Re: Never push the Big Red Button

[Robert Taylor <rgt () wi mit edu>]

We had a new fire suppression guy testing our system for our computer room,
and unbeknownst to him, one of the tests that he did triggered the EPO.
One of my co-workers was in the room, which had about 20 racks of
equipment, and he told me afterwards that for a quick second he thought he
died.
He said that that going from all that noise to eerie quiet was very
disconcerting.

rgt

On Wed, Sep 15, 2021 at 7:51 PM Billy Croan <BCroan () unrealservers net>
wrote:

> Indeed. Few sounds in the data center haunt me quite as much as a
> sensation that the decibel level has just decreased significantly.
>
> On Wed, Sep 15, 2021, 4:14 PM Keith Stokes <keiths () salonbiz com> wrote:
>
> > The bigger thing to notice is the *lack* of noise as every server, switch
> > and storage system spins down.
> >
> > ---
> >
> > Keith Stokes
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sep 15, 2021, at 3:50 PM, Stephen Satchell <list () satchell net> wrote:
> >
> > In the data centers I've worked in over the decades, those Big Red
> > Buttons would activate a normally-closed contactor in a breaker panel. When
> > pushed, the contactor would open, and turn off all the circults in said
> > breaker panel.  Not affected are lights, convenience outlets, door locks,
> > and other non-data loads.  Resetting the contactor to the working position
> > was done after throwing all the breakers to the off position, and then turn
> > on each breaker, one at a time.
> >
> > The only noise that I have ever heard when the Big Red Button was pushed
> > was the loud BANG as the contactor operated.  You hear a similar bang in
> > movies in scenes where lights in a large area are turned on and off.
> >
> > Nothing like the BANG of a 600-amp 3-phase breaker tripping --
> > experienced that at University of Illinois Center for Advanced
> > Computation.  You immediately look for the person holding a gun.