Retiring A Data Center. With an Axe.

ebay-death-datacenter

Dean Nelson of eBay uses an axe to retire the final server as the company powers down its oldest data center.

The data center is built around the principle of perpetual uptime. The power must always be on. The data must always be available. Yet what becomes of these facilities when they reach the end of their usefulness? What procedures and rituals are required when a data center is turned off?

At eBay, it involves putting an an axe through the final server. That's the fun part of a great blog post by Dean Nelson, senior director of the data center team at eBay, which last month shut down the company's oldest data center in Sacramento. The facility was retired as part of a major data center consolidation for the giant Internet auction site, which will shift much of its operations to a new data center in Utah. Dean describes the process, gives some history on the facility, and shares details of the ceremony for de-activating the final server and powering down the building.

Dean writes:

Bala Meduri, who oversaw the closure process for the facility for eBay, then turned off the power. Thanks to Dean and the eBay team for an inside look at the terminal moment for a data center.See the full story and photos at Data Center Pulse.