Increased Density, Reduced Reliability - Choosing the Right Colocation Facility

By Saleh Tousi

Colocation facilities are rapidly filling up and as they do data centers are becoming increasingly denser than they used to be. In order to accommodate the high volumes of servers, data centers are forced to find ways to accommodate everyone's needs. Unfortunately the solutions that many of these high-volume data centers come up with just don't fit the bill. In fact, in order to make room for the influx of servers, many facilities end up cutting corners instead of innovating. Hosting with a facility in this situation comes with a number of problems that need to be explored before you decide where to host your servers.

More Traffic

One problem that comes along with a dense server room is more human traffic. This may not seem like such a huge problem on the surface, but when you examine the repercussions, it really is a big problem. With more people coming and going, there is more room for errors, accidents and thefts.

The more servers that are packed into one room, the more tangled the cords and wires are going to be. While you might know that you'll never make a mistake and pull the wrong plug, you can't guarantee that somebody else won't. People do make mistakes and if someone is working on a nearby server, they might accidently reach around and pull the plug on your server instead of theirs. This can be a big problem when you need to have your servers running in order to do business. Any down time is too much down time.

Tripping over wires is another concern with the heavy volume of traffic that comes through dense data centers as is accidently knocking over a server or knocking out a plug. While this is not likely to occur, the more people that are going through a center every day, the more likely it is that there will be an accident eventually. Theft can't be ruled out either. When people are coming and going all day long, it's possible for a thief to make his way into the data center. It's not too uncommon for someone to walk into a data center right in broad daylight and steal servers or parts of servers. In a dense and crowded facility, this type of breech is more likely to go unnoticed than at a smaller, more intimate facility.

Poor Power to Server Ratio

Power is absolutely essential when it comes to servers. Without a continuous power supply, your server simply doesn't work. Plugging in more servers is taxing on the power supply and is more likely to cause power outages.

Additionally not all servers require the same amount of power. Some servers need more than others. But when the power supply is so heavily taxed, it's less likely that all servers will always get the amount of power they need to run at optimum performance.

Cooling Problems

More servers mean more heat being generated in the data center. More heat means more air conditioning is required. This can cause a problem for over-crowded data centers because of the phenomenon known as "hot pockets." Hot pockets are areas in the data center that don't get the necessary air conditioning and as a result some servers are more prone to overheating.

Overheating is itself another huge problem in over-crowded data centers. Cooling is essential for data centers. Not having enough A/C is detrimental to the health and life of your servers. Over-heating could potentially cause a short in your server or other problems associated with too much heat in the room. At best the problem is contained, but at worse it could start a spark or fire which could potentially spread to other servers. While this isn't likely, it's still more likely to happen in data centers that are over-crowded and therefore more likely to over-heat.

Avoiding Your Fate

The best way to avoid these problems associated with over-crowded data centers is to simply choose a facility that hasn't reached its maximum capacity. Doing so will ensure that there's enough power and enough cooling for your servers. It will also dramatically reduce the likelihood that there will be a human accident associated with your server or that your servers will be stolen or broken into. In short, it's better to go with a facility that's newer and has fewer clients than with one that's more established, but dense and over-crowded.

Saleh Tousi is the CEO of SmarttNet, a Vancouver IT company offering comprehensive business Internet services including Canada Colocation since 1995.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Saleh_Tousi

The Effect of Heat on CPUs and Computer Systems

By Tony Schirmer

With all that electricity passing through silicon at an amazing speed, there's sure to be friction; and heat. The experts are continuously telling us how important it is to cool these tiny little pieces of silicon they call "CPUs" and "chipsets". The problem is, parts of the cpu start to deform at high temperatures, also known as "burn out" temperatures. Although there are many many layers to the microprocessor, we focus our attention to the top of the chipset for the most effective overall cooling. So what if it is hot? If the silicon's not deformed then the electrons can pass properly and we make the connection. So why cool it more than you need to?

Well, firstly lets look at silicon. Silicon comes in two types, P-Type and N-type, but effectively, the heat properties of the two behave the same. Silicon, as it heats up becomes more conductive, letting more electrons (put simply, electricity particles) through. Now I know what your thinking, "hold on, if it's more conductive, doesn't that mean it should be faster?", but no. The speed of the computer isn't on how fast the electricity moves through silicon, although, speeding that up would improve things. We've all heard the term, clock speed. Gigahertz. Megahertz. That is, the speed at which it can execute each instruction and synchronize each computer part. So to put it in lemans terms, the faster the clock speed, the quicker the computer (not taking architecture into account, for all you techies out there).

To put all of that simply, a CPUs heat is directly related to it's clock speed; the higher the clock speed, the more power used and subsequently, more heat. Without adequate cooling, today's CPUs can very easily reach well over 150 degrees Celsius, if there weren't systems in place to prevent it. These systems include a clock speed limiter. When the CPU gets above temperature, the CPU management (BIOS - CMOS system) slows it down. This results in a complex system that gives performance increases with a cooler system, and performance slow down in a hot system.

While performance is a big aspect to look at in hot systems, so is the ongoing toll on the hardware. Consistently hot systems aren't expected to last anywhere near as long a cooler systems. Thermal fatigue in silicon results in cracks in transistors, and transistor mounting failures, in particular. Of course, just one transistor failure on a complex system such as a motherboard or graphics card can result in the entire system failing. And a replacement board being an appropriate fix.

What's a safe operating temperature?

Each computer system is different. Operating temperatures depend largely on the CPU type, the provided cooling, the age of the computer, and the motherboard heat management systems. But as a general rule, your CPU should be running between 40 - 60 degrees Celsius, and your system should be between 20-40 degrees. If it's cooler, great. But generally it's not good to have it running hotter. Laptop batteries are largely affected by heat so be sure to take out batteries if

What is appropriate cooling?
As much as some overclockers will say that you really do need a liquid nitrogen cooling system, a basic, air-cooled, computer fan system is usually fine. As long as your not not overclocking and running power intensive programs (like games), any processor will come included with appropriate cooling. If however, your in a particularly hot part of the world, be sure to look into better fan or even water systems.

Tony Schirmer currently operates Tekfix Comptuing Solutions, that offers a large range of computer fans and cooling products, with over 10 years experience in the IT and electronics industry.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tony_Schirmer