[Info-vax] OpenVMS servers and clusters as a cloud service

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 12/31/2017 10:44 AM, Kerry Main wrote:
>> From: Info-vax [mailto:info-vax-bounces at rbnsn.com] On Behalf Of
>> Johnny Billquist via Info-vax
>> On 2017-12-31 15:46, Kerry Main wrote:
>>>> I did not write that Google has 28000 servers.
>>>>
>>>> They have a lot more servers.
>>>>
>>>> Internet gossip says that they have 900000 servers.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Huge numbers I have no doubt (likely 90% are VM's).
>>
>> Actually, the number is more than 900,000 and we're talking physical
>> machines. The number of VMs are magnitudes higher.
> 
> My point is that I know Amazon and Google etc. have very high
> numbers
> of servers (phys or VM really does not really matter from admin
> perspective), but their Sysadmin ratio is not 28,000 servers for a
> single admin. Hung services, hung/crashed servers, log monitoring,
> backup failures, password mgmt., hardware failures, firewall rules
> integration are all examples of Sysadmin activities where tools and
> custom automation can certainly help.
> 
> Large companies like this have large Engineering and Operations
> teams
> doing nothing but custom NOC / ECC monitoring, backup management, event
> log and security management and workflow automation of the IT
> infrastructure.
> 
> Do these teams count as part of their "server" SysAdmin ratio's?
> 
> There are basic things which have to happen for every server instance
> and yes, smart tools and custom automation absolutely do help, but
> there is a limit on what tools can do without some level of
> experience at the controls.  That is why large companies like Google
> have L1, L2 and L3 escalation support models for each level of their
> IT dept. >
 > Do these escalation teams count as part of their "server" SysAdmin 
ratio's?

If you have the volume to invest heavily in the tools then tools
can do a lot.

They have to - that is the only way such huge DC's can be run without
being cost prohibitive.

> Make no mistake - there is lots to learn about scalability from the
> Googles and Amazons of the world, but we also need to keep open minds
> and not blindly accept whatever their marketing depts. pump out about
> how good they are.
????

This is not marketing talk.

In fact the reason why it is gossip is that they do not publicize
specifics.

No one buys more Google services due to their server/sysadm ration.

Arne