Here are some of the craziest reasons for data center outages.
1) Squirrels
These nut-cheeked, bushy-tailed rodents chew through cables like Willy Wonka’s Violet chews through gum. At one point, Level 3 Communications actually attributed 17% of fiber cuts to “squirrel chews.”
Who, me?
Image: Dan Leveille
2) Hunters
Bored hunters have been known to use fiber as target practice. A few years ago in Oregon, Google had to move its fiber underground because people kept shooting down their fiber insulators.
This hunter’s on PETA’s Nice List.
Image: Steve Maslowski
3) Snowmageddon et al.
Spoiler alert: storms can be a big threat to poorly-planned data centers. In 2012, 80-mph storm winds knocked out Amazon’s power twice in one month, taking Pinterest, Instagram, and Netflix down with it.
“For the last time, Grandma, I don’t need a coat!”
Image: Woodley Wonderworks
4) Poor anchor management
Undersea Internet cables are tough, but they’re not tougher than multi-ton anchors. In 2008, a ship’s anchor caused service issues in Dubai when it sliced through cables on the seafloor.
Sinking the Internet.
Image: US Navy
5) Curiosity
In 2000, a junior data center tech decided to see what would happen if he pressed a big red button. The emergency power shutdown cost the Charlotte data center millions in lost revenue.
Curiosity killed the cat…and the data center.
Image: Ren and Stimpy
So, how do you prepare for an outage?
- Use ServerCentral’s backup and recovery service.
- Eat a sandwich because you’re done here.
