Tablets are slowly eroding netbook sales, but in the web hosting industry, they may eventually return with a vengeance. This time around, data centers around the world are using netbook-based platforms as microservers.
Their rise in the industry has been predicted as far back as early 2009. Later that year, Intel released a new reference design that was considered as an early microserver platform; it was essentially a 5U rack filled with sixteen hot-swappable micronodes, More recently, in collaboration with TYAN (a system board maker), Quanta (a server hardware maker) and Intel; the SSI Forum released a new specification for micro module server. The use of microserver is rising, thanks to Facebook, which plans to utilize low-power microservers in its data center, while Mozilla Corporation is implementing microservers to direct download process.
A microserver is essentially a server with multiple nodes, often with shared infrastructure and multiple low-power CPUs. Although it’s perfectly possible to use regular netbooks for microserver nodes; web hosts usually use a dedicated microserver solution that has up to four RAM slots, multiple high speed Ethernet ports and multiple SATA hard drives. Microservers often use low-power CPU’s such as Intel’s Atom or AMD’s C-series and E-series. A newcomer in the industry is multi-core ARM-based processors that promise even lower energy consumption. In 2012, Intel will release Atom-based processors optimized for microservers. Also, on the roadmap are new Xeon processors that consume less than 45W of power.
Small, low-power nodes attract a growing number of web hosts because they’re energy efficient. Many web hosting companies and data centers are seeking to cut energy costs, microservers can answer the requirement as they consume less power, take up less space and need less cooling. They are not suitable for websites that incorporate large database and mission-critical workloads, but latest netbook processors, such as Intel N570 and AMD E-450 are ideal for hosting standard websites, such as blogs, forums, video streaming services, Web 2.0 activities and file sharing. Overall, microservers use 75 percent less power and take up 75 percent less space when performing similar computational works of top-of-the-line servers.
Because full-fledged blade servers are often overkill when used for dedicated web hosting plans, microservers are more ideal for many customers who need single-tenancy server. Microservers can also reduce the use of virtualization in web hosting companies, as virtualization can cause scaling issues and due to increased demands. Today, many physical servers virtualized more than administrators would like. Due to lower costs, microserver racks can contain more cards (nodes).
Virtualization is often considered important in web hosting industry, because it allows web host to offer virtualized dedicated hosting plans without purchasing a new physical server. But because microservers are affordable and getting even cheaper, it is now financially more acceptable to dedicate one server (node) for one client. With microservers, clients get good performance without raising costs too much.
Microserver market is still young and it remains to be seen whether producers of microservers can compete with established web servers vendors like IBM and HP. Hardware makers are expecting to see a significant growth in this market as web hosting industry is increasingly more aware about the benefits of affordable, low-power platform.
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