

Inside Google's Secretive Data Centers - ssclafani
http://mashable.com/2011/04/22/google-data-center-video/

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ChuckMcM
That is a masterfully done video.

I was surprised they showed the roof of a data center using Google maps so I
went to see if I could find one of the more 'current' ones. [1]. This one is
pretty easy to spot from the air, and conveniently Google's page has a push
pin where the data center should be. But if you go there in maps ...

Not too surprisingly, its been elided from the satellite imagery. Or perhaps
more likely the imagery that shows the constructed data center isn't included
for that particular geo-coordinate, showing instead the pre-datacenter view
:-).

The large building you can see [2] is Homeshield window and door.

Note: If it had not been 'erased' you would easily have picked it out from the
cooling towers which are shown at various times in the video and a common
thing around data centers.

[1] <http://www.google.com/datacenter/thedalles/index.html>

[2] <http://goo.gl/maps/FsOE> (map link)

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jrockway
What benefit does hiding the Google Maps tile have for security?

~~~
ChuckMcM
None.

That was one of the things I found so humorous about Google's data center
secrecy. It goes beyond reason. And because they are so extreme as to actually
take the time to filter their data centers out of their own satellite imagery,
I was curious why the were putting out a video on them.

After watching the video, and realizing it was the visual equivalent of the
famous feedback line "No one would be better for this job than Bob!" I
literally laughed out loud.

So I don't know if it was in response to Facebook's stuff or not, but its
interesting to see that aspect of the company being pressured. (Its not like
data centers are sexy or anything outside of the operations world)

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plainOldText
Boy, you gotta love this: The text of the article mentions google abandoning
Windows OS "Google to abandon Windows." for security reasons, yet in the
video, which supposedly is about google's strong security practices, you see a
guy using a windows machine. For those curious is at 1:07. :)

~~~
jnhnum1
Windows is not running _on_ their servers, and the computer shown running
windows seems only to be used by the techs who are putting the servers
together.

~~~
dotBen
Yes, but the point the parent comment is referring to is that Google
(apparently) abandoned Microsoft Windows completely - across the entire
company. Even admin staff, accounts staff, the computers used to book free
massages etc.

Some how I doubted it (how would they QA test any of their Windows executables
such as Chrome or GTalk) but it was what they announced.

~~~
Zaak
Essentially what happened was you had to have a manager approved justification
for running a windows machine, whereas previously it was left entirely up to
user choice.

Google also has a habit of releasing information to the public as if it's
current, whereas it's actually what they were doing a few years previously. I
wouldn't be surprised if that video segment was three or four years old.

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bapbap
Did anyone recognise the brand/model of HDD they use? Would be interesting to
know what Google chose as I'm sure they spent a lot of time/money researching
the best HDD for their needs.

~~~
Umalu
If Steven Levy's "In the Plex" reflects current reality, Google buys very
cheap failure-prone HDDs and builds in a lot of redundancy: "Google's first
CIO, Douglas Merrill, once noted that the disk drives Google purchased were
'poorer quality than what you would put into your kid's computer at home.'"
[page 183]

~~~
razzmataz
I seem to remember a paper discussing failure rates, and that there wasn't a
large statistical difference between the 'poorer quality' hard drives and the
higher end stuff.

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tcdent
While it's notable Google is sharing this information, I don't see anything
that stands out from the norm in datacenter policies and design. The data
destruction procedures might be a step beyond most, but this is pretty
standard stuff for a professional facility.

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trickjarrett
A friend pointed out that the volt meter they used had "google" written on it.
Do they host third party companies?

~~~
wmf
Maybe that's about employee theft.

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DanielRibeiro
The first datacenter (as far as shown on the video) can be seen on Google Maps
here: <http://goo.gl/maps/Gzg5>

No identification labels though.

~~~
daveman692
I don't see the giant gate that they had in the video though.

~~~
pzb
Look just south of that point, to the massive unlabeled building with the
large gate and power substation.

~~~
adpowers
Yeah, that looks more like a datacenter: <http://goo.gl/maps/bYcG>

Dead giveaway: the huge row of generators on the south side of the building.
I'm having trouble identifying the other stuff because the photo is so
overexposed.

Compare this to Microsoft's huge Chicago datacenter: <http://goo.gl/maps/jVHw>

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dfischer
Pretty interesting, especially the hard drive "destruction" methods.

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ajhai
This video shows only the methods Google has in place to protect the data from
physical intrusion which I assume is pretty much done by every other company
that hosts huge user data.

