Hacker News | Photo of the racks in the original Google datacenter

Hacker News

	Photo of the racks in the original Google datacenter (friendfeed.com)
	64 points by paul 603 days ago \| comments

12 points by paul 603 days ago | link

For your amusement :)

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1 point by staunch 603 days ago | link

Got anymore? I'd love to see what kind of network gear was in there at the time, etc. Very cool. Thanks.

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5 points by paul 603 days ago | link

Unfortunately I didn't get a digital camera until 2002, so I don't have many pictures from early Google.

Here's a closeup of a nic on one of the machines: http://friendfeed.com/e/e7bc8124-ee7f-4949-91d2-773e410613d3... I took this picture two months ago at the Computer History Museum, where the jj rack is on display.

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2 points by aaronblohowiak 603 days ago | link

The Computer History Museum is really cool! I highly recommend geeks check it out if you are in the area .. especially if you can catch some of the demonstrations/tours.

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1 point by strlen 603 days ago | link

just curious, did 'j' in 'jj' stand four "journaller" in a naming scheme, or something else entirely?

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5 points by timtrueman 603 days ago | link

Here's an upclose one on the first gen rack: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Google’s_...

My understanding is that they found the HP ProCurve switches were a better deal to buy two chassis and stuff all the blades into one box rather than buy the blades and add them to one. It was cheaper that way.

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2 points by tlrobinson 603 days ago | link

What were those switches for? (not the network switches, the physical on/off switches with the green and white wires)

Fans?

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2 points by paul 603 days ago | link

Power switches. There were 4 machines per layer, 80 per rack.

BTW, here's a video (taken by someone else): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z19-6tvGSq4

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1 point by timtrueman 603 days ago | link

They are the power LEDs/switches for each of the four motherboards on each piece of cork board. Yes, cork board. It's non-conductive.

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1 point by RossM 603 days ago | link

Wait, are there wood shelves in there!?

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1 point by lyime 603 days ago | link

thats almost amazing

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2 points by timtrueman 603 days ago | link

Here's what their datacenters look like a couple years ago (with Chris DiBona): http://flickr.com/photos/ttrueman/296867981/sizes/l/

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1 point by Raphael 603 days ago | link

Dude, that's at the UW.

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1 point by timtrueman 603 days ago | link

I'm not sure what UW you're referring to, but I took that at an ACM conference at UIUC: http://www.acm.uiuc.edu/conference/2006/

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1 point by pgebhard 603 days ago | link

Are these conferences still happening? I can't seem to reach any more recent than 2006.

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1 point by mamama 603 days ago | link

Yes, they are:

http://www.acm.uiuc.edu/conference/2007/speakers http://www.acm.uiuc.edu/conference/2008/

I remember seeing videos of Yegge's and Munroe's talks. Yegge's is worth watching.

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3 points by JMiao 603 days ago | link

heh, slot 1/a cpu connectors. ah, the 90s.

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1 point by noonespecial 603 days ago | link

Looks like most of the midsized companies "data centers" I've been in recently. At least the cables aren't all over the floor for you to trip on as well.

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2 points by coolboy89 603 days ago | link

And at least it's not this: http://www.sysadminday.com/horrors.html

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