(but in a good way)

I just found out that they now have an entire server contained (no pun intended) in a standard 20' shipping container.

Project Blackbox

http://suntv.feedroom.com/ifr_main.j...136.9116667282

I can't even begin the descibe it. You'll have to see for yourselves. (All I can say is *gasp* )

HOLY CRAP!!!!!!! Project: Blackbox
DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

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That would make my lawn look better than everyone's in town

And i could really use it.

All i can say is shipping that thing must be a biatch, it must weight close to 2 tons, think of the insurance too, darn would hate to have to get that shipped to me.

Quote: Originally Posted by THRASHER2 HOLY CRAP!!!!!!! Project: Blackbox DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

P.S. Read Sun Microsystem's CEO, Jonathan Schwartz's blog. He has a VERY interesting view and explanation behind why they did it, how, etc...

It's an interesting read and it's not overly complicated (like my posts).

(amazing that the whole thing just ECHOS what Necro and I have been talking about since he started getting interested in the whole server realm.)

(Another nice thing: When some of the worlds most powerful and influential people think like you do (AND making it happen!). You know you're on the right track when....)

Quote: Originally Posted by s1ugh34d That would make my lawn look better than everyone's in town And i could really use it. All i can say is shipping that thing must be a biatch, it must weight close to 2 tons, think of the insurance too, darn would hate to have to get that shipped to me.

Probably better than when they had to delivery the ASCI White to LLNL. (3 United Van Lines semi, a new building, with new A/C, and a new substation.)

Now with this, it's well...I hate to say it but: (almost as simple as) plug 'n play.

Is it disguising or disgusting? Based upon your spelling I would think it is a mixture of both. It's a disgusting disguise, or as you stated, "Disguisting".

Cool unit though. They accept PayPal?

For (lots) more pictures: https://photos.sun.com/page/1182

hmm.....can we say "photo-chopped"?

https://photos.sun.com/asset/7551?returnPage=/page/1183

Thats so freaking cool, I want one outside my house. Imagine if you got that thing folding!

Quote: Originally Posted by Reza Thats so freaking cool, I want one outside my house. Imagine if you got that thing folding!

I have this theory that with virtualization - you can.

I don't know how well it would do with it, and there is an idea running around my head right now to start playing with Virtualization and Solaris. ( Each 8-instances (i.e. quad dual core) rack) in it's own container, running it's own "copy" of the OS within a virtualization environment.)

I haven't gone too deeply into that though. we'll have to see.

Quote: Originally Posted by alpha754293 I have this theory that with virtualization - you can. I don't know how well it would do with it, and there is an idea running around my head right now to start playing with Virtualization and Solaris. ( Each 8-instances (i.e. quad dual core) rack) in it's own container, running it's own "copy" of the OS within a virtualization environment.) I haven't gone too deeply into that though. we'll have to see.

Sorry for my lack of knowledge of and energy to google Virtualization. But dont most desktop CPU's not support this? or is AMD desktop CPU's the only ones that dont?

Quote: Originally Posted by beachbum86 Sorry for my lack of knowledge of and energy to google Virtualization. But dont most desktop CPU's not support this? or is AMD desktop CPU's the only ones that dont?

Nah, that's cool. I still don't fully understand it either. lol...

Having said that - the way I understand it is that virtualization requires both hardware and software level support.

I have tried VMWare (i think v. 4.05 a few years ago on my dual MP2600 and OMG IT WAS DOG slow. Host operating system was RedHat9 at the time, and it took me 13 minutes to bring up Windows Explorer in Windows 2000 (which was an actual install). I was originally going to try and do my CAD design stuff within a nested environment).

To answer your question - AMD does support virtualization, and from what I've also read, it seems to do a better job at it than Intel (no surprises there I guess). As such, the marketing people call it "AMD-V". *rolls eyes*

The way I also understand it is that the CPU virtualization sounds to me like processor-based "hardware acceleration" for virtualization so that it eliminates the above. *shrug*

I haven't really revisited virtualization since that experience.

What I HAVE been told; however, is that in an example for software development, virtualization (at least for the AMD64 platform, which I presume can be extended to EM64T) allows a developer full access to the host system resources without "endangering" the host system. i.e. if the virtual environment freezes, locks up, dies, etc...that it is as simple as closing the window, and starting the virtual environment back up as if nothing had happened. Same is true if it goes into an infinite loop.

I guess that having the program to do virtualization with, the OS that supports it (i.e. no software conflicts between OS and virtualization environment) and hardware acceleration makes it very suitable for deployment.

I'm just only getting back into it now, so hopefully I would be able to spend some more time with it to find out what it can and cannot do and report back. I don't know WHEN that will happen, but it's there.

Wow... that is really nice

How much are those things??

Quote: Originally Posted by Intel P4 Wow... that is really nice How much are those things??

Apparently, in reading John's blog - that's just the alpha "release candidate"!

I think they said that they're looking to actually start selling them in 2007 (my presumption would be 1H07).

Probably a couple hundred thousand, and though that may seem like a lot, it's still cheaper than the IBM mainframe servers (upwards of $4.5 M per unit). And IBM systems are power hogs!

And while one would also be correct in saying that you can build your own compute "powerhouse" for less, the difference is that with a system like that, it's engineered entirely as a system rather than trying to combine parts and making them work and play nicely with each other. Plus the support that you get with it.

For a system that large, I'd probably be more inclinded on getting that because you figure the time that you would spend building it, tweaking it, etc...vs just deploying it.

Servers, HPC, etc...are a whole different ballpark. Instead of just looking at the cost of the system, you're always also looking at how much it would cost in terms of space (physical real estate), how are you going to power it and the cost of it, along with cooling, and noise requirements/restrictions.

I think that it's no surprise that Cray went to watercooling DECADES before anybody else did.

As described here, I think that what you guys probably normally see for watercooling is probably just a small fraction of what's available out there, and in use. (With the idea being - how do you efficiently cool 4 dual-core processors in 1.75" of space (height), and where lose upto half of that right off the bat because of motherboard mounts, the motherboard and processor combination.)

I also think that large-scale watercooling is going to make its way into the limelight (something that Necro and I were talking about tonight actually) within the next 2-3 years.

I can't believe it took 8 posts for someone to mention Folding on it. And you wonder why OcUK is catching up to us.

This belongs in the "mods" section.
I mean, who else has modded a server cluster into a shipping container?

That said, I would finally take ALL the time I need to learn *nix if I had one of those.

Circa 2015-2020, I can so see someone buying a decommissioned one and making a house/workshop out of it.

Its Genius! Who would have thought of putting a super computer in a shipping container! Now all they need to develop is a shrink ray, to shrink it down to the size of a normal computer.. It also looks like a immobile hacking system..



Oh.My.God. This thing must cost 1M....

I dub this "SFF SuperComputing" !?!?!?