This Is What The Internet Looks Like - Inside a Tier 1 Host

Many people don't know what the Internet is really made of. Some people thinks it's tubes, others pulleys and levers.
Here I show you what a tier one hosting facility looks like. This is a facility much like the ones that host the webs most popular sites.
The particular rack I open is where my companies servers live.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Internet
• Tier-1
• Hosting
• Server
• Rack
• Website

[burningdust]

I would never be allowed to bring a cam into the tier 1 area at work, the place is under major lockdown. How did you manage?

[njlongtin]

@burningdust Well truth be told this is just one of many buildings at this location. This provider allows us access to the room where our servers are but not the other rooms where all of the actual networking and other important gear is.

The room doesn't look like much but the provider itself owns much of the fiber in our area, and is a tier 1 network provider. Having space at this facility lets us get our servers as close as possible to a piece of the Internet backbone.

[tripslipfall]

Damn those are some loud servers.

[njlongtin]

There are hundreds in that one room. But even with all the server noise I think it mostly gets drowned out by the massive AC in the room. Sometimes I have a hard time even hearing if a particular server is running or not!

[aaopwner]

Nice HP ProLiant's.

[njlongtin]

Thanks. I am a big fan of DL380s and DL360s. We have had great luck with them. They sure are heavy though. I nearly broke my back mounting the top ones.

[Gr33nMamba]

THe intneret is not one network, it is a collection of networks working together, how important they are as a general defention is in Tiers.

ISP's are usually TIER 2, they connect up with other TIER 2 networks using the backbones that are TIER 1. TIER1's peer to other TIER 1 netowrks, usually through political agreements.

DNS servers are one of the most important servers needed and usually found in all tiers.

It's complicated lol.

[MrkmTrainFAN]

Meh, I manage about 20 of these places :P

[cyberjackcyberjack]

smart card readers are good but its the external security you have to watch out for

[icantremembermyname]

I guess you can't say what company you work for, can you?

[stretchs2003]

If you want to see a Tier 1 facility you might want to check out NAP of the Capital Region. They wouldn't take so kindly to you bringing a camera into the facility however.

[sk8terhumes12345]

well now i know the perfect place to go during a zombie outbreak. doesn't look like anything could get in there that you didnt want 2

[ctechreviews]

well, internet works in lots of ways. This paticular space is not now the internet started, its a hub for internet (thus why there is really good backbone support). As of my knowledge (i may be wrong), the internet started with a program/script that would host something out so other computers could see it. At least thats what i have always thought, that multiple computers hosting something to form the internet.

[kefsound]

Guys, it's just a medium-sized datacenter.

[suravian666]

WOW your server room is small