Facebook uses heat maps to find problems in the IT Infrastructure

We are all used to the use of thermal scanners to find hot spots.  The term heat map is also used to figure out problem areas.

This ComputerWorld article has information on Facebook's use of the heat map technique to find problems in its IT infrastructure.

Facebook heat maps pinpoint data center trouble spots

A Facebook engineer developed heat-map technology to quickly identify server, rack or cluster failures

By Joab Jackson

September 19, 2012 03:37 PM ET

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IDG News Service - Faced with the challenge of overseeing the health of large caching systems, a Facebook engineer developed heat-map software to quickly pinpoint problems in the social network's data centers.

The Facebook blog post has more details and some images.

When I first deployed Claspin, the view above had a lot more red in it. By making it easier for more people to spot server issues quickly, Claspin has allowed us to catch more "yellows" and prevent more "reds." I suppose there's no better validation of one's choice of statistics and thresholds than to have things start out red and then turn green as the service improves.

Some articles on China Data Center market

It can be hard to figure out what is going on in China's Data Center Market.

Here are three articles that a friend sent that happen to be all from DatacenterDynamics.

Tencent's data centers is one.

Company profile: China’s Tencent

Tencent is one of the largest cloud providers in China, a country with an insatiable appetite for internet-based services

2 August 2012 par Laura Luo -   

 

   

 

 

 

 

Design sketch for Tianjian cloud computing data center of Tencent

Tencent, one of the largest internet service providers in China, has been taking aim at China’s cloud computing market, building new cloud computing data centers using advanced environmentally friendly and energy-efficient technologies. It has also been focusing heavily on research and development.

China's Cloud market.

China’s growing cloud industry

China’s cloud computing market is estimated to reach US$31.6bn in the next three years, thanks to investment from public and private players

21 May 2012 par Penny Jones - DatacenterDynamics

 

   

 

 

 

 

China's cloud computing industry is preparing for growth

Cloud computing is emerging as one of the China’s fastest growing industries. The nation may account for less than 3% of global cloud computing market share – valued at US$90bn in 2011) but it is growing with an annual rate of 40%, according to analyst firm Gartner.

And some of the cloud build out.

China cloud computing roundup: R&D and newbuilds

Alcatel, Insigma, Inspur, Microsoft and more

26 July 2012 par Laura Luo -   

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

Xijian, a province in Northwest China, will build one of the largest cloud computing data center clusters in China in the next 10 years, according to the Tianshan Cloud Plan for the Xinjiang Province.

Two cloud computing industrial bases will be built in Urumqi and Karamay respectively. Once complete, the data center cluster will host a total of 250,000 cabinets and have an annual turnover of 32bn CNY.

Will Central WA wild fires cause problems for Air Cooled Data Centers in Quincy, WA?

The wild fires in Central WA are at an interesting junction of getting bigger or snuffing each other out.

2 wildfires may become 1: help or hindrance to firefighters?

As Washington state's two biggest wildfires burn toward each other, fire officials say they could either feed off each other, creating a more volatile conflagration, or they could consume all available fuel and help snuff each other out.

For those of you not familiar with the air here is a map from Cle Elum where the fires are strongest to Quincy, WA.

Here is the state ecological update.

Specifically, Ecology and Forest Service air-quality monitors in Chelan County are reading in the hazardous and unhealthy ranges. Poorer conditions are trending in the Quincy area and conditions could worsen around Spokane, Pullman and Clarkston.

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All residents in the Wenatchee area should stay indoors and curtail their physical activities both indoors and out. Doors and windows should remain closed. In the remainder of the Yakima and Columbia basins common sense precautions should be taken by everyone, but sensitive groups -- such as children, the elderly and heart patients -- are particularly vulnerable.

The biggest health threat comes from the fine particles in smoke. These can cause burning eyes, runny nose, bronchitis and other illnesses. Smoky air also can aggravate pre-existing heart and lung diseases, and even lead to death.

Air filtration systems are probably getting inspected as the fire continues to burn.

Here is a news video showing how bad the smoke can be.

GreenM3 going to Blackberry Jam Conference, San Jose Sept 25-27

i have been spending a lot of time working on some mobile solutions lately.  Building on the PC is so in the past.  My main phone is an iPhone 4S.  No I am not upgrading to the iPhone 5.  I have a Samsung Galaxy Note for a phabet experience and a Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Verizon to compensate for the AT&T devices.

At GigaOm Mobilize I ran into some ex-Windows 95 friends who now work at Blackberry and shared some ideas.  They said hey why don't you go to our Blackberry Jam Conference in SJ next week.

So, I may add the Blackberry 10 Dev Alpha to my iOS and Android devices.

Apple Electric adds 200 Acres for more Solar capacity

I joked that Google is an Electric company in an old post.  If Apple was an Electric company would it be Apple Electric or Apple Power? Apple made the news making progress on its solar farm, and now has added another 200 acres.

Hickory Daily Record reports on the latest real estate transaction.

CONOVER, NC — California-based technology giant Apple has spent nearly $3 million to buy more than 200 acres of property in Catawba County for another solar farm.

It’s another step in Apple’s pledge to have its Maiden data center running on 100 percent renewable energy by the end of the year.

Some of the concerns with the big data center expansion in Oregon is the future growth of data centers there could be 10% of the energy use.

If ever a state was destined to become a data center Mecca it is Oregon. As the author of the article points out they have a temperate climate, cheap power, no sales tax or property tax for data centers located in state-designated enterprise zones. All these elements combine to provide an explanation for the plethora of “Greetings From Oregon” postcards emanating from the likes of Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon and other data center operators. So far so good. However, after much sleuthing and analysis the good citizens of the area have uncovered a heretofore hidden truth—these things use one heck of a lot of electricity. So much electricity in fact that current estimates indicate, and I quote, “they (data centers) could devour nearly 10 percent of all the Northwest’s energy by 2030”.

But, with Apple being an electric company  the protests of impacting the local energy grid will soon be a mute point.