20 comments

[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 126 ms ] thread
For your amusement :)
Got anymore? I'd love to see what kind of network gear was in there at the time, etc. Very cool. Thanks.
(comment deleted)
Unfortunately I didn't get a digital camera until 2002, so I don't have many pictures from early Google.

Here's a closeup of a nic on one of the machines: http://friendfeed.com/e/e7bc8124-ee7f-4949-91d2-773e410613d3... I took this picture two months ago at the Computer History Museum, where the jj rack is on display.

The Computer History Museum is really cool! I highly recommend geeks check it out if you are in the area .. especially if you can catch some of the demonstrations/tours.
just curious, did 'j' in 'jj' stand four "journaller" in a naming scheme, or something else entirely?
Here's an upclose one on the first gen rack: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Google’s_...

My understanding is that they found the HP ProCurve switches were a better deal to buy two chassis and stuff all the blades into one box rather than buy the blades and add them to one. It was cheaper that way.

What were those switches for? (not the network switches, the physical on/off switches with the green and white wires)

Fans?

They are the power LEDs/switches for each of the four motherboards on each piece of cork board. Yes, cork board. It's non-conductive.
thats almost amazing
Wait, are there wood shelves in there!?
heh, slot 1/a cpu connectors. ah, the 90s.
Here's what their datacenters look like a couple years ago (with Chris DiBona): http://flickr.com/photos/ttrueman/296867981/sizes/l/
Dude, that's at the UW.