I’d walk out of the server room, which was bellowing with the cold howl of the huge A/C unit, into the offices which were sultry from the heat cranked full blast. Seemed stupid to be burning power to cool a room when cold air was waiting for free on the other side of the 7th floor curtain wall.

The idea of moving servers to private homes is idiotic. But lessening the A/C load with ambient seasonal cold, probably a better avenue to research.

Here are just a few questions to raise:

1.        Who guarantees security? 

a.       Placement would require a significant background check equivalent to a top secret clearance to ensure data and equipment are not at risk – placing such equipment in a private home invokes provisions of a bailment for hire requiring
extraordinary care –at the very least, that will raise insurance rates.

b.      Placement would require additional physical security, including alarm systems/services, video surveillance, hardened entrys, etc.

2.       Even when properly set up, the backup Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) and the server units themselves can pose an additional risk of fire, requiring
modification of any “cabinet” to meet higher standards for fire safety – that
raises modification and insurance costs – how is that going to be addressed in a
“host” contract and who will pay for the increased costs?

3.       What happens if power goes out (ref today’s SAExpress headline re: Rolling Blackouts this is going to be an increasing issue as population expands) – does the server farm owner intend to provide the host home with an adequate backup generator and supply of fuel?

4.       What happens if the host home owner sells and moves – will the server farm owner pay to move the server assembly as well as make modifications to the new host home (and what impact will it have on home value)?  If not moving it, how can they guarantee security without having the ability to screen new owners?

a.       If simply removing the server assembly in the event of a sale, will they retrofit the furnace/ac or will that be a home owner’s responsibility?  Home owners are not likely to enter into contracts that do not have a retrofit clause unless they are completely ignorant.

Why, oh why, didn’t I think of that while I worked there?

Austin Energy’s fuel mix is shown on this document – in small print: http://www.austinenergy.com/Energy%20Efficiency/Programs/Green%20Choice/supplyContentLabel.pdf

Typically a data center has lower costs per Kw/hr as they are large buyers/consumers of power.  They qualify for lower rates and also can qualify for different schedules based on the ability to endure brown/black outs.  Cost of Kw/hr can be significantly lower than a home service.

Bandwidth is also a significant factor here as there is a reason that companies will co-locate together.  They can just throw a piece of fiber over the fence and have the ability to move 100s of Gb/s with very little cost.   Data at a residential location will mean having to deal with a last mile provider at significant costs and bandwidth limitations.

my home office/studio is in the back 1/3 of our garage. i lined the 12″ thick with another 12″ of fiberglass and then drywall; the ceiling has 2-3 layers of R40 fiber glass; the floor has 2″ solid expanded foam separating the subfloor from the concrete. the windows are the original, old leaky casement windows. total size is about 8′x16′.

now drop into  this environment:

   * 6 core 3.2GHz Phenom II custom build, running Linux, no frequency scaling
   * 2 core 1.6Ghz Core II Mac mini
   * occasional use of an old G4 mac
   * 16 channels of A/D-D/A conversion
   * 400 W amplifier

and I don’t need heat in here until January and can do without it again by the end of March. in Pennsylvania. the above equipment hardly constitutes a furnace, and this space is far from as sealed up as it could be. but it keeps my space toasty for all but the deep cold part of the winter.

I don’t see how this is more efficient at all…

There are data centers in Helsinki, Finland that are cooled by the city’s district cooling system and in return feed their (quite substantial) waste heat to the city’s district heating system. Apparently one such data center can provide heating for around 500 “large houses”.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10405955-54.html

(For more on district heating: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_heating )

Security – Enough said.

Power – Servers in datacenters (at least good ones) run on clean, conditioned power with battery backups and redundant lines.  Does your home have redundant power feeds from your provider?  What about a backup generator and transfer gear that will take over before the backup batteries discharge?

Access – You want to let “random” people in your house to work on the systems at any and all hours?  Oh, you’re on vacation?  Tough.  They need the keys in case a system barfs.  At 2:00 AM.  On a Sunday.

Accidents – I don’t care if the cabinets are fully self-contained with titanium wire conduits, an accident will happen and cause an outage.  Human error is already the biggest reason for datacenter downtime.  Putting servers in the home of someone who doesn’t work around them all hours is asking for it.

Bandwidth – Is the homeowner paying for it?  Because even if they have 50/50 synchronous FttP that’s going to be a huge bill, especially if their provider charges by bytes transferred instead of transfer rate.

Should I go on?

I work in a tier 3 datacenter and deal with servers all day.  I know what’s required to keep them happy, and you won’t find that combination of things in a home.  Hell, you won’t find that combination of things in what most companies call their ‘datacenter’.  While distributing the heat and cutting down on fossil fuel consumption seems like a good idea, there are far too many logistical and technical hurdles to placing servers directly in peoples’ homes (or even in sheds in their back yards).