The datacenter as a computer an introduction to the design of warehouse-scale machines /

• Main Author: Barroso, Luiz André.
• Other Authors: Hölzle, Urs.
• Format: Electronic
• Language: English
• Published: San Rafael, Calif. (1537 Fourth Street, San Rafael, CA 94901 USA) : Morgan & Claypool Publishers, c2009.
• Series: Synthesis lectures on computer architecture (Online), # 6.
• Subjects: Computer networks > Design and construction.; Computer networks > Energy consumption.; Cloud computing.; Electronic data processing > Distributed processing.; Data libraries.
• Online Access: Abstract with links to full text
• Item Description: Part of: Synthesis digital library of engineering and computer science.; Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on May 8, 2009).; Series from website.
• Physical Description: 1 electronic text (xi, 107 p. : ill.) : digital file.; Also available in print.
• Format: Mode of access: World Wide Web.; System requirements: Adobe Acrobat reader.
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (p. 99-105).
• ISBN: 9781598295573 (electronic bk.)
• ISSN: 1932-3243
• Access: Abstract freely available; full-text restricted to subscribers or individual document purchasers.

As computation continues to move into the cloud, the computing platform of interest no longer resembles a pizza box or a refrigerator, but a warehouse full of computers. These new large datacenters are quite different from traditional hosting facilities of earlier times and cannot be viewed simply as a collection of co-located servers. Large portions of the hardware and software resources in these facilities must work in concert to efficiently deliver good levels of Internet service performance, something that can only be achieved by a holistic approach to their design and deployment. In other words, we must treat the datacenter itself as one massive warehouse-scale computer (WSC). We describe the architecture of WSCs, the main factors influencing their design, operation, and cost structure, and the characteristics of their software base. We hope it will be useful to architects and programmers of today's WSCs, as well as those of future many-core platforms which may one day implement the equivalent of today's WSCs on a single board.