Page 64 - How Cloud Computing Is Transforming Business and Why You Cant Afford to Be Left Behind

MANA GEMENT STRATEGIES F O R THE CL OUD R EV OL UTION

The Google Cloud Example:
How the Cloud Runs without Stopping

We’ve noted a couple of features of the cloud data center that
make its elasticity possible, but let’s take a quick look at the
underlying architecture of the cloud to see how it can con-

stantly expand its capacity. Google has supplied some details
of how they are engineered.
For its servers, Google doesn’t buy an existing piece of x86
hardware from a major supplier, even though dozens of types
are available. On the contrary, it builds its servers itself from
standard x86 parts. That’s probably because it’s looking for a
particular type of cost/benefit ratio in the many servers it op-

erates. It’s vital that it achieve the lowest cost possible on a
server design it is going to replicate thousands of times. The
corporate data center tends to address this problem differ-
ently. Many companies buy the most reliable server available
with built-in redundant parts, so that the failure of a compo-
nent doesn’t bring the server down. Google strips out such
redundancies from its server design, such as double fans for
ensured cooling or backup power supplies, even though the
server would operate longer if each of these common causes

of component failure had a redundant part. Such features
add cost that gets multiplied many thousands of times in
Google data centers.
What a Google server has that other servers don’t is a sim-
ple lead-acid battery attached to the power supply that will
give a server a life-support system for a short period if its
power supply unit dies. During that life extension, I suspect

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