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Hardware for Windows Azure

, 5 minutes to read

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Windows Azure is the name for various services running on Windows Server, under which Microsoft Hyper-V Server is located. It runs on a computer stored in a normal rack cabinet. These cabinets, together with other support systems, form the data center. The one in Dublin has four floors, each the size of a football field. But there is also a small private version of the same that fits into one container.

Microsoft operates several data centers in the U.S. and one in Europe. It is used to run services within Windows Azure and Windows Live, as well as the Bing search engine. The area of the centres varies. The Chicago one has 6.5 hectares, the Dublin one has 2.8 hectares, with the building ready to be expanded to 5.2 hectares. The data center in Washington is 4.3 hectares in size, the same as the one in San Antonio.

Aerial view of San Antonio data center.

Every other aisle between rows of rack cabinets has vents in the floor. The floor in the data centers is doubled and cold air is forced into the gap between them. In cases where this cooling method is not enough, there are several solutions. The first is to create an enclosed aisle into which cold air is forced from the floor by fans. This creates a wind tunnel in which the rack cabinets are placed. Another option is interrack cooling, which draws warm air right next to the server. For servers with the heaviest loads, there are cabinets with cooling doors. This solution returns the air to the server room already cooled.

Aerial view of the Dublin data center.

A look into its bowels.

A constant temperature in the data center is maintained so that warm air heats the water, which is then cooled by electricity, similar to a refrigerator. The air temperature in the data center is then maintained at around 21 °C. The data center in Dublin is located in such a cold climate that it can afford to be cooled by outside air, while maintaining an operating temperature of 35 °C. All you need for cooling are air filters and fans. If the outside temperature is close to the working temperature of the data center, the computing load will move to another one. A nuclear power plant is typically built near a river because the water for the third cooling circuit is taken from it. As if heated by water from the second cooling circuit, it is sprayed and evaporates in wide chimneys. However, data centers using this cooling method are not very large and take water from the local tap.

Diesel generators in the data center in Dublin.

Electric coolers in San Antonio.

In the event of a sudden power outage from the power grid, the servers run on electricity from batteries. Their endurance is only a few tens of minutes, but it’s enough to start a diesel engine that spins the dynamo. The direct current generated by the dynamo then supplies the entire centre. From the computer’s point of view, alternating current is actually only used for transmission through the power grid.

View of the disk array in San Antonio.

Rear view of the same disk array.

The data network infrastructure has a hub-and-spoke arrangement. The core, to which all servers are connected, is connected to the aggregation switches at the edge of the Internet backbone network by at least two connections. Each rack cabinet also has its own aggregation switch. Individual servers are connected to it by a copper cable. From there, the connection to the core is made using optical fibers. There are also redundant connections to the backup cores. Unlike wires, optical fibers have the advantage that while only one sequence of pulses can be sent through wires, several sequences can be sent in parallel with optical fibers, where each sequence differs in color.

Containers that were brought to the San Antonio data center by trucks.

Visualization of the layout of the prefabricated components that make up the data center.

In the event of a fire, data centers are usually equipped with a system that, if a fire is detected, immediately seals the interior and forces CF3-CHF-CF3 extinguishing gas into it. The entire system is capable of extinguishing a fire in tens of seconds. Data centers with internal air ventilation sometimes maintain a concentration of this gas at seven percent to reduce the likelihood of fire, which is completely safe for human operators. The importance of data centers will increase in the future. The armed forces are already around them.

TIPAC container.

However, some institutions require that they have their valuable data on their own territory. In this case, it is possible to purchase a small private data center, which is mounted in one container. All you need to do is connect water, electricity and data cables to the container. At normal outdoor temperature, the container is cooled by outside air. If it’s too hot outside, the air that is sucked in is cooled by water. In the event of frost, the internal circulation and electric heating of the intake air are switched on. One such container is called ITPAC. With a protective panel, it does not have to be placed in the building, but also outside to meet metrological phenomena. Individual containers can be interconnected. So you don't have to scale only the software workspace in which the application runs, but also the data center itself.