Screws screws screws and why we do what we do in data processing centres issue03
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This document discusses the history and evolution of data center design from the early 1900s to present day. Some key points discussed include: - The origins of standardized 19-inch racks that have influenced data center design for over 100 years, originating from telegraph technology in the 1800s. - The transition from individual components to modular designs over time, such as hard disk drives evolving from individual units to arrays within standard 4-inch widths. - The development of new open standards like the Open Compute Project that utilize larger 21-inch racks while still optimizing for component density and serviceability. - How these historical innovations have shaped the modular, standardized approach used in modern data center design and infrastructure today.
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Screws screws screws and why we do what we do in data processing centres issue03
- 1. Screws, screws, screws, and why we do what we do in data centres today? John Laban 1
- 2. My mission To enrich people's lives with an innovative, interactive presentation that informs, educates and entertains. 2
- 3. My 2020 vision for new Data Centres Smart replaces Stupid & Open-Hardware replaces Closed-Hardware 3
- 6. “Everything we use in data centres today was designed by someone yesterday” Eureka moment John Laban 6
- 7. Which came first ? 7
- 8. Module Container Which came first ? 8
- 9. Container Simplification and cost reduction though standardisation and commoditisation 9
- 10. 10
- 12. What’s all this bollocks got to do with Data centres !!!! 12
- 13. 600mm Module 600mm Container Why? …… and ….. Which came first ? 13
- 14. Clues now follow But why 1911 ? 19 + 11 = 1911 “What hath God wrought” Samuel Morse First telegraph message from Washington to Baltimore in 1844 14
- 15. Morse Code Telegraph Eucla Eucla 19 inch relay racks 15
- 16. Colossus – first electronic Computer WW2 “2,000 valves fit nicely into 19inch racks” Tommy Flowers GPO Telephone Engineer Dollis Hill London Electro mechanical Relay Thermionic Valve 16
- 17. Kids don’t always follow the ways of the old. We don’t always need to be victims of the past. 17
- 18. The Module Strowger Telephone Exchange Racks The Can 18
- 19. The Hard Disk Drive Modules over time 19
- 20. How big is the commodity HDD module today ? 20
- 22. Dimensions for EIA 19inch and ETSI 21inch Racks 22
- 23. 2011 23
- 24. Design Thinking – like blowing up balloons 21.18 inches Divergent Expansive Explorative Convergent Focused Solution 24
- 25. OCP Open Rack http://www.opencompute.org/assets/openrack/Open_Compute_Project_Open_Rack_v1.0.pdf 21.18 inches 25
- 26. OCP will never catch on because it’s not 19inch 26
- 27. How many 4inch HDD’s across width of racks OCP Open Rack 538 mm 5 x HDD = 508 mm 21inch ETSI Rack 500 mm 4 x HDD = 406.4 mm 19inch EIA Rack 450 mm 4 x HDD = 406.4 mm 27
- 28. OCP HDD storage trays and OCP server 28
- 29. How many OCP servers across width of rack How far does the technician need to walk ? 29
- 30. Is it a server or a just blade server module ? 30
- 31. Screws, Tools and Telescopic Rails 31
- 32. 110V + 230V = 1879 12V + DC = 2020 “We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles” “There's a way to do it better - find it” Thomas Edison 32
- 33. Yes some things will never change! ….. QUERTY ….. 33
- 34. Teaser for the journey home…… Why when I applied Design Thinking to Disruptive did I invent Rumperedis John Laban Data Centre Architect & Entertrainer john.laban@jrlaban.com @rumperedis 07710 124487 Answer to teaser in footer note of this slide All slides available just ask 34
Editor's Notes
- Keynote first given at Data Centre Conference City of London in 2015 Presentation title: Screws, screws, screws and why we do what we do in data centres today? 100 Word Summary (for UK audience) : This humorous, innovative and interactive presentation (which shall be using real time Twitter interaction with the audience) questions fundamentally what we do today in enterprise data centres. It develops its arguments by demonstrating that much of what we do in data centres today is simply the legacy of history dating back to 1877 at the Eucla manual telegraph repeater station in the Australian Outback. It goes on to show that we do not need to be victims of the past if we use "Design-Thinking" to break out of the “Group-Think" that is endemic in the majority of the UK enterprise data centre industry today and move into new disruptive technologies driven by the Open Compute Project (OCP) community and the rapid development of new innovative open source hardware. Add John Laban bio and a “thinking” mugshot photo:
- As per the excellent BBC mission statement from 1922 (but the BBC technology has changed a lot since then) http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/insidethebbc/whoweare/mission_and_values
- There is plenty of room for innovation in data centres. Most of what we do today is the result of us blindly following without question the past. See my blogs on this. Access floors –first used for containing mainframe cooling water pipes which no one uses today. Centralised UPS and dual AC/DC power supplies in the ICT gear Vendor lock-in. e.g. Cisco IGRP routing software ; Proprietary DCIM solutions from ME&P manufacturers; AC power distribution instead of DC Use of down flow DX CRACs mechanical cooling systems using the refrigeration cycle. Use of corporation owned enterprise data centres (read The Big Switch by N.Carr) …….many more see my mindmaps at http://www.jrlaban.com/training
- Slow entry for next slide as though it is arriving real time from my test.
- Some humour on the interactive side of the presentation. This one is for Ian Titchner the conference organiser. Some light hearted audience participation as they start tweeting me @rumperdis
- Stating the obvious because sometime we loose sight of the obvious
- Add a few more which came first questions: The 600 access tile or the 600 wide cabinet ?
- Add a few more which came first questions: The 600 access tile or the 600 wide cabinet ?
- Commoditisation of chicken eggs Here we have decided on a standard commodity container and we reject the modules (eggs) that are not suitable for the standard container
- Whitworth thread size Historical misuse[edit] British Morris and MG engines from 1923 to 1955 were built using metric threads but with bolt heads and nuts dimensioned for Whitworth spanners and sockets.[5] The background for this was that the engines were produced using machine tools of a previously French-owned company that was set up for metric production; for the average British motorist to be able to service his car, the bolt heads had to fit imperial-sized spanners. http://eca-candles.com/index.php?newsid=154&sprach_id=en&rubrik=9&sprach_id=en European candle industry welcomes future standardisation mandate for candles and candle accessories BRUSSELS / STUTTGART (26 November 2015) ̶ The EU Member State experts for consumer protection recently recommended safety requirements that will pave the way for a standardisation mandate covering candles and related products. This will be the basis for developing European Standards which will further increase the level of safety for consumers. The European candle manufacturers, represented by the European Candle Association (ECA), expressly welcome this initiative. “What seems like another attempt of the European Commission to regulate each and every detail is, in fact, the exact opposite. For almost three years, the European Commission, Member States, experts for consumer protection, standardisation experts and candle manufacturers had been discussing the now recommended safety requirements in a very constructive dialogue. These discussions resulted in very ambitious demands with regards to consumer protection, but the demands can be met with the necessary efforts on part of the candle manufacturers” says Stefan Thomann, Managing Director of ECA and Chairman of the standardisation committee CEN/TC 369 Candle Fire Safety. He adds: “If authorities and industry were always cooperating as ideally as this was the case here, the European Commission would have a much better reputation with the citizens”. In contrast to some media reports, this initiative does explicitly not aim at regulating the slightest detail. The future standardisation mandate will only define the cornerstones that are important from a consumer protection perspective. It will be the task of the European Standardisation Committee CEN to transpose these rather general requirements into more detailed European Standards, or more precisely, representatives of industry, testing institutes and authorities as well as experts for consumer protection will do this. Involving all relevant stakeholders in this process will make sure that these standards will work in practice. On the initiative of the candle industry, a set of three European Standards for candles were developed years ago and have been active since 2007. They specify labelling for example and help consumers to safely use candles. Since the standards became effective, the number of fires has significantly decreased. “A large part of the now recommended requirements is already included in the existing standards. The standardisation mandate will attach much greater importance from a legal point of view however” says Stefan Thomann. The additional requirements do make sense as well, particularly those for candle accessories, i.e. items like holders, warming stoves, lanterns, etc. which are often sold separately from candles. Many of these items have shown blatant deficiencies resulting in serious risks for consumers. The European candle manufacturers expect that the future standards will further increase the level of consumer protection, particularly for imported goods. For this reason, and because the safety requirements were coordinated with all stakeholders, they explicitly welcome the European Commission´s initiative.
- Slow click this slide transition tweet coming in the next slide Who today is using these. …no one….ummm was it all worthwhile the EU efforts at standardisation …perhaps you just wish to keep that old Georgian Candle stick holder your grand mother gave you . Too much entrenched history and its family! Dwell on the cast iron heavy base and large additional metal dish plus those cog like indents
- Another interactive tweet from the audience that appears automatically as if by magic into the slide deck Kahoot like
- Add a few more which came first questions: The 600 access tile or the 600 wide x 600 deep enclose equipment cabinet ? Tiles created floor void to contain water pipes to mainframe computers. Why solid door on this legacy cabinet? …story about large mux’s that did not have their own fans so top and middle fan trays installed in cabs. See GPO 4004X cabinets. Cooling air was bottom to top. Mention buoyancy effect of air at different temperatures and why its just better pouring cool air into hot. See Facebook data centre tour video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZUX3n2yAzY Why is the cabinet black today? …impossible to meet the minimum light requirements in a “data centre white space” using black! …..black cabs are simply jewlery bling for CEO’s …..they are bad engineering and as a Dalek whould say they should be exterminated!! …….. just ask the poor technicians that need to work with their heads stuck in a black box that absorbs all the light!
- How we arrived at the 19inch rack from a one hundred year old legacy from the days of the first telegraph systems. In 1911 the railways standardised on the 19” for signalling systems. In 1934 the 19inch was ratified as a standard by EIA.
- Progression from equipment tables to equipment racks. Similar thing occurs for servers …from tower server under desk to tower server in server room on table then to selves in racks. Rabbits! Rabbits! Rabbits! 1897 first plague Eucla Telegraph Station The first plague. Around 1897, telegraphists used to amuse themselves by watching three waves of rabbits pour across the Nullarbor from the east, en route to Western Australia. The Eucla telegraph station had been in operation for almost 20 years when telegraphists began noticing rabbit traces when walking for exercise before coming on duty. Soon the traces began to appear more thickly and they even extended to the Pass and on the Roe Plain.But no one took much notice and did not realize that this was the opening phase of an invasion from the east of hordes of rabbits. Rabbits had been released in Victoria in 1859 to provide sport and food for the early settlers. It was not long before the scrub with which the beach dunes were densely covered began to disappear. At this rate the sand would soon become loosened and the situation was becoming serious. An urgent report was telegraphed to Perth, however when it was shown to Sir John Forrest, the Premier did not react with his usual perspicacity. He dismissed the call for help with a smile and said: "It's sheep manure they've seen". The report was soon forgotten and no action was taken. The rabbits continued to pour in from the east and also began to multiply rapidly. One Sunday, the off duty telegraphists in company with a few natives killed over 1000 rabbits on the outskirts of the settlement but no noticeable effect was produced on the invading hordes. Thus began the first plague of Eucla. The second plague. Tens of thousands of rabbits hunted for food in the already stricken Eucla district and even stripped the bark from the trees. After there was no food above ground they began grubbing up and eating the roots of the saltbush, the blue bush and the cotton bush.The situation was becoming desperate and a more urgently worded message was telegraphed to Perth. This time the authorities were convinced. The authorities in Adelaide were also showing anxiety and it was they that took the first action. Whose inspiration was responsible will never be known but someone must have suggested, "Let's send them cats". The suggestion was taken seriously and the authorities gathered up hundreds of cats and shipped them to Eucla with the instructions, "Let the cats see the rabbits!". Dutifully but unconvinced, the settlers at Eucla obeyed. On being released the cats swarmed across the sandhills and attacked in style. They gorged themselves, slept it off in the sun, and then attacked again. But the rabbits still multiplied. Eventually the cats tired of rabbit meat and began hunting birds and lizards. The cats also took over rabbit burrows and kittens arrived by the score. And so began the second plague of Eucla - cats. The third plague.The loosened sand was a constant trial in the years that followed. Whenever the wind blew (and it blew almost all the time), windows had to be kept shut regardless of the heat of the day. The streets had to be regularly swept and yards cleared of sand. The battle against the sand was a hopeless one and when the repeater station finally closed down, the sand moved in and overwhelmed most of the buildings. And for anyone who follows the shores of the bight, say from Port Lincoln to the Sandpatch, they will find that the domestic cat has run wild. In all likelihood, the majority of these are descendants of that disastrous shipload landed at Eucla jetty to exterminate the rabbits. And of course, the rabbits are there also.Eventually, with the introduction of electro-magnetic automatic repeaters, the coastal telegraph line was abandoned in 1927 in favour of a more easily maintained line alongside the trans-continental railway line. In the 1950's, the telegraph station was completely buried but changing winds have pushed the dunes back and some of the walls are now exposed again. Today, all that's left are its 1897 stone walls and only a portion of those are visible above the sand.
- Lead engineer First electronic computer colossus built at Dollis Hill London
- The way data centres are today …are we just victims of the past ….adopting the we have always done it this way mentality. Even the old strowger telephone exchanges saw a good reason to move away from the 19 inch relay rack. See following slides
- 2.5 inch is 2.75 inches wide
- The ETSI rack pushed by the telcos but never adopted in data centres European Telecommunications Standards Institute http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_i_ets/300100_300199/30011902/01_60/ets_30011902e01p.pdf
- Facebook started the OCP foundation by releasing its hardware designs into the open source hardware community.
- Excellent video on Design-Thinking at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrdSkqRypsg Design-Thinking is the complete opposite of “Group-Think” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink See also the “Network Effect” and Technology Lifecycle at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect
- How radical is this compared to 1911. Don’t sweat as there is a 19inch OCP solution if needed. There is also the OCP Bridge Rack.
- Mention 19inch OCP gear and the OCP Bridge Rack. Most of the hyperscale data centre players are on board and so are most of the large north American banks . 75% of Goldman Sachs servers purchased in 2016 will be OCP and probably the majority will be for 19inch racks. (Check with OCP’s Steve Helvie on this steve.helvie@opencompute.org )
- Mention the space efficiency improvements in an OCP rack which can be up to 20% better than space use in the EIA and ETSI racks.
- See youtube videos of technicians racking up conventional servers with all there server rails and cage nuts and screws compared to just working from the front without the back and front walking marathon . Give example of the hundreds of metres a technician walks when mounting a legacy server with telescopic rails in a 20rack row abutting a wall.
- Mentions DC busbar clip. All comms at front. No requirement for technician to access rear of OCP rack to install or remove servers of storage JBODs.
- OCP is a tool less solution for the data hall technician.
- Emphasise that changing the 110 to 230 V AC voltages for global standardisation is a tricky one…..but why not use DC instead as OCP racks do with the triple 12V busbars at rear. Reason for voltage differences due to filament of earlier incandescing lamps which broke above 100volts
- A keyboard is simply a man machine interface (mmi) but why should it be a keyboard. Disruptive technology like speech mmi today , and after 2020 thought mmi, will render the keyboard obsolete tomorrow. Tip: don’t waste your time today learning to touch type.
- Emphasise the DCPro OCP awareness course. See https://www.dc-professional.com/product/open-compute-project-ocp-awareness-course/ First dates March and April 2016. Disruptive as a word in a non-disruptive world The term "Disruptive Technologies" is often used in articles about change in data centres. Now if we look at the etymology of the English language verb “disruptive" we discover that it is derived from two Latin words: dis = apart & rumpere = breaking So here we have the English verb "disruptive" or "apart breaking" which is obviously formed the wrong way around. Now if we wish to optimise the design we need to disrupt the word "disruptive" and then reform the constituent parts in the correct order we create Laban’s new innovative word in uppercase as RUMPERDIS, in lowercase as rumperedis, and in italics as rumperedis. So here is the conundrum, why do we continue to use the word "disruptive" when it’s obviously written the wrong way around, and how many people at this presentation will now use my new word RUMPEREDIS as a better way of doing things ? Even language changes - go find out about the great word designer Shakespeare. In conclusion “everything we use in data centres today was designed by someone yesterday” lets not be prisoners of the past, lets strive to do things better and that means change. Sadly all of my readers will be older than seven years of age and have been through a formal western style education which will have severely stunted their seven year old pre-school imaginations and their ability for RUMPEREDIS innovations. So you may ask what's the point of my simple exercise of playing with words? Well my point is that if you cannot open your minds like a seven year old then don't waste your time reading the rest of this article because it will only add value for you if it creates behavioural change. If your mind is not receptive to innovative change then no behavioural change will occur, and you will carry on the way you have always done, doing the same unthinking things in enterprise data centres. See article in Dutch at http://datacenterworks.nl/tag/rumperedis/