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top 200 commentsshow 500

[–]missing404 727 points728 points ago

These pictures are about as close as it gets to sci-fi movies.

[–]Jesus_Faction 279 points280 points ago

And some day people will look back at these and laugh like we do for the room-filling-vacuum-tube computers of yesteryear.

[–]OompaOrangeFace 75 points76 points ago

I can't wait for that to happen! In my lifetime I bet that the computing power and storage of one of those datacenters will be available in everyone's home. What will we use it for??? I don't know, but it will be awesome.

[–]Xanny 176 points177 points ago

Extremely high resolution porn. Obviously. And cats.

12k resolution cat videos at 400 fps. With 64 bit color. Maybe some smellovision.

[–]cb43569 35 points36 points ago

Initial thoughts of the 48fps Hobbit suggests 400 fps won't be a thing except for esports gamers and television soaps. Everyone who wants quality will go for fewer frames per second.

[–]Laahrik 42 points43 points ago

(its called comedic overstatement)

[–]cb43569 33 points34 points ago

I know! I decided to extract an observation from it.

[–]rabbidpanda 4 points5 points ago

Everyone who wants quality will go for fewer frames per second.

Everyone who wants perceived quality will go for fewer frames. The only reason people balk at 48 fps is because it looks like a soap opera and they're used to 24 fps. I'd bet that someone who only ever lived with 48 fps would say 24 felt muddy.

[–]SexLiesAndExercise 3 points4 points ago

Entire internet at a certain point in time backed up on your hard disc. Or your brain. Or your on-board penis computer.

[–]lolwutpear 7 points8 points ago

I don't laugh; those are impressive feats of engineering. Instead, I marvel at how far we've come.

[–]Sir_Cut 29 points30 points ago

/r/cableporn agrees

[–]Vik1ng 54 points55 points ago

[–]curiousepic 59 points60 points ago

I like how he just fist-bumps the gun.

[–]Ooer 108 points109 points ago

There is usually a terribly boring person who explains why said action was done here. They seem to be stuck in traffic so I will step in.

Neo is performing a 'Heckler and Koch slap', in which the charging handle can be pushed down to close the bolt, as it is held back with a little notch.

I am British, so therefore know very little about firearms, so I do apologise if any of this information is incorrect. The more you know.

[–]Aeisharat 46 points47 points ago

You're actually dead on. MP5's especially can have their charging handle simply 'slapped' for it to work.

Also it looks cool.

[–]luger718 10 points11 points ago

The charging handle has to be pulled back first for the bolt to open then you insert a mag and slap it down, no?

[–]Pzychotix 21 points22 points ago

For some reason, the MP5K that Neo was holding had the charging handle pulled back already before he grabbed it.

[–]IameAuhSomme 35 points36 points ago

Well that was awfully convenient of the program to do.

[–]iamfromouterspace 4 points5 points ago

we are taught to write user friendly programs. that's the reason why the lady from some show wrote a friendly GUI with visual basic to track a killer's IP address.

[–]Laziness 8 points9 points ago

Do you guys have firing ranges or anywhere where you can play with guns legally?

[–]El_Medved 10 points11 points ago

Yes, but firearms laws are very strict here, so it is hard to get hold of a gun in the first place.

[–]RRyderKimo 4 points5 points ago

Guess that's a perk of living in Georgia in the USA. Got an ar15 shipping on the way. 'MURICA!!!! facepalm

[–]AirshipAtamis 9 points10 points ago

That was the cocking handle to control the bolt.

[–]bstampl1 28 points29 points ago

Judging from pic 9, the internet really is a series of tubes

[–]psykad 15 points16 points ago

TIL the internet is water.

[–]rumored 2 points3 points ago

talking about sci-fi movies: http://imgur.com/SHHwX

[–]bacchusthedrunk 219 points220 points ago

I would give up a nut to work for Google

EDIT: I just put in an application...It would be like winning the lottery if they just contacted me.

[–]baslisks 130 points131 points ago

Then do it, but replace nut with time, money, sweat, and tears.

[–]CarpeNivem 181 points182 points ago

Meh, a nut is easier.

[–]WestsideStorybro 20 points21 points ago

I have been trying to get into google for years. Then when I had a chance to network with an executive who was on vacation I blew it. My biggest problem is location. I am too far away from anything good, but I am working on that. If giving the chance to give a nut for employment I would do it but it would have to be my left nut because I am partial to the right one.

[–]ac1dBurn7 39 points40 points ago

Would you mind sharing exactly how you "blew it"? Inquiring minds, science, etc.

[–]Danny_Bomber 54 points55 points ago

gave the exec a bj but didn't swallow.

[–]Zkenny13 6 points7 points ago

Remember girls to always swallow. Children are starving in Africa.

[–]lolhenry 96 points97 points ago

If you get a job, be sure to do an AMA, take a pic of yourself in your Google shirt and let us all know about the inner-workings of Google before your first day!

[–]samusmohh2 27 points28 points ago

Didn't a Noogler do this a while back & was subsequently fired the next day?

[–]OompaOrangeFace 37 points38 points ago

Yes.

[–]navjot94 7 points8 points ago

Does anyone have a link to the actual AMA? I would love to see what he said.

[–]RoMoBandit 3 points4 points ago

Not likely. Google has scrubbed all instance of that from the interwebs forever.

Only the intermind now remembers...

[–]army_of_dicks 5 points6 points ago

And that's the joke.

[–]Utenlok 62 points63 points ago

I would give a nut for a Tour de France title.

[–]AdvocateForLucifer 26 points27 points ago

Might as well go for 7.

[–]bacchusthedrunk 13 points14 points ago

Dammit Lance! You can't have those back!

[–]broknbottle 23 points24 points ago

  1. Startup
  2. ???
  3. Aqu-hired!

[–]destinys_parent 20 points21 points ago

I have a 2.8 GPA. I put the application in saying ehh... why not? They want to interview me now.

[–]node_wrapper 19 points20 points ago

Indeed. I didn't get the job, but I got cold called by a recruiter, simply for having C++ and Python listed as skills on my resume.

[–]brycedriesenga 28 points29 points ago

What if I just got mid-range grades and know about snakes? Does that count?

[–]actionscripted 3 points4 points ago

I would be happy to watch this python deployment.

[–]kjmitch 10 points11 points ago

Are you both serious? You just made my day. Or perhaps my whole semester.

[–]pwnsauce 8 points9 points ago

You're still in school? Apply to Google before you graduate. They will look over all of the resumes submitted by soon-to-be grads in person, as opposed to screening them out automatically which is what happens with all other applications.

Apply while you have the advantage!

EDIT: Application link for students

[–]kjmitch 4 points5 points ago

Thank you so much for the suggestion, I will be sure to do that! Of course Google would do things that way, they're super awesome and they want to get the best talent straight from the source.

Plus they seem to like to give as many qualified people as possible the chance to work on the Very Important Things they're dedicated to at Google, which is just awesomer.

[–]kalibcrone 7 points8 points ago

I don't believe you.

[–]destinys_parent 11 points12 points ago

I don't either. We'll see how it goes :D

[–]BroJommel 11 points12 points ago

I've visited their Dublin offices. I went on the swings literally 10 feet from someone's desk.

[–]Trehnt 7 points8 points ago

I live in Douglas County. My dad tried getting a job from Google. The building was the servers and the building was just blank. There was a man standing out there and said "sorry we're not hiring". So I guess you would have to have to sign up for a job online.

[–]AndrewNeo 11 points12 points ago

These datacenters aren't something like a regional manager's office, they most likely only have DC techs on site, and their supervisors, along with a few office people. All hiring is going to go all the way to HR which is likely in Mountain View, and Google does their stuff online, as they do. I'm pretty sure even labeling them as Google DCs is a new thing, too, for a long time it was a secret, as is with plenty of other tech companies that have their own datacenters (Facebook, Apple, etc.)

[–]WestsideStorybro 7 points8 points ago

There are a lot of Douglas Counties out there.

[–]unodostreys 4 points5 points ago

Douglas County Georgia. I have an immediate family member who works there. I've heard them talk about a few of these things (retina scanners, etc.) for a few years. Also, online is how you apply. The interview process is very grueling from what I'm told.

[–]thockin 0 points1 point ago

You don't need to give up a nut (we have plenty). Just be an awesome SW engineer.

[–]cantstoplobsterclaws 2 points3 points ago

Can you elaborate? I work as a software engineer, and I do not see much difference between Google and any other large tech company like Amazon or Apple. But, maybe there is some magic I'm missing.

[–]cdm137 3 points4 points ago

Speaking as a former google software engineer, I would say the working environment is better there than at Amazon or Apple or MSFT (from speaking with friends who have worked at each of those places). But still, it's over-hyped. I find working at startups much more to my liking.

[–]lonestarbeer 99 points100 points ago

30% of these pictures are taken OUTSIDE

[–]euphwes 95 points96 points ago

Exactly. The WORLD is a Google data center.

[–]mankyd 53 points54 points ago

Here's a link to the source (posted today), which has way more photos: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/gallery/#/all

[–]zeppelinfromled 14 points15 points ago

All three of those could have been taken from a window.

[–]Laundry_Hamper 34 points35 points ago

The tape library is very cool. So much user data.

[–]11oops 13 points14 points ago

Can anyone answer, why tape backups? With disk space as cheap as it is, why not backup to disk?

[–]jefffan24 33 points34 points ago

Far more reliable, lasts longer than disks (no moving internal parts), legacy.

[–]muzeofmobo 11 points12 points ago

And huge sizes. You can get 500TB tapes.

Edit: OK so no you can't. I'm dumb. Poisenloaf knows stuff.

[–]poisenloaf 21 points22 points ago

Not really..More like 5TB (T1000Kc). Next gen tapes will be closer to 8TB. But for a $200 cartridge, the price can't be beat. Plus the barium ferrite they are using now has a shelf life in the century range.

Disk doesn't even come close either when it comes to reliability of tape (several orders of magnitude better when you look at bit error rates) and it's much more energy efficient.

Source: 15 years as a data protection manager.

[–]fouroneseven 7 points8 points ago

[–]HarryJohnson00 1 point2 points ago

Thanks, that was a very interesting article

[–]AnotherUser256 5 points6 points ago

It takes less energy to operate, thus lower cost of operation. Other then the amount of time it takes to access and write the data, tapes are better in most ways over disk. Also if those are T10000c tapes (which the SL8500 library support) they have a uncompressed capacity of 5TB. And depending on the deal you make they cost under $140. The SL8500 with T10Kc tapes has a naitive capacity of 50 PB. It would take 50,000 1TB disks to match that.

[–]Jerem14 7 points8 points ago

SL8500 ;-)

[–]friendlypenguin 413 points414 points ago

One thing that amazes me about modern society is how fragile it is. You look at these robust data centers, these feats of incredible genius... and you realize that if we ever run out of energy, or there is a massive catastrophe, or if we suffer a collapse like the Roman empire... people 1,000 years from now will have no clue what our civilization was like.

All those harddrives, tapes, and pipes. All of that collective knowledge will simply erode away. In a matter of years the data will become unreadable, in a few decades people would forget how to pull usable data off of storage mediums if any still existed.

Given a century or two... virtually everything except the plastic would just corrode away.

Even our buildings won't stand the test of time. Unlike solid stone construction, the rebar and reinforcements that make our structures safer will swell and corrode and collapse everything the modern world has ever made.

A 1,000 years after a collapse... everything that wasn't written own and carefully passed down generation to generation would simply be forgotten.

People would tell tales of great things. Giant structures that flew into the sky and perched in the heavens. Manmade towers that went up nearly a kilometer, ribbons of highway that connected entire continents. And nobody would know how much of it was really true.

[–]BeARdBARIAN 177 points178 points ago

Ever wonder if the people of antiquity might have had something similar, and it just vanished. How much do you think was lost when Rome collapsed, and when the library of alexandria was burned?

[–]sigma_noise 146 points147 points ago

Apparently the ability to make concrete was forgotten/lost for hundreds of years after the collapse of Rome.. at least that is what a tour guide told me....

[–]Xenxe 204 points205 points ago

discovery channel told me the same thing. Our two sketchy sources combined make a semi plausible source!

[–]Rasta_mouse 130 points131 points ago

And I learnt it because I was sad enough to read all the historical architectural infodumps in Assassins Creed 2! With our three powers combined...

[–]gettempapa 91 points92 points ago

Unfortunately having a third sketchy source flips it back the other direction toward profoundly sketchy.

[–]AngryByte 21 points22 points ago

Thanks, guy! Thanks a LOT.

[–]thegooglurr 3 points4 points ago

Based on this suggestion, Odd number of sources = sketchy; Even number of sources = Credible

[–]thegooglurr 3 points4 points ago

In Binary: Odd = 0; Even = 1. Oh the irony..

[–]confessions_of 25 points26 points ago

more impressive is that their aqueducts used no mortar, just the shape and tight fit of the stones put together to keep it all working for thousands of years.

[–]candygram4mongo 4 points5 points ago

It's amazing the quality you can get when labour is literally free.

[–]Priapulid 16 points17 points ago

Now we can just google "how to make concrete".

Stupid Romans, putting all their eggs in one basket!

[–]heywatchitbuddy 4 points5 points ago

From what I recall, it wasn't concrete in general, just a particularly strong kind the Romans developed. But your point still stands.

[–]Roboticide 2 points3 points ago

Architects student here. Confirming what your tour guide told you to be fact.

[–]jiruga 62 points63 points ago

I read somewhere that the collapse of Rome put human technology about 500 years back. Imagine how far we would be now if that didn't happened.

[–]sockxl 258 points259 points ago

I'd guess ~500 years.

[–]ac1dBurn7 93 points94 points ago

This becomes much more significant when you consider the fact that 100 years ago we didn't have commercial air travel and that we now have people living in space.

[–]abs01ute 174 points175 points ago

Don't we all live in space?

[–]ac1dBurn7 137 points138 points ago

Whoa, man.

[–]Surprised_Black_Man 60 points61 points ago

Whoa.

[–]Statikkk 23 points24 points ago

Dude. Shit dude.

[–]chak2005 20 points21 points ago

we now have people living in space.

However for 2012 we should be able to do better than this... and also this...

[–]Jeepersca 3 points4 points ago

did that temporarily say 6.5 or 7 when Felix Baumgartner was making his leap?

[–]Bagelson 36 points37 points ago

Personally I think "living" is a word with too strong connotations to permanent residence. It's more of a time-share.

[–]Explodian 18 points19 points ago

Well, the Greeks had invented a steam engine fully 1500 years before the Europeans realized its usefulness. That is pretty fucking cool in my professional opinion.

[–]random929 12 points13 points ago

Just wondering what your profession is so I can value your opinion or guffaw at the notion.

[–]cephaloman 21 points22 points ago

Don't forget about the huge libraries burned in the Americas by the Christian invaders like this man http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_de_Landa - and that was just the 1500s

[–]je_kay24 15 points16 points ago

Or of the destruction of the Ancient Library of Alexandria.

[–]Explodian 15 points16 points ago

Or the Library of Baghdad burned down by the Mongols.

[–]Theonenerd 10 points11 points ago

Even if it survives it might not be readable after our society collapses.

[–]stillalone 23 points24 points ago

We just need to make an indestructible computer to read it, which is connected to an indestructible generator. The generator would have be attached to a bike with clear drawings on how a human like person could pedal it for power.

[–]James_Arkham 31 points32 points ago

And a sign: "Pedal this bike for free porn."

[–]imARidge 8 points9 points ago

If we institute this now, we might not have to worry about civilization collapsing, in the first place.

[–]Deracination 11 points12 points ago

I think durable manuals are easy enough to make.

[–]Theonenerd 9 points10 points ago

In what language?

[–]Deracination 15 points16 points ago

Whichever you think would be easiest to relay. If you really wanted a comprehensive guide to using it, I'd say you would start by defining graphically SI units, then use those in equations in a way that explains your system of mathematics and your understanding of electricity. There could also be a comprehensive graphical guide to math included. Then, the circuit diagrams for any components used to interpret the disk could be written.

[–]phobiac 14 points15 points ago

"Gee Sambob, this weird number thing you found sure makes good fire."

[–]mortalwombats 22 points23 points ago

Some storage facilities will survive though. An example is the Granite Mountain Records Vault in Utah; It's excavated 600 feet into the side of a canyon and holds a lot of microfilm genealogical records (which can last a very long time): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granite_Mountain_(Utah)

[–]MrGoodbytes 19 points20 points ago

In the world I see - you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway.

[–]fgsk 5 points6 points ago

And then he was gone.

[–]VBFM 63 points64 points ago

This is exactly why I print out every wikipedia page I read. It takes most of the hours in the day, but I do it for the future.

[–]mandarijn 28 points29 points ago

You can actually download all pages, or just the most populair 1000 or something. If only somebody could find a link...

[–]raptora 82 points83 points ago

I made that torrent! :D

[–]Sheldon_Levy 9 points10 points ago

Thanks!

[–]ShellOilNigeria 6 points7 points ago

You're f'in cool man!

(Seriously)

[–]jun2san 5 points6 points ago

That must feel awesome to see your efforts being used by others.

[–]Michaelis_Menten 20 points21 points ago

It amazes me that the entire English-language Wikipedia could fit on a flash drive.

[–]guyboy 14 points15 points ago

Without the images.

[–]Xanny 2 points3 points ago

If pictures are worth a thousand words, doesn't that means you are missing most of the information on Wikipedia by leaving out the pictures?

[–]tythuy 6 points7 points ago

Yeah , texts file size was considered ''heavy'' 2 decades ago.

[–]Paultimate79 71 points72 points ago

You act as if a future advanced society would have no idea how to reverse engineer something. This argument sounds logical to most people, because most people don't actually take time to consider and realize its a load of shit.

Our societies information, the important shit, is stored and preserved on better things than tape. That is for mass storage. A future civilization wont care as much for how unsure Fry is.

The redundancy of data is immense. Billions of laptops and hard drives and thousands of massive datacenters. This stuff wont just erode overnight. Much of it will keep for centuries, and some for much longer when preservation is in mind. A laptop isnt exactly hard to power either after a few decades and someone that knows anything about hardware engineering on computer systems. Our data is, infact, less fragile than any other time in the history of our race due to this redundancy and range of resilience.

[–]Eskali 18 points19 points ago

This stuff wont just erode overnight

No form of data used by the mass market will last past 100 years, only a few science experiments are designed to last.

Hard Drives last about 10 years tops before becoming corrupt, you could not just power it up after a few decades as it the software to run it will be destroyed.

Fun fact, Tape is actually the longest lasting mass market means of storage, lasting up to 30 years.

If human civilization were to vanish right now and come back in a thousand years, only concrete roads/buildings, buried tools and texts from before mass printing would be left. It may be more redundant but its far far less durable.

[–]Xanny 20 points21 points ago

The global seed vault has a collection of data tapes holding a vast collection of literary works and languages stored on a non-reactive metal platter that won't corrode for a few millenia. So if we had a major disaster any visitors to the planet could still visit that vault and see a bunch of our recorded history if they come in a few million years and the event isn't bad enough to destroy that vault.

[–]cbarrister 6 points7 points ago

I'd argue that society's knowledge has never been as well distributed. Massively interconnected networks allow incredibly easy distribution of knowledge, redundancy, data back-up etc.

Think of how much knowledge that no longer exists only in a single library or university, vulnerable to fire like the Library at Alexandria. Instead it's backed up in multiple independent locations around the world, on different continents, in different languages, constantly being expanded upon and revised in real time.

[–]txgirl09 15 points16 points ago

That was beautifully written and scary as fuck to imagine.

[–]matphoto 3 points4 points ago

If you like this kind of stuff you might check out the Dying Earth genre of fiction writing. I haven't read much of it myself but I did read The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe and loved it.

[–]ajiva 5 points6 points ago

I think the TV show "Revolution" does a good job describing this. Yeah the show itself kinda sucks, but I really like the back stories of the individuals. One of the main characters was a Google exec, and having him explain what he use to be and what he use to do to the kids in the show is really interesting.

[–]rogueblueberry 9 points10 points ago

what he used to do to the kids

didn't know that was part of the Google job description ಠ_ಠ

[–]megustadotjpg 7 points8 points ago

I too watched that documentary.

[–]chomski 115 points116 points ago

9/10 - and the green pipes are for BOOGER-REMOVAL.

[–]DRUNK_CYCLIST 73 points74 points ago

these pipes reminded me of the old windows screen saver, you know, pipes.

[–]chomski 42 points43 points ago

oh hell yeah! First thing you did with a decent graphics card (3dfx, anyone?...anyone?) was checkout the pipe screensaver.

sniff good times.

[–]DRUNK_CYCLIST 34 points35 points ago

oh yeah!!!

sniff glue.

[–]GaBBBoSK 7 points8 points ago

sniff Ahhhhhh that new screensaver smell.

[–]YO_ITS_TYRESE 10 points11 points ago

The second last picture has 4 plate heat exchangers (sitting on pads on the floor with a caution pattern to indicate a tripping hazard). Except actually there's 4 more on the near side of the picture. Each running what looks to be a 12" line into them. That's a fuck-ton of heat being removed.

It looks like the green and yellow pipes are the other half of the loop. So green/yellow will be on the other side of the heat exchanger going to your cooling towers, blue and red will go to the servers.

[–]stevegasm 8 points9 points ago

It's a series of tubes!

[–]Possum_Pendulum 66 points67 points ago

I'm sorry, is Council Bluffs on the front page right now?

and they told me it would never happen

[–]Silvercumulus 12 points13 points ago

Yep. It's about the only good thing here.

[–]ItchyLemon 9 points10 points ago

Wasn't Google going to build another one in Des Moines?

Ames here, checking in.

[–]trublaze 4 points5 points ago

Yea but I drove by that place about a week ago and I'm pretty sure it was still dirt all the way around it. So that picture is a little doctored

[–]AdrianBrony 2 points3 points ago

my god, it's so surreal living in this town when people notice it.

[–]MichaelvandeWeerd 77 points78 points ago

The more I learn about Google, the more I like it! Those are some great working environments.

[–]Lampshader 30 points31 points ago

What about the poor mobo replacement tech? Does he get a workshop? Nope. Just a bench in a noisy-as-fuck server room.

[–]Newthinker 19 points20 points ago

He has headphones and a badass tattoo. He may survive.

[–]Lampshader 2 points3 points ago

Haha of course he'll survive, but a "great working environment" it is not.

I thought they were just hearing-protection earmuffs. Seems to be some wires though, so maybe he does have some music to distract from the droning fans.

[–]5yrup 45 points46 points ago

These data centers aren't too different from many others. I've worked in a few. They are always awesome :)

As per the things like the sauna just outside of the meeting room, its usually hard to get into the positions that have those perks haha.

[–]BoOtto 36 points37 points ago

Well, not in Finland. I have a sauna in my apartment and I don't think I have ever worked in a company that wouldn't have a sauna in the building I work in.

[–]5yrup 18 points19 points ago

Huh, interesting. Its incredibly rare here in the US, at least from my personal experiences. The more you know!

[–]bradygilg 41 points42 points ago

Sauna-ing is like the national sport of Finland.

[–]awesomerobot 7 points8 points ago

Finland is roughly 75% saunas.

[–]obsa 15 points16 points ago

But what about the yellow and green pipes?!

[–]Baron_Von_D 23 points24 points ago

I'm afraid you might not like the answer.

[–]nmb93 86 points87 points ago

i for one embrace our Google Overlords.

[–]zingbat 25 points26 points ago

you probably already have, but don't know it.

[–]zap-throwaway- 14 points15 points ago

He knows it, he's just stating it.

[–]cyberbemon 21 points22 points ago

BRB moving to Finland !

[–]basslay3r 17 points18 points ago

orange white, orange, green white, blue, blue white, green, brown white brown

[–]ucffool 7 points8 points ago

Hi-res photos (25MB zip file) from Google (includes more images). Courtesy of indifferent_nick.

[–]V0lt 12 points13 points ago

Even for Google, I am beyond impressed. Crazy amount of organization and complexity.

[–]BiggityBates 11 points12 points ago

Holy crap this is the first time I've EVER seen The Dalles, Or. on reddit. That's my hometown! I miss it =/

[–]TheRealBigLou 11 points12 points ago

Which one of those pipes is for propulsion gel?

[–]Ethanmac 10 points11 points ago

Oreeeeeeeegoooooooon!!!!! Didn't know they had a Data Center so close. (To Portland)

[–]broken_radio 11 points12 points ago

Wooooo Oregon! We're an easily excitable bunch aren't we?

[–]dtpollitt 4 points5 points ago

mind-blowing. thank you for the pictures.

question: where does google get all its money from? i undestand adsense, but how can that equate to billions upon billions? the android platform has to be only a small portion of their income, but i dont understand how youtube or other sources (gmail, etc.) can help pay for all these computers, energies, buildings, employees, etc.

[–]geekuskhan 14 points15 points ago

Youtube makes an insane ammount of money off advertising. And if you have enough hits they share it with you. There are people who make a good living making nothing but youtube videos.

[–]bolt_krank 4 points5 points ago

Brilliant pics, but the thing that kept bugging me is:

From Google: "These colorful pipes are responsible for carrying water >in and out of our Oregon data center. The blue pipes supply cold >water and the red pipes return the warm water back to be cooled."

What's in the yellow and green pipes ?!

[–]Free_Apples 3 points4 points ago

[–]Malcolm_Y 4 points5 points ago

My brother works in the Google data center in Pryor, Oklahoma. They have a mechanical bull all the full-timers get to ride and a wild west theme inside the building.

[–]SirSilentBob 15 points16 points ago

Nice pictures. The only thing I wonder, being the nerd that I am, is how much MORE electricity would they save, if, instead of having those blue LEDs on all the time to signify everything is good, they had all the LEDs remain off, and illuminate when there is an issue? I know the power used by an LED is very small, but when you are talking about having thousands of them on at once, that small amount of usage adds up. If by keeping them off until there is a fault vs keeping them on all the time means that they can add 10 or 20 more servers to each data center and not use more power, then that's a lot of extra server/processing power across all of Google's data centers, for no additional power usage. Plus, I imagine that unless something REALLY bad happened, they are not going to have more than a few failures at once.

[–]DaChucky 107 points108 points ago

The light going out is also a fault. Making it so that the default "off" is the ok state means you miss any faults that would cause the LED to not work.

[–]BridgeBum 17 points18 points ago

The problem with having no lights at all is how do you tell the difference between a server with no power and one which is working?

[–]SirSilentBob 10 points11 points ago

Surely you don't believe that the ONLY way that Google knows if a server is out is by manually looking at a bunch of LEDs?

[–]btguinn 14 points15 points ago

So, I can actually help you out here. There are monitoring systems that can be used, for instance, my workplace uses SCOM--Google definitely does not; it's a Microsoft product--and so whenever a networked device starts dropping packets, or gets too much fragmentation on its storage medium, or just straight up drops off the network, we know. The problem, however, is that we're given information about the device that doesn't distinguish it from the thirty-one identical devices on the rack next to it. If your naming conventions are short and to the point, you can simply label everything in your racks, but I don't think Google actually gets that luxury. Plus, you still run the risk of somebody reading the label wrong.

But you know what everyone in IT understands? Amber lights.

[–]5yrup 7 points8 points ago

When they actually get to the floor, they do rely on the lights. Everyone relies on the lights.

[–]BridgeBum 5 points6 points ago

No of course not. But simple scenario:

1) Monitoring detects a server is down in row XYZ. 2) Operations called to check the DC. 3) Operator goes to row XYZ. Which makes it easier to find the busted device, the row is all dark or all lit up except for the malfunctioning box?

All I was trying to say is that there is value in having a light on when power is working. It also helps troubleshoot from time to time to figure out the source of a problem.

[–]oconnellc 5 points6 points ago

There is a reason why they have the LED's, though. You think someone at Google will read this and say "Holy c***! I thought Ted said that LED's were the only way. There all kinds of ways to tell if a server is down. Heck, we could even use the internets!"

[–]ReallyCleverMoniker 5 points6 points ago

Holy c***

[–]mikek3 9 points10 points ago

You have a point about the LEDs, but compared to the wattage the server itself sucks up, it truly is minimal.

[–]dmazzoni 7 points8 points ago

This is the right answer.

The way to save energy is not to waste time eliminating things you could live without.

The way to save energy is to carefully measure and audit your energy usage, and focus on only areas where you could make a significant difference.

[–]ulthraan 8 points9 points ago

But what do the green pipes do? WHAT DO THEY DOOOO!

[–]CrippleDrifting 10 points11 points ago

Are those deer photoshopped into that picture?

edit: picture 3

[–]JTMTL 6 points7 points ago

Very cool photos OP. My Mother is Finn and she loves how they blend so well with nature.

[–]Liwanu 3 points4 points ago

[–]voltaek 10 points11 points ago

My OCD just got a boner.

[–]All_Out_Of_Fucks 2 points3 points ago

Just ... wow. The sheer number of servers they have around the world is amazing.

[–]Makavillin 2 points3 points ago

So awesome. Would love to walk through those facilities.

[–]Evilsmako 2 points3 points ago

What's in the yellow pipes?

[–]musicman3030 2 points3 points ago

LOL @ LTO4's in the SL8500. We on LTO5's bitches.