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In 2016, Gartner estimated that Google ran ~2.5 million servers (https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2017/03/16/google-data-center-faq https://www.data
by yashap 4y ago
In 2016, Gartner estimated that Google ran ~2.5 million servers (https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2017/03/16/google-data-center-faq https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2017/03/16/goog...), and it’s probably even more today. Obviously Google are an extreme outlier, but that’s 50x 50,000.
Most servers do far, far more compute intensive things than handling connections - that’s a pretty meaningless number. I work in the mobility space, we’ve got servers that solve large/complex vehicle routing problems, and ideally they’re performing computation for just ONE user at a time.
Certainly 50,000 servers is a lot, but tonnes of large tech companies run 100s to 1000s of servers at a time.
- javajosh 4y agoSure, but the simple Postgres soln the author mentions works for 1000 servers. Assuming a power law distribution, technology like this is useful for a vanishingly small number of organizations. What's even more interesting is that it's pure admin overhead for those looking to centralize control over vast numbers of systems. So often technologists are asked to consider the moral or political implications of their work, and I think this is a good opportunity to do so.