2 ms·

I'm wondering how Oxide Computer racks can look so clean (for example in this picture: https://bsky.app/profile/oxide.computer/post/3lvdw7mdwms2i https://bsky.a

I'm wondering how Oxide Computer racks can look so clean (for example in this picture: https://bsky.app/profile/oxide.computer/post/3lvdw7mdwms2i https://bsky.app/profile/oxide.computer/post/3lvdw7mdwms2i) compared to Dropbox's racks, and if there is a technical advantage beyond the aesthetic advantage.

matt-p 1y ago
The pictures of Dropbox is from the rear of the rack, oxide is the front. Oxide may well have a neater 'rear' though as they sell it as a whole system so will have bus bars and similar rather than PDUs and cables I imagine.
- ngrilly 1y ago
  You're right. Here is a picture of the back: https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/e09302cf-5e06-4576-94dd-ee1d59b23fe9_1384x964.png https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/e...
  - matt-p 1y ago
    Interesting, still cabled power, slightly neater but not really.
    - ngrilly 1y ago
      Found some explanation on their blog: > Anyone accustomed to a datacenter will note the missing mass of cold-aisle cabling that one typically sees at the front of a rack. But moving to the back of the rack reveals only a DC busbar and a tight, cabled backplane. This represents one of the bigger bets we made: we blindmated networking. This was mechanically tricky, but the payoff is huge: capacity can be added to the Oxide cloud computer simply by snapping in a new compute sled — nothing to be cabled whatsoever! This is a domain in which we have leapfrogged the hyperscalers, who (for their own legacy reasons) don’t do it this way. This can be jarring to veteran technologists. As one exclaimed upon seeing the rack last week, "I am both surprised and delighted!" (Or rather: a very profane variant of that sentiment.) https://oxide.computer/blog/the-cloud-computer#_where_are_the_cables https://oxide.computer/blog/the-cloud-computer#_where_are_th...

matt-p 1y ago

The pictures of Dropbox is from the rear of the rack, oxide is the front. Oxide may well have a neater 'rear' though as they sell it as a whole system so will have bus bars and similar rather than PDUs and cables I imagine.

ngrilly 1y ago
You're right. Here is a picture of the back: https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/e09302cf-5e06-4576-94dd-ee1d59b23fe9_1384x964.png https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/e...
- matt-p 1y ago
  Interesting, still cabled power, slightly neater but not really.
  - ngrilly 1y ago
    Found some explanation on their blog: > Anyone accustomed to a datacenter will note the missing mass of cold-aisle cabling that one typically sees at the front of a rack. But moving to the back of the rack reveals only a DC busbar and a tight, cabled backplane. This represents one of the bigger bets we made: we blindmated networking. This was mechanically tricky, but the payoff is huge: capacity can be added to the Oxide cloud computer simply by snapping in a new compute sled — nothing to be cabled whatsoever! This is a domain in which we have leapfrogged the hyperscalers, who (for their own legacy reasons) don’t do it this way. This can be jarring to veteran technologists. As one exclaimed upon seeing the rack last week, "I am both surprised and delighted!" (Or rather: a very profane variant of that sentiment.) https://oxide.computer/blog/the-cloud-computer#_where_are_the_cables https://oxide.computer/blog/the-cloud-computer#_where_are_th...