Configurable server components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10244652-B1
Application number	US-201615276706-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 26, 2016
Priority date	Sep 26, 2016
Publication date	Mar 26, 2019
Grant date	Mar 26, 2019

Abstract

A wall structure includes mounting brackets for server components to be mounted to the wall structure. Different server components are coupled together via one or more data communication coupling devices, such as cables, to form a functional server. The data communication coupling devices and the server components are configured to allow the server components to be coupled and decoupled from one another to form functional servers having various configurations. In some embodiments, the server components and data communication coupling devices are accessible via an aisle adjacent to the wall structure and the server components are hot-swappable so that server components can be added to or removed from a functional server while other server components included in the functional server remain in operation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A data center, comprising:
a wall structure extending along an aisle of the data center, wherein the wall structure comprises mounting brackets configured to mount computing devices to the wall structure;
computing devices mounted to the wall structure via the mounting brackets, wherein the computing devices comprise:
a group of compute server components mounted to the wall structure; and
a group of storage server components mounted to the wall structure; and

data communication coupling devices configured to couple together respective ones of the compute server components and respective ones of the storage server components as respective sets of coupled server components, wherein each set of the respective sets of coupled server components is configured such that the coupled server components of the respective set operate together as a respective functional server;
wherein the data communication coupling devices and the compute server components mounted to the wall structure and the storage server components mounted to the wall structure are configured to permit the compute and storage server components to be coupled together and decoupled from one another to form different configurations of the respective sets of coupled server components that operate together as respective functional servers;
wherein the respective sets of coupled server components that operate together as respective functional servers are not mounted together in a common server chassis.

2. The data center of claim 1 , wherein the computing devices are mounted to the wall structure and supported by the wall structure without server racks.

3. The data center of claim 1 , wherein:
a first set of the sets of coupled server components comprises:
a compute server component, of the group of compute server components, mounted to the wall structure via a first mounting bracket in a first location on the wall structure, and
a storage server component, of the group of storage server components, mounted to the wall structure via a second mounting bracket in a second location on the wall structure; and

a second set of the sets of coupled server components comprises:
another compute server component, of the group of compute server components, mounted to the wall structure via a third mounting bracket in a third location on the wall structure, and
another storage server component, of the group of storage server components, mounted to the wall structure via a fourth mounting bracket in a fourth location on the wall structure.

4. The data center of claim 1 , wherein the group of compute server components are mounted to the wall structure at a higher elevation on the wall structure than an elevation on the wall structure at which the storage server components are mounted to the wall structure, wherein the compute server components and the storage server components are configured to be cooled by an air flow.

5. The data center of claim 4 , wherein the data center further comprises:
power supplies configured to supply power to the server components,
wherein the power supplies are mounted to the wall structure at a higher elevation on the wall structure than the elevation at which the compute server components are mounted to the wall structure and at a higher elevation on the wall structure than the elevation at which the storage server components are mounted to the wall structure.

6. An apparatus, comprising:
a wall structure comprising:
a first set of mounting brackets configured to mount a first group of server components to the wall structure;
a second set of mounting brackets configured to mount a second group of server components to the wall structure,
wherein the first group of server components and the second group of server components comprise different types of server components; and

communication coupling devices configured to couple together respective server components of the first group of server components mounted to the wall structure with respective server components of the second group of server components mounted to the wall structure such that respective sets of the coupled server components operate together as respective functional servers
wherein the respective sets of coupled server components that operate together as respective functional servers are not mounted together in a common server chassis.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the first set of mounting brackets and the second set of mounting brackets are configured to respectively mount the first and second groups of server components to the wall structure without the first or second groups of server components being mounted in a common server chassis.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the first set of mounting brackets and the second set of mounting brackets are configured to support the first and second groups of server components without a server rack supporting the first and second groups of server components.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the first set of mounting brackets for the first group of server components and the second set of mounting brackets for the second group of server components are arranged vertically on the wall structure based on respective amounts of waste heat generated by the server components of the first group of server components and the server components of the second group of server components.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising:
the first group of server components mounted in the first set of mounting brackets, wherein the first group of server components comprise compute server components;
the second group of server components mounted in the second set of mounting brackets, wherein the second group of server components comprise storage server components,
wherein one of the communication coupling devices couples together a compute server component of the first group of server components and a storage server component of the second group of server components in a set of coupled server components that operate together as one of the respective functional servers.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein another one of the communication coupling devices couples together other server components of the first group of server components and the second group of server components as another set of coupled server components that operate together as another one of the respective functional servers,
wherein the other set of coupled server components that operate together as the other one of the respective functional servers and the set of coupled server components that operate together as the one of the respective functional servers comprise different ratios of compute server components to storage server components.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising:
a networking device mounted to the wall structure via one of the mounting brackets of the wall structure,
wherein the networking device is configured to couple with multiple ones of the respective sets of coupled server components that operate together as respective functional servers and perform network operations associated with the respective functional servers.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the first group of server components and the second group of server components comprise hot-swappable server components that are configured to be serviced from a front side of the wall structure, wherein the front side of the wall structure extends along a cold aisle in a computing facility.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the communication coupling devices are accessible from the front side of the wall,
wherein the communication coupl

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Czamara Michael P
• Gardner Brock Robert

Classifications

• H05K7/1497 Primary

  Rooms for data centers; Shipping containers therefor · CPC title

• H05K7/20745

  within rooms for removing heat from cabinets, e.g. by air conditioning device · CPC title

• H05K7/20736

  within cabinets for removing heat from server blades · CPC title

• H05K7/1489

  characterized by the mounting of blades therein, e.g. brackets, rails, trays (H05K7/1491 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H05K7/20709

  for server racks or cabinets; for data centers, e.g. 19-inch computer racks · CPC title