3 ms·

I worked on designing computerized machinery in the past, and having sensors for as much stuff as possible just seemed like a good idea. We had quite a few curr

by gary_0 3y ago

I worked on designing computerized machinery in the past, and having sensors for as much stuff as possible just seemed like a good idea. We had quite a few current sensors for various components. Then we could do stuff like log in to the unit remotely when a customer had an issue, and diagnose based on if something was using too much current or zero current, and that beats having to send out a technician to go poke and prod. There are a lot of uses for that kind of data. And you've got a CPU right there to send it to. > These supplies are often entirely dark Good grief. What happens if a fan dies? The whole rack mysteriously shuts down? Or does the power supply just turn into a Minecraft lava block?

bcantrill 3y ago
In the traditional rack-and-stack, if a power supply fan dies, the power supply will shut down -- which is why a server has two of them. (And indeed, in commodity servers, the fan in the power supply is what is most likely to fail.) All of this becomes a bit of a self-fulfilling prophesy: because there are so damned many of them, the power supplies in rack-and-stack servers are really not great -- which means they are more likely to fail. This is all sidestepped by having conversion consolidated in the rack, running high voltage (54V) DC up and down the busbar that is converted by each sled. (That converter throws off heat -- but can then leverage the high quality fans in the sled.)