4 ms·

> putting data centers inside shipping containers is already a well-established practice. Is this true? Does anyone know why? The article seems to assume it wi

> putting data centers inside shipping containers is already a well-established practice. Is this true? Does anyone know why? The article seems to assume it without saying why.

Jtsummers 13y ago
I'll try to find the link in a moment, but Microsoft was doing something like this 5+ years back. The premise was similar to Google using commodity hardware in their datacenters. Throw together "compute blocks", set them all up and when performance degrades sufficiently you remove the container and install a new one in its place. EDIT: Also, I'm surprised I got the time right, for some reason 2005-2012 is one big blur to me and I usually pick the wrong end of that range when guessing when things happened. It also seems that none of these articles mention what I recalled reading in articles years ago about just replacing a box once its performance degrades. I'm either misremembering or that ended up being a non-feature once fielded. http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2008/04/01/microsoft-embraces-data-center-containers/ http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2008/04/01/micro... A more recent article, this one is MS in VA: http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/02/boydton/ http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/02/boydton/ A critique of the approach: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9080738/6_reasons_why_Microsoft_s_container_based_approach_to_data_centers_won_t_work http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9080738/6_reasons_why...
- joezydeco 13y ago
  One of these Microsoft container centers is outside Chicago, near O'Hare Airport in Northlake: Satellite View: http://goo.gl/maps/2pX5u http://goo.gl/maps/2pX5u (Note the transformer farm right across the tollway) Containers being loaded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt5ROTu6ceM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt5ROTu6ceM
- Jtsummers 13y ago
  joezydeco: Your reply seems to be dead, I'm not sure why. I think that's the same one the datacenterknowledge.com article I linked refers to though.
- breischl 13y ago
  The newest Azure data center in Iowa(?) was going to be open air. Basically a pile of these containers in a field, with a big fence over it and a roof similar to a big car-port (no walls). They figured it was going to be better for cooling.
  - ams6110 13y ago
    Iowa? Doesn't sound like a great idea, they have tornadoes there, which can easily throw shipping containers around.
    - breischl 13y ago
      Yep, outside Des Moines. I don't have a reference for the rest of it, that was from conversations with MS employees. http://www.eweek.com/cloud/microsoft-parks-cloud-over-700m-iowa-data-center/ http://www.eweek.com/cloud/microsoft-parks-cloud-over-700m-i...
nandhp 13y ago
They're really easy to add, expand, replace. Google's been using them for many years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_data_center http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_data_center http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Modular_Data_center http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Modular_Data_center
jyap 13y ago
Yes it is common. eg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRwPSFpLX8I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRwPSFpLX8I A shipping container is a standardized container. It's like designing a PC case. Standard sizes makes things very convenient. It's like Legos and interchangeable computing parts. But bigger.
count 13y ago
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2011/06/09/a-look-inside-amazons-data-centers/ http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2011/06/09/a-loo... http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/inside-microsofts-chicago-data-center/ http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/inside-microsofts-chicago... Everybody else is doing it...why not google?
stevenrace 13y ago
In addition to the links below, Raytheon has deployed many 'Electronic Modular Enclosures' which house power/cooling/servers enclosed in a TEU'ish container. They've been in use since 2005'ish in the DoD and brought up in the recent 'Navy ship uses Linux' story from last week. A previous employer used a TEU contained power/cooling/servers for mobile disaster recovery circa 2003. More recently some have used fuel cells in place of diesel generators.
csense 13y ago
http://www.docker.io/ http://www.docker.io/ https://www.docker.io/the_whole_story/ https://www.docker.io/the_whole_story/ (Don't downvote me. I'm obviously joking.)

> putting data centers inside shipping containers is already a well-established practice. Is this true? Does anyone know why? The article seems to assume it without saying why.

Jtsummers 13y ago

I'll try to find the link in a moment, but Microsoft was doing something like this 5+ years back. The premise was similar to Google using commodity hardware in their datacenters. Throw together "compute blocks", set them all up and when performance degrades sufficiently you remove the container and install a new one in its place. EDIT: Also, I'm surprised I got the time right, for some reason 2005-2012 is one big blur to me and I usually pick the wrong end of that range when guessing when things happened. It also seems that none of these articles mention what I recalled reading in articles years ago about just replacing a box once its performance degrades. I'm either misremembering or that ended up being a non-feature once fielded. http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2008/04/01/microsoft-embraces-data-center-containers/ http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2008/04/01/micro... A more recent article, this one is MS in VA: http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/02/boydton/ http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/02/boydton/ A critique of the approach: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9080738/6_reasons_why_Microsoft_s_container_based_approach_to_data_centers_won_t_work http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9080738/6_reasons_why...

joezydeco 13y ago
One of these Microsoft container centers is outside Chicago, near O'Hare Airport in Northlake: Satellite View: http://goo.gl/maps/2pX5u http://goo.gl/maps/2pX5u (Note the transformer farm right across the tollway) Containers being loaded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt5ROTu6ceM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt5ROTu6ceM
Jtsummers 13y ago
joezydeco: Your reply seems to be dead, I'm not sure why. I think that's the same one the datacenterknowledge.com article I linked refers to though.
breischl 13y ago
The newest Azure data center in Iowa(?) was going to be open air. Basically a pile of these containers in a field, with a big fence over it and a roof similar to a big car-port (no walls). They figured it was going to be better for cooling.
- ams6110 13y ago
  Iowa? Doesn't sound like a great idea, they have tornadoes there, which can easily throw shipping containers around.
  - breischl 13y ago
    Yep, outside Des Moines. I don't have a reference for the rest of it, that was from conversations with MS employees. http://www.eweek.com/cloud/microsoft-parks-cloud-over-700m-iowa-data-center/ http://www.eweek.com/cloud/microsoft-parks-cloud-over-700m-i...

nandhp 13y ago

They're really easy to add, expand, replace. Google's been using them for many years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_data_center http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_data_center http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Modular_Data_center http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Modular_Data_center

jyap 13y ago

Yes it is common. eg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRwPSFpLX8I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRwPSFpLX8I A shipping container is a standardized container. It's like designing a PC case. Standard sizes makes things very convenient. It's like Legos and interchangeable computing parts. But bigger.

count 13y ago

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2011/06/09/a-look-inside-amazons-data-centers/ http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2011/06/09/a-loo... http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/inside-microsofts-chicago-data-center/ http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/inside-microsofts-chicago... Everybody else is doing it...why not google?

stevenrace 13y ago

In addition to the links below, Raytheon has deployed many 'Electronic Modular Enclosures' which house power/cooling/servers enclosed in a TEU'ish container. They've been in use since 2005'ish in the DoD and brought up in the recent 'Navy ship uses Linux' story from last week. A previous employer used a TEU contained power/cooling/servers for mobile disaster recovery circa 2003. More recently some have used fuel cells in place of diesel generators.

csense 13y ago

http://www.docker.io/ http://www.docker.io/ https://www.docker.io/the_whole_story/ https://www.docker.io/the_whole_story/ (Don't downvote me. I'm obviously joking.)