[holdenk]

If anyone is in the bay area and wants to run physical hardware and peer with folks, FCIX down in the HE facility in Fremont is very welcoming to small networks and doesn't have port fees (although you do need to be in the HE facility).

[EvanAnderson]

The "On the Metal" podcast episode[0] about the FCIX exchange was a really enjoyable listen. I had no idea that things like that could still just "pop up". I assume those days were long-passed.

[0] https://oxide.computer/podcasts/kenneth-finnegan

[KennyBlanken]

It certainly helps that HE sounds really friendly to the whole thing - donated fiber, and they got a couple grand in switchgear donated from someone.

[soggybutter]

Just finished that episode yesterday. The internet is spooky sometimes lol

[Karrot_Kream]

Oh wow that's fantastic! Are you referring to https://fcix.net/ ? Thanks so much for the tip. Do you know how much it costs to grab a dedicated box in the HE Fremont facility?

[holdenk]

So they don't do dedicated boxes (sadly), they rent by the rack (including 1gb of transit + 15A power). https://he.net/colocation.html has the info. If you just want a dedicated box that isn't drawing a lot of power I've probably got some room in my rack and we can chat (and I imagine some of the other BGP for fun group folks are in similar positions).

[Karrot_Kream]

Sure I'd be interested! Let me know if there's contact info on your site or some other method of contact. I'm fine with Email or Matrix.

[errcorrectcode]

Ah, blast from the past. HE brought us T-1's, T-3's, and IPv6 transit way back.

Equinix owns PAIX on 529 Bryant St. as SV8.

It's interesting how racks still aren't so much volume-, mass-, or network bandwidth-/transit-constrained, but power-constrained.

[walrus01]

It's very easy to run out of cumulative watts of grid power feed, cooling capacity and generator/UPS/power backup capacity in a facility before you run out of floor space in a datacenter.

Even with what is now a "small" 5kW thermal power budget per 44U cabinet, measuring 24 inches wide x 48 inches deep, you can easily exceed that 5kW long before you physically fill the cabinet with servers.

[merlyn]

Power in is directly heat out (that mechanical motion of fans twirling just isn't giving more than a rounding error).

You can only get so much cooling density. And loading up a rack can use a signifigant portion of cooling.

Its pretty easy now-a-days to get 18kW into a rack, which will require 5 tons of cooling. Ie. enough cooling to handle a 3,000 ft^2 house.