Backblaze, a cloud storage and backup provider, recently offered a rare glimpse into its US East Data Center, highlighting its capacity to store and manage a staggering amount of data for its growing customer base.
Located in CoreSite Reston, the data center is designed to ensure top-notch reliability, security, and efficiency. The facility houses 120 cabinets, each 52U tall, which accommodate 1,440 storage servers. These servers are organized into 72 Backblaze Vaults, with each vault consisting of 20 storage servers. Every storage server is equipped with 60 16TB drives, totaling 960TB of raw storage per server.
Taking into account the sheer volume of storage servers and drives, the deployment boasts over 1.3 exabytes (EB) of raw storage capacity. After accounting for formatting and parity, the facility still offers more than 1 exabyte of storage space. Backblaze expects to use larger hard drives in all of its data centers over time as the cost per gigabyte for hard drives continues to decrease.
The advanced cooling system of the data center utilizes a hot aisle containment design, allowing the hot exhaust air from the servers to be contained and cooled separately from the rest of the facility. This setup maximizes energy efficiency and reduces costs.
The facility's power management includes a 2N power distribution system, ensuring an uninterrupted power supply to the servers even during equipment failure or maintenance. Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units and diesel generators are also in place to maintain continuous operation during power outages.
Security measures at the data center consist of multiple layers, such as keycard access, biometric scanners, and 24/7 video surveillance, protecting against physical and cyber threats. A dedicated team of security experts continuously monitors network traffic to detect potential risks.
