Tens of Thousands of Energy-Efficient Servers Handle the Deluge of Data
Generated by More Than 800 Million Users
Call it the heart of Facebook. Take an unusual peek inside one of the
world's largest data centers, Facebook's monster server farm that opened
in April 2011 in the remote desert town of Prineville, Ore., 150 miles
east of Portland.
A torrent of data from Facebook's 800 million-plus customers worldwide
flows through the servers inside this critical piece of the world's
computing infrastructure. And like Facebook itself, the place is
expanding like crazy.
Like kids in a candy shop: Facebook
invited a team from Intel's server group to take an inside look at
Facebook's first built-from-scratch data center. (Facebook had
previously leased space from others.) For 18 months, Intel engineers
worked with Facebook to design super-efficient custom server board
designs for the new facility.
"The collaborative effort pushed Intel to deliver technology for greater
efficiency, which will ultimately benefit … data centers across the
globe," said Jason Waxman, a general manager of Intel's Data Center
Group.
Like! Facebook engineer Joshua Crass holds up a server board he and his
team installed at the new data center. The exact number of dual-socket
boards is proprietary, but it's "many tens of thousands."
Facebook has another center under construction in North Carolina and has
announced plans for a second data center building on the 127-acre
Prineville campus. The company has also started construction on a new
facility in Lulea, Sweden, that will be powered primarily by renewable
energy sources.
Intel's Ray Sardo worked closely with engineers at Facebook to help
custom design the server boards and server racks that arrived in
Prineville by the truckload every day as the data center was starting
up.
"This is the future of data centers," Ray said, adding that a key reason
is the efficiency of Intel processors. "There's no need for expensive
raised floors to accommodate sophisticated cross-ventilation systems,"
he said as an example. "Build a large retail box-store kind of building
with a concrete pad and you're good to go."
For Facebook, energy efficiency and operational efficiency are extremely
important. An Intel server unloaded from a truck can be online within
just a few hours. If there happens to be any issues later, Facebook
engineers can swap in a new motherboard in just 8 minutes. And they can
replace a memory stick in precisely 38 seconds.
Inside Facebook's Prineville data center, you can literally feel the
energy efficiency of the processors with your hands. Intel's Sven Haugan
(right) and Ritchie Rice are standing inside what is sometimes called
the "hot aisle" of a server room -- the back of the racks where fans
vent warm (or even hot) air from inside each server.
Facebook officials estimate that by using energy-efficient processors --
and by adopting a variety of other energy-conservation steps -- this
data center uses 38 percent less energy than its leased facilities.
Facebook's Prineville data center covers a sprawling 150,000 square
feet, and is projected to double in size to 300,000 square feet -- big
enough to house five American football fields.
