On Wed, 21 Jan 2009, Lux, James P wrote:
Sure, it's lowball, but even if you multiply by 5 ($5/sq ft), it's still
less than the utility costs...
And, really, the question originally was whether in 3 years you've paid as
much for infrastructure and utilities than you did on the box, and I think
that it's certainly in that area.
Absolutely.
It's just that in the colo facilities that I've seen, they charge more
by the U or by the rack than by ft^2. Not that I have sweeping
experience in this arena -- I've priced out one commercial server center
and looked extensively at a state sponsored center in the RTP -- the
latter is quite reasonable (but partially subsidized for academic use).
They seemed considerably higher "per ft^2" if you fill a rack on a per-U
basis. I seem to recall $50-100/month per 1U or 2U server, something
like that (including power/ac) which is commensurate with your estimate
but clearly charges more for "volume" rather than floor space per se.
Either way, you quite rapidly get to where this cost for N nodes will
pay for a single node Nx as powerful when you're paying out anywhere
from 20% to 33% of the node budget per year. As little as two years,
more often the 3-5 discussed, and by 6 the node needs to have "free"
power and housing or it starts not being worth it period.
rgb
Robert G. Brown Phone(cell): 1-919-280-8443
Duke University Physics Dept, Box 90305
Durham, N.C. 27708-0305
Web: http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb
Book of Lilith Website: http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/Lilith/Lilith.php
Lulu Bookstore: http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=877977
_______________________________________________
Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf@beowulf.org
To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit
http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf
