155 lines
5.4 KiB
Markdown
155 lines
5.4 KiB
Markdown
title: Isn't it too late to build a data center?
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pub_date: 2019-10-09
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---
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author: ungleich
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twitter_handle: ungleich
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---
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_hidden: no
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---
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_discoverable: yes
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---
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abstract:
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Is it or is it not too late to build a data center?
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---
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body:
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The very valid question,
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[isn't it too late....to build a
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data center?](https://twitter.com/Mac_S13/status/1181983378100424710)
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was asked on Twitter and it made our team here in Glarus smile a lot,
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and we decided to write a blog article about this question.
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## Fiber = the advantage of a data center?
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According to the tweet, the main strength of a data center is fast
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network connection, or the fiber line that you have. And nowadays,
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everyone has fast fiber, so it follows that data centers are maybe not
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needed anymore.
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## TL;DR
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It is not that easy.
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## How to run a data center in reality
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Some time ago we wrote about
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[How to run a really green
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data center](https://ungleich.ch/de/cms/ungleich-blog/2019/07/12/how-run-really-green-datacenter/).
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Admittedly, the question was not about running a **green** data
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center, so let's dive a bit more into it.
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Running a data center like we do at [Data Center
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Light](https://datacenterlight.ch) does indeed require a fiber
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connection. To be precise, actually a couple.
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## How much fiber is enough fiber?
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Don't tell anyone, but geeks are working at ungleich. And according to
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geeks, there is never enough fiber. But for real, how much fiber is
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needed? In our case, running a data center at 3 different locations,
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requires a couple of dark fiber lines and a couple of redundant
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upstream connections. Using the rule of thumb, let's say we need at
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least 3 fiber connections:
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* One for location A
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* One for location B
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* One to connect locations A and B
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So are three fiber connections enough?
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## What is actually in a data center?
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Maybe the real question is, why would you run a data center at all?
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Alright, for the geeks of us, "just because I can" is a reason, but
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let's think about other cases as well. For instance we are running a
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data center, because we our customers asked us to run one (easy, isn't
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it?). So some years ago we started buying hardware like switches,
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servers, SSDs, cables, transceivers, disks, network cards, access
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points and even much, much more cables.
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And why did we do that? Because we were asked to host virtual machines
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and data for our existing customers. So if you want to run a data
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center, you also need a bit of hardware.
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And there comes one of the bigger problems: hardware also needs to be
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turned on. And if it is on, it actually consumes energy and you do not
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proper fuses. Not only the ones inside the data center, but also the
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ones going into the building!
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## So what do you need to run a data center?
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So to run a data center, you need at least
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* enough power (best to be 100% renewable here!)
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* enough network capacity
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* enough space
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These are the three base ingredients for a data center. Then the only
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thing that is left, like for every good menu, is a chef. And in case
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of a data center, the chef is the team running it. The team that is
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available all the time, that fixes the network, replaces the disks and
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servers, etc.
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## Too late or not too late? To be or not to be?
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We would like to rephrase the question a bit, because we actually
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think the notion of the question was more: **Does it make sense to
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start a new data center TODAY?**
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So what is the answer to this seemingly easy to answer question? Does
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it make sense or not?
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We want to answer with a crystal clear **yes-and-no** answer.
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### Yes, build a new data center today
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We encourage everyone to actually build their own data center. Get
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some IPv6 space to your home, get a bit of equipment. Even get some
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servers. Maybe even some ARM servers to save some energy for a change?
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Build it, like it, maybe even fail at it. It is a great experience to
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build your own. We strongly believe into decentralisation, so we
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encourage distributing the Internet more to different places.
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Put all the fun stuff on it. Put your development on it. Don't forget
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to backup your stuff to somewhere else, though.
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We even invite you to [join our chat](https://chat.with.ungleich.ch) to ask
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about how to build a data center and we are more than happy to share
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our experiences.
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### No, don't build a new data center today
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If you start fresh and you are not with an experienced team and you
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want to offer services to other people, we dis-recommend building a
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data center on your own. Taking the responsibility to run things even
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when you are sick, even when you want to go to holidays, even if it is
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3am is not very healthy if you are not a team that works well
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together.
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If you think that the world is already well off with Amazon and co.,
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it is also not a good idea to build one yourself. You need to be able
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to stay in the business even though you get questions like "But I can
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put everything to Amazon - why does it need you?"
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## Does fiber at home make data centers redundant?
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And to answer the other implicit question asked: we think that fiber
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at home actually enables the use of data centers better. So far if
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your connection was slow, you had to have all your data
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locally. With fiber at home, you can store your data anywhere (you
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probably shouldn't, but that is a topic for a different post) and
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access it quickly.
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## More of it?
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If you want to learn more about this topic,
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you can always get in touch with us as follows:
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* email: info at ungleich.ch
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* open chat: [chat.ungleich.ch](https://chat.with.ungleich.ch)
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