Archive for July 2nd, 2009
Rackin’ Servers in Barrow
The weather this morning was overcast, raining and in the mid 30s. First on the agenda was a quick tour of the Barrow Alaska Research Center (BARC). Walking into the building was like walking into another world. All of the buildings we had been in so far were either old army buildings from the 1950s, or interconnected shipping containers. The BARC is part of a 35 million dollar building project to create a scientific research center for all different types of studies by groups from around the world. There are labs, conference rooms, offices, and a spacious, modern server room. The building has tall ceilings, a tiled lobby, modern bathrooms, and very nice furniture. You would think it would be the place to be, but it seemed to be empty compared to the other buildings we had been in. The older buildings seemed to teem with activity as people came and went. The BARC was like a library, whereas the other buildings were like college dorms.
After the tour, we took care of some meetings and paperwork, and then got to work uncrating the rack. It was shipped in a sturdy wooden crate we had to disassemble outside in the wind and rain. Luckily, by the time we got the crate open, the rain stopped and it was starting to clear up.
Uncrating the rack overlooking the tundra
We wrestled the rack into the building and then ran into our first technical issue. Read the rest of this entry »
