Now I see datacenters with a solid perimeter of LP generators (presumably not for backup) and Nvidia continues to churn out massively more expensive chips and the New mentions 'The biggest AI datacenters ever'
And I'm wondering: what do they look like? What underlying support software/OS/Automation is being used? (Still VMware/Proxmox or something else?)
How doe you get back up to current best practices when theses things have a certain level of 'need to know'?
alganet•6mo ago
Trying to make another post so your question wouldn't be addressed on the same thread?
If not, would you connect these two threads in a single line? (do the other post relates to your previous feelings or conclusions about the idea?)
I mean, I see that a lot on HN with people doing this with throwaways all the time, but I wanted to be sure.
Damogran6•6mo ago
After checking: This is entirely unrelated.
alganet•6mo ago
If it's not that, can you explain a little better what you're trying to do?
There is no way a single person can amount local servers to compete with Google/Microsoft/etc. If you were led to believe that, you were probably scammed.
Damogran6•6mo ago
Things like Elon getting called out because there are more generators in his Memphis datacenter than he was permitted for make me thing they're not using the electric grid for power, they're using natural gas?
alganet•6mo ago
It looks like I'm right (regarding what you're asking, not strictly about being the same person as the other thread), and you're trying to avoid talking about it.
hank808•6mo ago
alganet•6mo ago
If you have the resources to "catch up", you would probably not ask poorly stated questions on HN, unless you have ulterior motives (which might be harmless, or not).
It seems like a question designed to steer people who might be unaware of such limitations into believing they can somehow buy cheap hardware and make their own datacenter, which is a weird propositon. That's an absurd idea, and such things would only be valuable for cheap spammy purposes (I've been investigating those schemes for a while).
So, we have a few scenarios here:
- Beginner guy who's too lazy to research for himself.
- Scammer trying to dump off hardware that was used for scams into other people's hands (my favorite kind of investigative meal).
- Someone else that is doing the same kind of investigative work I'm doing.
My answer suits these three profiles. It would humble the beginner, scare the shit out of the scammer, and elicit some respect from the investigator.
I know this is hard to follow, but keep focus on why these kinds of profiles are important. If you can think of another one, please share it, and I would rethink my answer in favor of that.
Damogran6•6mo ago
I've been in IT for more than 30 years. I've worked hands-on hardware for the first 20 of them. There's a datacenter in my office (though it's nearly empty as it's all been migrated to the cloud.)
What does a modern AI hosting datacenter look like? What's the network look like from a compute module to the perimeter of the DC? Is the hardware that hosts AI compute a 6U server with 20 RTX 4090's?
When Elon gets in trouble with having too many turbines...are they generating power at all times because it makes some kind of thermodynamic sense to convert LNG to power, rather than pulling power from the grid?
I'm not talking about the software used in training, I'm asking about the bare metal.
alganet•6mo ago
If you're not willing to research, you should hire and pay someone (not me) for that information.
Damogran6•6mo ago
(ChatGPT was massively more helpful than you. Not quite sure if that's great for mankind or not.)
alganet•6mo ago