As our dependence on computers increases, so does the problem of heat. Computers generate heat when they are used, and this heat can build up and damage the components. This is especially true for cloud computers which are often housed in data centers with thousands of other machines. The heat generated by all of these computers can quickly build up, leading to problems such as overheating and system failures. To prevent these problems, data centers must carefully monitor the temperature and take steps to keep the computers cool. This includes using fans and air conditioning to circulate the air, and keeping the computers away from heat sources such as sun exposure and heaters. How has the recent heat wave affected cloud computing?
The insane heat hitting Europe has brought down both Google and Oracle cloud computing facilities. It seems the air conditioning failed and the computer systems overheated. One assumes apps that were designed to use multiple regions for fail over were not impacted while everyone else was. Stephanie Condon at ZDNet mentions:
“Google Cloud reported that a cooling-related failure at one of its London buildings began at 10:13 a.m. PT (that’s 6:13 p.m. BST). The building hosts a portion of capacity for Google Cloud’s europe-west2-a zone.
As of 3:30 p.m. PT, the issue was only partially resolved, with most customers able to launch virtual machines in all zones of europe-west2. Some customers in europe-west2-a zone were still seeing problems with Google Compute Engine (GCE), Persistent Disk, and Autoscaling.
Meanwhile, Oracle said that a subset of cooling infrastructure within its UK South (London) data center experienced issues on Tuesday “as a result of unseasonal temperatures in the region.” Some customers were unable to access or use Oracle Cloud Infrastructure resources hosted in the region, including object storage, compute, and block volumes.”
The payments infrastructure is steadily moving to cloud banking. Some of the more forward thinking financial institutions have moved in this direction. Read more from Mercator Advisory Group on how key corporate banking service are moving to the cloud.
Overview by Tim Sloane, VP, Payments Innovation at Mercator Advisory Group