[Gllug] Bring Your Own Server

[Andrew Back]

Hi Krishna,

On Jun 12, 2011 1:53 PM, "Bernard Peek" <bap at shrdlu.com> wrote:
>
> On 12/06/11 11:43, Krishna Birth wrote:
> > I am not a techie and thus could any expert please say if there are
> > any data centres in GB offering inexpensive, 'Bring Your Own Server'
> > service with possibility to set up the India holy river water cooled
> > PC into a server for hosting websites?  Sorry if this mailing list
> > post is a bit different to the what you are used to.
>
> John's reply mentions a 1U server and I think that needs some
> explanation. To make the best use of the limited space in a server room
> it's usual to mount servers in racks. This requires all of the computer
> hardware to be installed in cases that can be mounted in these standard
> 19" wide racks. Ordinary desktop PCs take up far too much space and
> colocation sites charge you based on the amount of space your systems
> take up.
>
> In 19" racks equipment is designed to use multiples of a standard unit
> of height, 1.75". So a 1U server is 1.75 inches high by 19 inches wide
> by up to a metre in depth. A 2U server is the same width and depth but
> 3.5 inches high. Typical servers are 1U, 2U or 4U high. The colo centre
> will charge you for each 'U' you use.
>
> In order to fit the maximum amount of hardware into the minimum amount
> of space the server manufacturers use the same type of miniaturisation
> techniques that laptop manufacturers use. That means that ordinary
> water-cooling equipment is unlikely to fit into a 1U case. A second
> issue is that colo space is packed tightly with equipment owned by other
> organisations who might be unhappy about having water-cooled equipment
> in the same rack. So it might be difficult to get a colo centre to
> accept your non-standard hardware.
>
> There is an interesting possibility though. Would it be possible to
> build a colo centre on the banks of the holy river and to cool all of
> its servers with river water. Others who share your philosophy may be
> willing to pay a little extra to get their web sites hosted in such a
> centre.

I too find this an interesting possibility. Perhaps Indian holy river water
has special cooling capabilities!

> So the answer to your question is that yes what you ask for is
> technically possible but the problems with getting the idea implemented
> are not technical in nature.

This is true. But I look forward to Krishna providing details of the thermal
conductivity and specific heat characteristics of India holy river water.

Regards,

Andrew
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