{"id":8618,"date":"2021-01-27T14:25:53","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T19:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/?page_id=8618"},"modified":"2026-06-02T14:59:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T18:59:28","slug":"scs-server-room","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/tech-support\/scs-rooms-support\/scs-server-room\/","title":{"rendered":"SCS Server Room"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-5xl  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n            <div class=\"cu-textmedia flex flex-col lg:flex-row mx-auto gap-6 md:gap-10 my-6 md:my-12 first:mt-0 max-w-5xl\">\n        <div class=\"justify-start cu-textmedia-content cu-prose-first-last\" style=\"flex: 0 0 100%;\">\n            <header class=\"font-light prose-xl cu-pageheader md:prose-2xl cu-component-updated cu-prose-first-last\">\n                                    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold !mt-2 mb-4 md:mb-6 relative after:absolute after:h-px after:bottom-0 after:bg-cu-red after:left-px text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] pb-5 after:w-10 text-cu-black-700 not-prose\">\n                        SCS Server Room\n                    <\/h1>\n                \n                                \n                            <\/header>\n\n                    <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<p><a href=\"#introduction\">Introduction<\/a><br>\n<a href=\"#openstack\">OpenStack<\/a><br>\n<a href=\"#server-rooom-hardware\">Server Room Hardware<\/a><br>\n<a href=\"#compute-servers\">Compute Servers<\/a><br>\n<a href=\"#gpu-compute-server\">GPU Compute Servers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"introduction\">Introduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The SCS server room is an air-conditioned room devoted to the continuous operation of computer servers. The servers support the operational needs of the school&#8217;s faculty, staff and students. Those operational needs are typically categorised as: departmental services, teaching and research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/SCSServerRoomRacks-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/SCSServerRoomRacks-400x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8625\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/SCSServerRoomRacks-400x300.jpg 400w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/SCSServerRoomRacks-160x120.jpg 160w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/SCSServerRoomRacks-240x180.jpg 240w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/SCSServerRoomRacks-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/SCSServerRoomRacks-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/SCSServerRoomRacks-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/SCSServerRoomRacks-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/SCSServerRoomRacks-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The main hardware components of a server room are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Computers<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Networking<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>KVM System<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Power Management<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Racks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Air conditioning<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>An efficient and scaleable way to manage the network is using a cloud architecture. The School of Computer Science uses the OpenStack cloud software to manage much of its resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of April 2024 the SCS Openstack cloud is hosting:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>54 servers<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2,700 server vCPU cores<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>21 TB of server memory<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>325 TB of server disk space<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>123 GPU&#8217;s<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"in-the-news\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">In the News<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/2026\/moving-the-cloud-in-winter-how-80-servers-crossed-campus-without-shutting-down\/\">Moving the Cloud in Winter: How 55 Servers Crossed Campus Without Shutting Down<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"openstack\">OpenStack<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/OpenStack-Logo.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5036 alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/OpenStack-Logo.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/OpenStack-Logo.png 630w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/OpenStack-Logo-160x80.png 160w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/OpenStack-Logo-240x120.png 240w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/OpenStack-Logo-400x200.png 400w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/OpenStack-Logo-360x180.png 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><\/a><br>\nOpenStack is a free open standard cloud computing platform deployed mostly as an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS). To utilize the main benefit of OpenStack it requires dedicated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>management servers<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>compute servers<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>storage servers<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>networking<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>OpenStack allows the management of all your computing resources and networking from the web-based console. Virtual servers (instances) can be launched on the compute servers. Networking is managed by the Virtual Networking Infrastructure (VNI) and this can also be done via the web console. Networking is managed using the Open Systems Interconnection model (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/OSI_model\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OSI model<\/a>) network layer approach. OpenStack conveniently manages your network infrastructure at the OSI layer 7 software level! There is no need to modify hardware or configure your switches, it is all controlled via the OpenStack web console!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>OpenStack hardware has the following structure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/cloud-design.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"651\" height=\"496\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/cloud-design.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8823\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/cloud-design.png 651w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/cloud-design-160x122.png 160w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/cloud-design-240x183.png 240w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/cloud-design-400x305.png 400w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/cloud-design-300x230.png 300w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/cloud-design-360x274.png 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 651px) 100vw, 651px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Figure 1<\/strong> &#8211; OpenStack network design diagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The compute servers have two network connections: one for the <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">internal (admin) network<\/span> and one for the <span style=\"color: #22aa22;\">external (end-user) network<\/span>. The internal network is dedicated to the functions that OpenStack requires for its operations. The external network provides connections between the OpenStack resources and the end-user. The School of Computer Science is running a 10 Gbit network for OpenStack.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"not-prose cu-quote cu-component-spacing\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Having two separate networks on each compute server means that moving large amounts of data on one network does not impact the operation of the other network. It also increases the security of the system by ensuring external users cannot access the underlying hardware (compute servers)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Find out more about SCS OpenStack:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/tech-support\/scs-open-stack\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OpenStack<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"server-rooom-hardware\">Server Room Hardware<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The server room hardware is organized on computer racks. This way the servers can be housed densely minimizing physical space. Having them close to each other simplifies connecting them. Server room servers are <em>headless<\/em> which means that you do not require a keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) for each server. The KVM connects them all to a single keyboard, monitor and mouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/SCSServerRoomRacks-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/SCSServerRoomRacks-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8625\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Figure 2<\/strong>\u00a0&#8211; School of Computer Science Server room in 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/HP5124-ServerRoom-RackCurrentLayout-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1209\" height=\"954\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/HP5124-ServerRoom-RackCurrentLayout-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8634\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/HP5124-ServerRoom-RackCurrentLayout-1.png 1209w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/HP5124-ServerRoom-RackCurrentLayout-1-160x126.png 160w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/HP5124-ServerRoom-RackCurrentLayout-1-240x189.png 240w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/HP5124-ServerRoom-RackCurrentLayout-1-768x606.png 768w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/HP5124-ServerRoom-RackCurrentLayout-1-400x316.png 400w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/HP5124-ServerRoom-RackCurrentLayout-1-360x284.png 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1209px) 100vw, 1209px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Figure 3<\/strong> &#8211; The School of Computer Science server room abstract view\/description of Figure 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Figure 3 shows the server room components (Jan. 2021):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"color: #2222cc;\"><strong>Dark blue servers<\/strong><\/span> are the OpenStack compute nodes stack01-26. They consist of servers totalling more than 1,000 vCPUs. Each server has a dual 10G network card connecting them to the internal (admin) network and the external (end-user) network<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"color: #00bfff;\"><strong>Light blue servers<\/strong><\/span> &#8211; stackcontrol, stacknetwork and stackstore &#8211; are the OpenStack management and storage servers connected together as shown in Figure 1<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Red servers<\/strong><\/span> (light and dark red) are research group servers<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"color: #22cc22;\"><strong>Green GPU boxes<\/strong><\/span> appear inside servers, represent any available GPUs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"color: #007373;\"><strong>Dark aqua boxes<\/strong><\/span> found mostly at the top of the racks &#8211; many starting with <code>OS Net<\/code> &#8211; are network switches<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"color: #8b4513;\"><strong>Brown servers<\/strong><\/span> are departmental infrastructure<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"color: #909090;\"><strong>Gray boxes<\/strong><\/span> near the middle of the racks are the KVM switches. They connect the servers to a keyboard and monitor<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"color: #606060;\"><strong>Dark gray equipment<\/strong><\/span> at the bottom of each rack is the Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) providing a short amount of power in case of a power failure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"compute-servers\">Compute Servers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You can think of a server room server like your desktop PC, they have similar main components. The servers need to be packaged in a rackmount case so they can be densely housed on the rack. A typical OpenStack compute server has the following specs (as of Jan. 2021):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>CPU:<\/strong> Dual 16-core CPUs. 2 x 16 = 32 cpu cores with 2 threads\/core. Total: 64 vCPU cores<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>RAM:<\/strong> 16 x 32GB = 512GB (or 0.5 TB) of ECC RAM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Disk:<\/strong> 4 x 2TB SSD drives (data center class)<br><br><em>Having four drives gives you the option of running various RAID configurations on your system. If there is a disk failure RAID will keep your server running<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Network:<\/strong> Dual 10G networking. <em>(OpenStack requires a minimum of 2 network ports)<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Power:<\/strong> Redundant 1,000W platinum level power supplies. Redundant means if the power supply fails the second power supply is used to keep the server running.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This 64 vCPU server could in theory run 64 virtual servers (instances), each having one dedicated core (with the RAM and disk space divided accordingly). However, OpenStack can over-subscribe the vCPUs, meaning you can run hundreds of virtual servers if required. RAM cannot be over-subscribed, so that is often the limiting factor. Many user applications do not saturate the CPU resources and therefore multiple users can often share CPU cores without impacting performance.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"not-prose cu-quote cu-component-spacing\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>This is a major benefit of virtualization (OpenStack), it can utilize the server CPU to its full potential, something that is more difficult on a single user system. A single Openstack compute server can host more than 100 user VM&#8217;s!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"gpu-compute-server\">GPU Compute Servers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/PXL_20201111_143233974-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/260\/PXL_20201111_143233974-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8701\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Figure 4<\/strong> &#8211; OpenStack rackmounted GPU server containing 8 GPUs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The SCS GPU compute servers are PC-based servers and can connect regular to NVIDIA gaming GPUs. Figure 4 shows a GPU server with 8 GPU cards. It is desirable to have 8 GPUs in one server because OpenStack is flexible on how to allocate those resources. Having 8 x GPUs on one hardware node gives VM options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Eight (8) virtual servers, each having 1 GPU<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>One virtual server with 8 GPUs!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Other combination of single and multiple GPU virtual servers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Find out more about GPU computing at SCS:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/tech-support\/cuda-gpu-computing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GPU Computing with OpenStack<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction OpenStack Server Room Hardware Compute Servers GPU Compute Servers Introduction The SCS server room is an air-conditioned room devoted to the continuous operation of computer servers. The servers support the operational needs of the school&#8217;s faculty, staff and students. Those operational needs are typically categorised as: departmental services, teaching and research. The main hardware [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":16642,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cu_dining_location_slug":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_page_type":[],"class_list":["post-8618","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8618"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23958,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8618\/revisions\/23958"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_page_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/scs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_page_type?post=8618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}