17k doozy

[rotekatze]

OK, I really have to say something. 

I looked over the last event, where Linus paid for data recovery after not implementing a proper backup solution. For most people, this would have been the lightbulb needed to realise that hey, I don't know everything I need to. I should do some more research.

 

Your "server room" is a cupboard under the stairs. Not only does it house everything that keeps LTT running, but also the electrical panel. This is bad enough - poor cooling, flammable surroundings and a huge catalyst. 

 

Then you dropped a huge breaker in there, alongside a tower full of chemicals. At this point, I really must question your sanity - not only are you intruding on the gloss space that you must have around a breaker that powerful, but your UPS is also exhausting on the same! 

 

I admit that you are fairly new to enterprise products. In your situation, however, this is no excuse. You are in a public spotlight, and I have already had to tell more than one colleague that, at this point in time, the Linus way is not the right way. 

 

I urge you to visit a sysadmin community, and get some input. You are not only misinforming your viewers, but you are also putting you, your family, your staff and your livelihood in jeopardy. 

[ALwin]

15 minutes ago, rotekatze said:

snip

I guess you were referring to this video?  This is one of the reasons why I always backup my project master files before beginning any work.  I have at least triple duplicates at any one time.

 

 

[rotekatze]

Indeed. Subsequently, purchasing a 17k UPS without a power distribution unit, or addressing the vast number of other issues is blatant or determined ignorance. 

[ALwin]

32 minutes ago, rotekatze said:

the Linus way is not the right way

Indeed, their way is not always the right way.  And a lot of those who watch their videos or listen to them are kids, inexperienced untrained kids.  Kids who do not have their kind of big budget.

 

13 minutes ago, rotekatze said:

Indeed. Subsequently, purchasing a 17k UPS without a power distribution unit, or addressing the vast number of other issues is blatant or determined ignorance. 

 

 

[LogicalDrm]

Server room has dedicated AC unit. So where does this complaint for ventilation originate?

[rotekatze]

I get that it has it's own A/C run, but it's not implemented properly.

 

Point 1: Server room AC should be environment controlled per ventilation spot. That room does not appear to have it's own thermostat, nor adequate breathing room (although that's a niggly one).

 

Point 2: Standard aircon units, unless super heavy duty, really aren't designed to handle that kind of cooling workload. AC should be designed specifically for a datacentre or server room, not added on to the existing infrastructure.

 

Point 3: That room is far too small. It heats up far too quickly, and is very difficult to cool without AC Channeling. The bigger issue here is that when the door to the room is opened or closed, the airflow and resultant temperature will change dramatically. This will drastically reduce the working life of components in the rack, causing great expense sooner than expected.

[goaway]

15 minutes ago, rotekatze said:

I get that it has it's own A/C run, but it's not implemented properly.

 

Point 1: Server room AC should be environment controlled per ventilation spot. That room does not appear to have it's own thermostat, nor adequate breathing room (although that's a niggly one).

 

Point 2: Standard aircon units, unless super heavy duty, really aren't designed to handle that kind of cooling workload. AC should be designed specifically for a datacentre or server room, not added on to the existing infrastructure.

 

Point 3: That room is far too small. It heats up far too quickly, and is very difficult to cool without AC Channeling. The bigger issue here is that when the door to the room is opened or closed, the airflow and resultant temperature will change dramatically. This will drastically reduce the working life of components in the rack, causing great expense sooner than expected.

Technicaly it is not an AC, but rather a big fan that sucks hot air out of the room. Fresh and cold air can then enter through the vents of the door. Pretty shure Linus would have done something about it if the room was too hot and components where overheating.

 

Edit: Here is the source 

 

Edited February 20, 2016 by larsi239

[rotekatze]

Bear in mind that overheating and components running hotter than optimal temperature are two different things. The vents on the door are an excellent start to thinking about server equipment temps, but they are only a start. Additionally, the action of opening the door is still an issue.

 

The key things that Linus needs to consider here are:

 

a) The placement of server equipment. A larger room is a better idea, although that is not the primary concern.

 

b) The usage parameters in question. The storage devices here are in constant use. Admittedly, it is not the kind of heavy use that you would see with an enterprise scale datacentre, but there is still a usage factor to consider. Utilisation creates heat output, and the storage devices here are in use reasonably often.

 

c) The differentiation between average running temperatures. It is reasonable to assume that LTT use their storage solutions between 9-5, therefore outside of these times a percentage of this equipment is idle, or at a lower utilisation percentage. The temperature differential is a key issue where device longevity is a concern, and an AC unit designed to keep people cool or warm is simply not up to the task of cooling a server rack.

 

I'm not saying that Linus or any of his associates are idiots. /r/sysadmin would have you believe so, but what I'm trying to impress upon them and forumers is simply that not enough thought and research has been put into this project. I can understand any hesitance to hire a consultant, but that in turn is no excuse for lackluster service provision.

 

This is why I tried to impress, in the topic post, that LTT need to put more research into how they convey their operational facilities. The additional factor of public video release is also a concern, given that a sizeable number of people are going into work with LTT as one of their primary influences. 

 

In short, LTT needs to be right, especially in the implementation of enterprise grade equipment. Given that I have already told more than one colleague that what they are doing is a detriment to the service quality of our equipment here at my workplace, this point cannot be more emphasised.

 

Bear in mind, also, that I do not wish LTT any harm. I'm been a follower of Linus and his cronies since 2012, and I do enjoy the material LTT produces. However, when something needs quality, professional input so blatantly as this, I feel it is imperative that one should raise the issue. 

 

I'm actually considering proposing a Q+A with /r/sysadmin and /r/techsupport as part of a WAN Show, I think this would be beneficial to everyone. I'm going to make a post on Reddit, and see what the response is. I'll be back here with the results.

[goaway]

23 minutes ago, rotekatze said:

 

a) The placement of server equipment. A larger room is a better idea, although that is not the primary concern.

As long as the cooling solution is powerfull enough, this is not a problem. More on this later

Quote

 

b) The usage parameters in question. The storage devices here are in constant use. Admittedly, it is not the kind of heavy use that you would see with an enterprise scale datacentre, but there is still a usage factor to consider. Utilisation creates heat output, and the storage devices here are in use reasonably often.

About the cooling solution, did you even watch the video? As i said, they DO NOT us an AC unit. Instead they have an exhaust fan powerfull enough to empty the entire room worth of air in about a minute.

Quote

c) The differentiation between average running temperatures. It is reasonable to assume that LTT use their storage solutions between 9-5, therefore outside of these times a percentage of this equipment is idle, or at a lower utilisation percentage. The temperature differential is a key issue where device longevity is a concern, and an AC unit designed to keep people cool or warm is simply not up to the task of cooling a server rack.

Again no AC being used.

[KirbyTech]

23 minutes ago, larsi239 said:

As long as the cooling solution is powerfull enough, this is not a problem. More on this later

About the cooling solution, did you even watch the video? As i said, they DO NOT us an AC unit. Instead they have an exhaust fan powerfull enough to empty the entire room worth of air in about a minute.

Again no AC being used.

He has 1/2 clue what he is on about just ignore and go on about your day. Just here to stir up people. New account and posts like this often mean troll.

[flibberdipper]

If you hate what he did so much, why don't you pry your ass off your seat and go fix it? Clearly it works fine, otherwise they would not have continued to run it like that.

 

Shit, I ran a bunch of my crap totaling a "measly" 500 watts of peak heat output in a 4 foot by 4 foot closet with the only ventilation being a 140mm and 200mm fan blowing air around the floor.

 

And surprise, our house didn't blow up.

[potoooooooo]

None of these are really that bad, i think you need to calm down.

 

The only one that's bad is when he lost his data, but he knew it was a bad practice before it happened. If you recall he had no choice but to run it all un-backed up, and was literally in the process of backing it up when it failed

[skywalker6705]

His criticisms are valid I feel, but also being applied somewhat too harshly here. Pretty much everything he said about space and cooling is fairly true and I hope LMG can take it seriously to keep working on this, but this is a small business not an enterprise and most of the rest of the critique feels misapplied.

The LMG Server-room setup is probably adequate for what they are doing at the moment, but shouldn't be left as it is right now. The concerns about fire and failure are actually fairly real. A single overhead fan cooling solution like they are using now is not enough, and investing in some monitoring and temperature control is rather essential. Should that fan fail, that entire closet is going to overheat rather quickly. Should the power go out, is the fan also hooked into the UPS system? Considering that only more-tech is likely to enter the server-closet over time, it's absolutely worth trying to get a powered cooling solution done right before it's too crowded or too late to implement properly.

I think though that LMG, while being a small or medium sized business, never purports to be an Enterprise tech solution, nor to advise on building out Enterprise-grade setups. No one is advocating using this kind of setup for something like the offices at a major corporation or in your own business. This is a tech-focused YouTube group that, if we are being honest, occasionally massively over-invest in their hardware because part of that is the very point of their channel. Having some tech that is a massive over-investment is in part spectacle, but also to learn from implementing it. LMG could probably have been fine with an automatic in-line generator, but that would be 1/10 as interesting and something unlikely to let anyone learn anything.