View Full Version : Power Outages [Today: Update]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-03/17/c_13783236.htm
2011-03-17 10:26:26
TOKYO, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) cut power in the greater Tokyo area on Thursday for the fourth straight day, in an effort to conserve electricity and avoid a nationwide power outage.
At some point during the day, around 10 million households will be without electricity for up to 4-hours as the rolling blackouts are staggered through five areas comprising the greater Tokyo and surrounding regions.
The move is aimed at covering shortfalls in the grid due to power stations faltering following last Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami.
Shops have been forced to shut down due to the outages and there have been 120 cases of people being stranded in elevators so far, local media reported.
Peak demand for power, according to the utility, is between 6 p. m. and 7 p.m., during which time the company said demand will outstrip supply.
TEPCO's daily capacity is 33 million kilowatts of power and demand tops 38 million kilowatts during the peak times, in the utility's service area.
The utility said that some areas in the Kanto region, comprising Tokyo, may have to endure two series of blackouts on Thursday due to demand in the area likely spiking as temperatures fall later in the day.
TEPCO has said the power conservation program will continue until the end of April.
Still doesn't look good. SE's post only said at the very least it would be 1 week.
The services will be temporarily suspended for at least a week starting on Mar. 13, 2011 3:00 (PDT). We will provide an update regarding the reinstatement of the service as additional information becomes available.
Obviously, you can't rush things and SE is just trying to do their part. According to this news though, TEPCO said until the "end of April' (does this imply power outages still?). Does this mean servers could be down for over a month?
Speculation at this point, but i hope SE can give us an announcement here in the next week or so.
Niklz
03-18-2011, 12:22 AM
I wouldn't hold my breath expecting the servers to be up as previously estimated.
Vivivivi
03-18-2011, 12:24 AM
You never know, perhaps they will be relocated after all. Let's just hope the SE team stays safe throughout all of this ^^
RAIST
03-18-2011, 12:28 AM
yeah.. they NEED to get those generators up and running. Trying to find out if they've even left Florida yet or not...
Raist
NightDagger
03-18-2011, 12:42 AM
yeah.. they NEED to get those generators up and running. Trying to find out if they've even left Florida yet or not...
Raist
I am trying to find out the same thing. 10 turbine's will help them a lot, not enough to run the country but definitely enough to assist with everything they need constant power to in order to complete the repairs
annewandering
03-18-2011, 01:00 AM
It seems the rolling blackouts are only in certain areas? If so maybe SE can just relocate out of the city. It was my impression that the blackouts and power problems mostly affected the eastern areas of Japan. Got me to thinking any one who can get out of the city, business wise, probably will.
NightDagger
03-18-2011, 01:03 AM
It seems the rolling blackouts are only in certain areas? If so maybe SE can just relocate out of the city. It was my impression that the blackouts and power problems mostly affected the eastern areas of Japan. Got me to thinking any one who can get out of the city, business wise, probably will.
?
Um.... i dunno what to say lol. Would they require 1 or 2 forklifts to move the building? LOL
?
Um.... i dunno what to say lol. Would they require 1 or 2 forklifts to move the building? LOL
Wow I'm intoxicated and I still understood what they said more than you did... lmao
NightDagger
03-18-2011, 01:28 AM
Wow I'm intoxicated and I still understood what they said more than you did... lmao
LOL I am just in a "Happy"place. TY Oxycotin & Oxycocet ^^. I take them everyday all day for pain, so when I play FF I am either really really sore or not feeling anything lol
annewandering
03-18-2011, 01:32 AM
Honestly I think it would be a little easier to move the servers etc from inside the building but hey thats an intriguing idea!
RAIST
03-18-2011, 01:50 AM
some more food for thought... some details on a Data Center set up for hosting fansites, complete with a pic of the racks:
40 servers (24 web, 10 database, 4 media and 2 network attached storage)
A four-enclosure SAN, composed of 86 hard drives.
Two BIG-IP load balancers.
An eight-blade 192-port HP LAN switch.
10 gigabits of available bandwidth!
http://www.ffxivcore.com/index.php?app=core&module=attach§ion=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=6574
Now... this is just for hosting websites/forums. A drop in the bucket in comparison.
Raist
NightDagger
03-18-2011, 01:52 AM
Now if we just imagine about 40 of these we could have a nit on insight as to what SE is working with lol
LOL I am just in a "Happy"place. TY Oxycotin & Oxycocet ^^. I take them everyday all day for pain, so when I play FF I am either really really sore or not feeling anything lol
LOL Happy place, I know what you mean :D
I hope you feel better someday, though.
TEPCO has said the power conservation program will continue until the end of April.
That not new at all, on wiki they was already stating this fact the next day SE turned they server off. I am sure SE already though about reallocate they server. The problem with all this is the cost, other country might not have same type of economy and also different law might affect everything ( minimum salary, visa, internet/bandwidth cost, and so on )
I am pretty sure they are working on a solution, who know maybe they are currently planning to buy a diesel generator 24/24 or to backup when power cutoff. No one really know what are they plan, but ya just keep in mind they gave 100m yen to disaster, is probably 100x more then what would cost them to power up they server with a diesel generator for 2 month+
That not new at all, on wiki they was already stating this fact the next day SE turned they server off. I am sure SE already though about reallocate they server. The problem with all this is the cost, other country might not have same type of economy and also different law might affect everything ( minimum salary, visa, internet/bandwidth cost, and so on )
I am pretty sure they are working on a solution, who know maybe they are currently planning to buy a diesel generator 24/24 or to backup when power cutoff. No one really know what are they plan, but ya just keep in mind they gave 100m yen to disaster, is probably 100x more then what would cost them to power up they server with a diesel generator for 2 month+
You know, the week that they say it will be down, minimally, they could be actually buying or having a few generators to do this very thing. Optimistic thinking, but could be.
You know, the week that they say it will be down, minimally, they could be actually buying or having a few generators to do this very thing. Optimistic thinking, but could be.
Let not forget they had probably more to worry then find alternative source of energy at this point. Like call they family see if they all ok. If it was me, i would rather watch news almost 24/24 without thinking about my job. am canadian and i do watch it none stop because i am worry about japan and other country around it, i can now just imagine if i was there :(
I really doubt service will be back up in 1 week, but i doubt they going to left us without service for 2 month too, it would be too bad for they company which mean bad for japan.
Let not forget they had probably more to worry then find alternative source of energy at this point. Like call they family see if they all ok. If it was me, i would rather watch news almost 24/24 without thinking about my job. am canadian and i do watch it none stop because i am worry about japan and other country around it, i can now just imagine if i was there :(
I really doubt service will be back up in 1 week, but i doubt they going to left us without service for 2 month too, it would be too bad for they company which mean bad for japan.
I as well, live in Canada, and I'm constantly looking out for Japan on the news and Youtube footage.
As of the servers coming back up at the time it says is the minimum amount of time it will be offline, I don't think they will be by Sunday, sadly, as I'm missing this game really badly. I just started fresh after a 7 year "break" a week before the servers went down, so I'm really jeering for it!
staley
03-18-2011, 02:41 AM
It's going to be way longer then a week, maybe more like months until They have stable power. Unless they actually run a huge generator, which produces a lot of chemical waste I think. Though they are losing a bunch of money daily having the servers down, thinking something like 800k a day?
It's going to be way longer then a week, maybe more like months until They have stable power. Unless they actually run a huge generator, which produces a lot of chemical waste I think. Though they are losing a bunch of money daily having the servers down, thinking something like 800k a day?
They don't need a 'huge generator', a server room don't consume that much. Of course is going to release chemical waste, but is temporary. I don't think they loosing 800k/day, not even close to that number.
Inflicter
03-18-2011, 03:04 AM
Either way I'm sure we all would like to here something on this thread from square enix, Tomorrow is Friday and that's when everyone logs on thru the weekend to play..
On another note I'm truly am concerned about the on going issues over their and pray for the best.
Starcade
03-18-2011, 03:06 AM
You never know, perhaps they will be relocated after all. Let's just hope the SE team stays safe throughout all of this ^^
And can they be safely relocated?
This is why I am very skeptical we're seeing XI any time soon.
And the longer it goes and the more Square-Enix loses from it (esp. with XIV still in gamma testing, effectively), it doesn't look good for a crippled MMO division.
Psykotic
03-18-2011, 03:30 AM
only problem with running generators is the fuel comsumption and right now ppl are having a hard enough time getting 10 gallons of gas to get around with so i am sure that fuel for emergency vehicles will over ride any fuel for generators to power severs. it wishful thinking but highly unlikely.
Registeel
03-18-2011, 03:46 AM
Ahh, {That's too bad}. Nothing is still guaranteed, but yeah I agree that it looks like FFXI won't return for awhile yet.
Gennadi
03-18-2011, 04:24 AM
Ok help is on the way just click here ---->>>> http://usera.ImageCave.com/nphulk/ffxi2/17169090.jpg
nobodyhere
03-18-2011, 04:39 AM
well if they only use generator for ff 11 and not ff 14 and have ff 14 offline till they have real source of power it work out.
since the making 0 dollars on ff14 be a waste of money o throw ff11 and 14 up at the same time.
but they say a week and i bet you they be on by sunday the lastest they cant afford to lose the money on 2 month freebee
1 week people be alright to pay monthly dues 2 week would run them about 500k now if they go till april thats 1millon or more dollars they will lose. i doubt they wanna do that so i dont feel there sould be a problem with genoraters prolly cost them about 200k out of 500k plus they get to run it till they have perm source of power.
what do you mean it wont be fixed by sunday!!!!???? WHAAAA WHAAAA /em throw's toys out of pram
this is a joke before you all start flaming me
i dont know where the servers or SE are actually based my guess would be tokyo witt the situation with the nuclear reactors getting worse and most EU countrys telling thier citezens to GTFO just prey a lack of power is the only thing they have to deal with
Penance
03-18-2011, 05:15 AM
This can only be speculated until they know the true status of the reactors. The economy is already worsening in japan so I believe Square Enix will be up as soon as they can. But until there is enough power for the city, i believe we will be FF-less
On a sidenote , i Dont believe this will do much good to FFXIV as it wasn't doing so good before the server was taken down issue.
Lets hope they manage to regain control in tepco powerplants without anymore casualties
Gadanae
03-18-2011, 05:17 AM
Ok help is on the way just click here ---->>>> http://usera.ImageCave.com/nphulk/ffxi2/17169090.jpg
/majorlolololol. Very good. I see what you did there.
Aengus
03-18-2011, 05:21 AM
While I'd also like to see the servers up as soon as possible, it probably isn't realistic...
Generators require fuel, which there is a massive lack of, moving also requires fuel, not to mention the ability to convince those in the company to possibly put people at risk to radiation by being outdoors (however unlikely).
Yes, Japan has not moved the boundaries for the disaster that far, but there is a general sense of unease with what the Japanese people are hearing and what they are seeing happen.
I don't see many other options, and knowing that SE stated that they were taking into consideration their civic responsibilities and the continual rolling power outages I just don't see the game bouncing back on Sunday. Unfortunate, but not unheard of in instances of country wide crisis. We also have to remember that Japan is roughly the size of California, so regional events affect many more people. Hopefully, I'm wrong and FFXI is back soon, and Japan gets back on its feet.
lowkey
03-18-2011, 05:46 AM
Honestly I think it would be a little easier to move the servers etc from inside the building but hey thats an intriguing idea!
It's not like relocating your PC to another room. Servers weigh hundreds of pounds, and require a bit more than just plugging in a keyboard, mouse, and monitor to get them up and running again. A lot can go wrong (physical damage to hardware, and loss of data) when moving them around. It's best for SE to just keep them off until they can can be turned back on at their present location.
Avidon
03-18-2011, 05:56 AM
I know very little how SE does things, and as far as branches go, I have no clue as to what they have as well. BUT as a striving business that is always trying to come out with new ideas to survive this economy, to sit idly by and wait for a power shortage to be resolved when it can take up to or more than a month is not how the business man thinks.
SE is doing their part for their nation. But Businesses also have to do their part for their future. A good business is aggressive when it comes to making decisions and choices. And they are always trying to move forward and avoid/limit as many set backs as possible.
SE has branches. When in need, you utilize what you have. I'm sure they are going to utilize every tool in their tool box to make sure they keep revenue coming in. I expect these branches in other countries to be used in some way. Just because SE Japan isn't able to operate, does that mean SE NA is just sitting around waiting for Japan's power to come on?
Idk. Food for though.
Tokyo Resident Point of View (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xNtgHaqAyg)
I've been watching this guy, and I think he's pretty much spot on, about the situation in Japan, and how the Western media is spinning this situation completely out of control.
NightDagger
03-18-2011, 06:44 AM
For people that have not seen a server or how they work here is something to imagine:
Picture a piece of ram from your PC. Now if you touch the end of the ram at all you could pooch the ram, if you miscarry it, it will also fry. also they need to be carried in electrostatic bags since static could erase everything on it. Now picture something about 200 times the size of that piece of ram, with 20-40 of them per server & most likely 40-80 servers, not to mention all the housings, cable, cpu's, Hard Drives etc. these hard drives are also alot bigger then that of your CPU. They require proper cooling and are in an enclosed housing.
These things are very fragile & once are set-up you really do not wanna have to play with them unless it is absolutely necessary.
I have seen someone in my Computer Engineering class simply pull out a board to get the numbers off it and insert it again. It was working fine before but did not work anymore after he re-inserted it.
Amperage
03-18-2011, 07:39 AM
I'm not sure how people get the idea that servers are still room sized hulks like the super computers you see from the likes of IBM. FFXI was brought online almost 10 years ago and server hardware at the time was MUCH less capable than your avg home PC today. You can be sure over the years that consolidation through the use of virtualization software has taken place to reduce the hardware "footprint" and cost of maintaining the game.
Another known fact is SE has already moved the location of the servers a number of times since FFXI has been in operation including a move just recently and it certainly didn't take them a month to do so.
As far as the radiation is concerned. The levels in Tokyo last I heard were nowhere near dangerous levels but in the event of a complete meltdown and a shift of winds carrying the airborne radioactive particles that could change quickly but for now there would be no danger of collecting the hardware required to resume operations and they could probably even safely turn the servers back on if needed for a short time to gather a backup of the latest data in the event they wish to just put other hardware in operation and restore the data to it.
It's already been made public that most of the major data centers in Tokyo have reserved fuel and plan to continue 24/7 service through the blackouts.
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2011/03/14/major-tokyo-data-centers-fuel-up-for-blackouts/
If you read the article in that link they repeatedly say that "Sony" shut down operation of FFXI and FFXIV. I know that Sony a number of years back purchased a large stake in Square but I don't think they are the majority holder currently are they? Assuming it's just a {mistake} made by the writer.
Babygyrl
03-18-2011, 07:43 AM
im totally okay with them taking as oong as they need! but i hope they give us some tid bits on whats gonna come in ther version update even though i know its delayed! give us something to talk about while we wait se!
RAIST
03-18-2011, 08:07 AM
I'm not sure how people get the idea that servers are still room sized hulks like the super computers you see from the likes of IBM. FFXI was brought online almost 10 years ago and server hardware at the time was MUCH less capable than your avg home PC today. You can be sure over the years that consolidation through the use of virtualization software has taken place to reduce the hardware "footprint" and cost of maintaining the game.
Another known fact is SE has already moved the location of the servers a number of times since FFXI has been in operation including a move just recently and it certainly didn't take them a month to do so.
As far as the radiation is concerned. The levels in Tokyo last I heard were nowhere near dangerous levels but in the event of a complete meltdown and a shift of winds carrying the airborne radioactive particles that could change quickly but for now there would be no danger of collecting the hardware required to resume operations and they could probably even safely turn the servers back on if needed for a short time to gather a backup of the latest data in the event they wish to just put other hardware in operation and restore the data to it.
It's already been made public that most of the major data centers in Tokyo have reserved fuel and plan to continue 24/7 service through the blackouts.
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2011/03/14/major-tokyo-data-centers-fuel-up-for-blackouts/
Guess you missed the recent example I gave in this thread (with a picture I might add) of the data center that just hosts fansites. No email server for 1800 employees. no 25 world servers for the game it self. No lobby servers for the various regions. No in-game messaging servers. No development center servers. No QA testing servers (which, by the way do have their own rack of blade server for as well). And then all the other servers needed for other daily support/business operations. This is just for hosting the fansites them selves. Here's the link to the post, in case you missed it:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/2512-Power-Outages-Today-Update?p=29758&viewfull=1#post29758
Also, bear in mind this pic doesn't show any of the beastly UPS solutions. If they don't use the humongous car battery sized units that WILL essentially cover a wall, the rack mounted ones can easly take up 3U's in a rack for each one, and you may need more than one per rack. You also have to provide 2 220v lines with a locking 3-prong plug to provide them power, which is a non-standard outlet.
In otherwords...setting up a large-scale datacenter takes a lot of planning, and not something you just pick up and move. I worked on a 5 server move across town 2 years ago for a small software firm (only 11 employees btw, some who worked remotely and didn't have a local office) and it took us a weekend to make the move.
Raist
Edit: oh, and here's another goody for those who still don't grasp the concept of just how large scale an operation this may be. It's an article about how SE set up their in-house messaging system, including the layout of their hardware:
http://media.netapp.com/documents/square-enix.pdf
Amperage
03-18-2011, 09:04 AM
Guess you missed the recent example I gave in this thread (with a picture I might add) of the data center that just hosts fansites. No email server for 1800 employees. no 25 world servers for the game it self. No lobby servers for the various regions. No in-game messaging servers. No development center servers. No QA testing servers (which, by the way do have their own rack of blade server for as well). And then all the other servers needed for other daily support/business operations. This is just for hosting the fansites them selves. Here's the link to the post, in case you missed it:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/2512-Power-Outages-Today-Update?p=29758&viewfull=1#post29758
Also, bear in mind this pic doesn't show any of the beastly UPS solutions. If they don't use the humongous car battery sized units that WILL essentially cover a wall, the rack mounted ones can easly take up 3U's in a rack for each one, and you may need more than one per rack. You also have to provide 2 220v lines with a locking 3-prong plug to provide them power, which is a non-standard outlet.
In otherwords...setting up a large-scale datacenter takes a lot of planning, and not something you just pick up and move. I worked on a 5 server move across town 2 years ago for a small software firm (only 11 employees btw, some who worked remotely and didn't have a local office) and it took us a weekend to make the move.
Raist
Edit: oh, and here's another goody for those who still don't grasp the concept of just how large scale an operation this may be. It's an article about how SE set up their in-house messaging system, including the layout of their hardware:
http://media.netapp.com/documents/square-enix.pdf
I had already looked at that PDF when you posted it initially and that's not all that complex a setup. A lot of those diagram elements are software layers and on the hardware side I've setup and currently admin more complex networks than that. I don't pretend to know the exact chain of connections or the location of all the servers involved from the time you load POL and finish connecting to the world servers but seeing as how they've organized and moved the server location in less than 1 day of downtime previously says volumes about the actual complexity of the operation. Even given the unprepared state they are in I would assume they could achieve a server move within the week downtime already in progress.
RAIST
03-18-2011, 09:16 AM
the point is though, you don't do this as a temporary fix, and not likely easily implemented in just 3 days. A LOT of things have to be considered. If SE is going to migrate... this would be a long term move (short term would just be too big a hit to the bottom line), and would require a LOT of planning...aside from all the business/legal/political (work visa's etc) aspects involved, contractors/permits may have to be sent to the target site to prepare it for the equipment if they aren't simply going to move data to exisitng hardware in an already established datacenter.
They said at least a week, more information will be made available as it comes available. It would appear that no new information is available for them to release just yet.
Kinda remends me of the bickering married couple... honey, coud you take out the trash? I'll get it in a minute...in the middle of something here... 2 minutes later Are you gonna take out the trash? In a minute, lemme finish. 2 minutes later, are you gonna take this trash out or do I have to do it? I SAID I WOULD GET IT! GET OFF MY BACK WOMAN!!!
Raist
Amperage
03-18-2011, 09:26 AM
Kinda remends me of the bickering married couple... honey, coud you take out the trash? I'll get it in a minute...in the middle of something here... 2 minutes later Are you gonna take out the trash? In a minute, lemme finish. 2 minutes later, are you gonna take this trash out or do I have to do it? I SAID I WOULD GET IT! GET OFF MY BACK WOMAN!!!
Raist
Actually that kinda sounds like my internal struggle to take out the trash weekly :)
NightDagger
03-18-2011, 10:45 PM
Data Center
http://www.montaraventures.com/pix/datacenter.jpg (http://www.montaraventures.com/pix/datacenter.jpg)
Dreamworks animation
http://files.cyberciti.biz/uploads/tips/2007/06/server-farm-dreamworks-animation-studio.png (http://files.cyberciti.biz/uploads/tips/2007/06/server-farm-dreamworks-animation-studio.png)
Above are two good examples of what SE's server could look like. they could be smaller or larger, but I am sure that they are very similar to the second image.
Now the server move that they just did, was it actually moving them to a new location or just replacing some of the older ones & it was all done in house? either way it was only 12 hours to complete. They could of very well moved them to a new location, but that would not mean they took the ones from the previous location & just moved them. i am sure that the new server was set-up at the new location and they just had to spend the time doing some programing and moving of data to get it all setup & test run it. This meaning that the old servers are still where the were initially & they used brand new ones for the move. There is no way humanly possible to move the WHOLE server room to a new location in just 12 hours. They couldn't even do that if it was just to a building across the street.
I know this has all been covered previously but the fact of the matter is we all just have to wait. I am actually really enjoying the break from FF & my kids love it lol. I always logged off the game just to play/spend time with my family before but now I am with them all day every day and they are just loving it. BUT I am also thinking about what i will be doing as soon as the servers are online lol
slakyak
03-18-2011, 10:50 PM
Maybe they've never shown a picture because it's all still running on those tapes and reels like in the bad guys lair from the old Bond flicks??
Maybe they've even got a pool with sharks in for devs who get the seal drop rate code wrong?
Atomic646
03-19-2011, 12:03 AM
Wow I'm intoxicated and I still understood what they said more than you did... lmao
I'm surprised you spelled Intoxicated while intoxicated lol
NightDagger
03-19-2011, 12:05 AM
I'm surprised you spelled Intoxicated while intoxicated lol
spell check i bet LOL
I'm surprised you spelled Intoxicated while intoxicated lol
Believe me, yesterday, I re-read it like 20 times before submitting, thinking it was spelled wrong the entire time lolol.
NightDagger
03-19-2011, 12:06 AM
Believe me, yesterday, I re-read it like 20 times before submitting, thinking it was spelled wrong the entire time lolol.
hmmm is it weird typing while seeing everything 5+ times?
RAIST
03-19-2011, 12:09 AM
Now the server move that they just did, was it actually moving them to a new location or just replacing some of the older ones & it was all done in house?
They were just moving the POL database to a new server...just one database moved, in-house to new hardware. Didn't do anything with the 25 game worlds in production, or lobby servers, etc.
Raist
hmmm is it weird typing while seeing everything 5+ times?
Well, I didn't mean "that" type of intoxication, I meant another "herbal" way, as my body cannot actually handle the beverage, goes right through me with no intoxication affect.
So, I didn't see anything 5 times, if anything, the TV was distracting me beyond belief and I couldn't type one word without getting distracted lol.
NightDagger
03-19-2011, 12:23 AM
They were just moving the POL database to a new server...just one database moved, in-house to new hardware. Didn't do anything with the 25 game worlds in production, or lobby servers, etc.
Raist
aww now this makes more sense lol
It kinda nice to have a handful of people on here that are actually few knowledgeable about computers/electronics & understand the limitations that they have.
NightDagger
03-19-2011, 12:25 AM
Well, I didn't mean "that" type of intoxication, I meant another "herbal" way, as my body cannot actually handle the beverage, goes right through me with no intoxication affect.
So, I didn't see anything 5 times, if anything, the TV was distracting me beyond belief and I couldn't type one word without getting distracted lol.
Yeah i quit drinking as soon as I had my first child. I use to pretty much live in a bar and would just pay my bill at the end of every week. normally cost me about 4-5 hundred a week. Then i just quit no problem. The herbal though always put me to sleep lol.
Jamesruglia
03-19-2011, 01:27 AM
Well if they're not billing us for April, and they got the servers up after only a week after all, we're getting three free weeks. Even if it takes them a month, we're still breaking even on the deal. If it takes them longer than a month, they may skip the May billing cycle as well.
I freely admit that I'm antsy to play right now, but I have other things I can focus on as well.
Now picture something about 200 times the size of that piece of ram
Now if you touch the end of the ram at all you could pooch the ram, if you miscarry it, it will also fry.
Also, bear in mind this pic doesn't show any of the beastly UPS solutions. If they don't use the humongous car battery sized units that WILL essentially cover a wall, the rack mounted ones can easly take up 3U's in a rack for each one, and you may need more than one per rack. You also have to provide 2 220v lines with a locking 3-prong plug to provide them power, which is a non-standard outlet.
In otherwords...setting up a large-scale datacenter takes a lot of planning, and not something you just pick up and move. I worked on a 5 server move across town 2 years ago for a small software firm (only 11 employees btw, some who worked remotely and didn't have a local office) and it took us a weekend to make the move.
Just wow, stop watching movie >.>
There not much different from Home PC and server, outside the quality of the parts.... The ram (Physical Size) is the same... The hdd (Phisical size) is the same.
Ark 4U-500-CA Black 4U Rackmount Case
Spec:
ARK 4U-500-CA Black 4U Rackmount Case 3 External 5.25 inch Drive Bays ARK 4U-500-CA Black 4U Rackmount Case 3 External 5.25 inch Drive Bays Dimension DxWxH- 500mm x 483mm x 177mm Drive Bays-3xexternal 5.25 bay - 1xexternal 3.5 bay - 9xinternal 3.5 bay Motherboard- Micro ATX and ATX Power Supply- PS2 option.
Is just a compact storage.... You can put normal (home computer parts in it) Or commercial technology like SCSI HDD, and the only difference on SCSI and IDE are performance, which IDE lately get very close to SCSI on they performance and stability. (Raptor HDD to give and example 15,000 rpm 7yr warranty)
Of course Raptor is no match at all again all SCSI product since they more tolerant to HEAT/COLD/less error, data SEEK way faster and so on... I don't really need go all thru detail. For power they not require anything special like a 3-prong outlet ><
here a list of price/spec if you interest more...
Rack Mount PC - 4U (http://www.superlogics.com/sl_products.asp?cat=267&catname=industrial-computers&subcatname=rack-mount-pc-computer&gclid=CJLepILM2KcCFYvsKgodU1sd-A&offset=20)
I saw your picture, and is nothing amazing compare bigger server room i saw in my life... I agree it can be complex to relocate them sometime due to many thing that i just don't wan go thru. But please don't make it sound like it would need a power generator that would take 10,000$ Gaz / day.... These PC take max 280~400 watt each, of course it add up fast since they have many, but not at the point you say.
Maybe they've never shown a picture because it's all still running on those tapes and reels like in the bad guys lair from the old Bond flicks??
I was starting to think the same..