinitely, and specialized in both form and function. Striated muscle or peptidergic neural cells … MySQL database back-end or Battlefield 1942 server, the variations are vast. Communication is achieved via neurons arranged in a systemic network, just as the data center’s network interconnects dedicated servers to each other and to the outside world. Organelles that give metabolic function to a cell are comparable to RAM, hard drives and RAID cards, all of which are vital working parts of your server. You can even think of The Planet’s network security technicians as white blood cells fighting infection, and our DC technicians like powerful enzymes performing repairs on the cells. I guess you could refer to a RAM change out as an “organelle swap.”

But as anyone knows, the most important piece of any entity is its DNA: the core code that provides instruction, design and ultimately life to the organism. Paralleling that vital piece of the organism, a data center has DNA as well, which comes in the form of our customers. Without customers providing pattern and direction, the data center remains a nebulous blob of power, wiring and equipment without purpose or consciousness. But infused with our customers’ DNA, the data center springs to life, demonstrating utility and structure, ambition and organization.

So the next time that you are sweating a data migration or pushing code changes, stop to think about the part you play in this grand scheme and the amazing interrelation you have with this “data center organism.” But if that proves to be a bit too mind-expanding, then you can revert that tiny grain of sand that makes up all the information on the Internet. Large or small, we all have a part to play.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 24th, 2007 at 5:00 am and is filed under Data Centers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.