What Happens to Linode’s Obsolete Servers After an Upgrade?
This is the first of a recurring topic that will explore Linode “behind the scenes.”
What happens to Linode servers in our datacenters once they’ve served their useful life? Once retired, where do our server hosts go? When Linode upgraded its fleet to SSDs from HDDs there must have been a lot of shuffling around of hardware in those server cabinets. Surprisingly, I’ve never really thought about it until now.
I recently had the opportunity to sit down and speak with Alex Peña, a Linode research and development engineer, about this. Having been with Linode for nearly two years, Alex has witnessed entire datacenters come online, as well as overseen hundreds — if not thousands — of hosts being decommissioned. It would be safe to say he’s quite knowledgeable about the entire process.
Soh: When do we decide we need to decommission hosts?
Alex: There’s definitely criteria that needs to be satisfied for a host to remain part of our active fleet as we strive to provide the fastest, most powerful and reliable hosts for our users.
We follow a 3–5 year life cycle for our hosts, which is industry standard.
Some things can speed up a retirement of a host, such as an upgrade like the move from HDD to SSD in 2014. This required a significant investment in newer hardware while retiring the older hardware.
Soh: Is there anything that we physically destroy?
Alex: Hard drives are always shredded from a host. That’s pretty much it.
Because we moved to SSDs nearly two years ago, we’ve rid most of our fleet of all HDDs through shredding.
Soh: Why do we shred hard drives?
Alex: We do it as a security measure to ensure both customer and Linode data is irrecoverable. We have mechanisms in place on our host hardware to sanitize and permanently overwrite customer data on the disks so that it can no longer be read, but we prefer to be safe than sorry. Even with our secure disk scrubbing we do not want to leave even the smallest chance that a fragment could be retrieved from these decommissioned disks. So, we physically destroy the disks in a manner similar to a paper shredder and paper.
Soh: That’s responsible and reassuring. Who takes care of this ‘shredding’?
Alex: We have certified partners in each region, all over the world, that we commission.
Soh: So, there could be a different partner for each region? How do we select these partners? What would make them certified?
Alex: We look for certifications, such as ISO 14001 and NAID AAA, to prove that they understand how to handle this media, will destroy the hard drives as per the industry standard, and that the waste is properly disposed of in an economically efficient and ecologically responsible way.
It’s not enough to just “get rid” of these things, we need to do it so that we don’t leave a mess for future generations to take care of.
Soh: I had never considered that disposing of older hardware could cause issues with the environment. I’m glad Linode has decided to stay green. So, what actually happens during this shredding process?
Alex: The hard drives are physically shredded on site at our datacenters. During this process the drives are destroyed to a degree that all that remains are metal fragments. It would be impossible to retrieve any data from anything that remains.
The shredding company brings their disposal equipment to us. We always have a Linode operations team member supervise the entire disposal operation on site to ensure everything is properly taken care of. Once shredded, these hard drives are recycled.
Soh: I love how eerie that sounds — hard drives enter, but they never leave in one piece. How long does this process take?
Alex: That depends on the amount of drives being retired. Typically, we deal with thousands being shredded in a single batch, which takes about two days each. Add another three or four days for the hard drive remains to be removed and taken to a recycling center.
Soh: It could take the better part of a week or so for the entire process of pulling HDDs, shredding, and finally properly disposing of them. At this point, the data is entirely gone and irretrievable, right?
Alex: Yes. Forever.
(Alex has also shared with us a video of the final product of our HDDs after they’re ‘cared for’)
Soh: Is there anything that isn’t shredded on a server?
Alex: Of course. The chassis, motherboard, memory, cpu. Pretty much everything but the hard drives remains operational.
Soh: What happens to the intact remains of the entire host?
Alex: We donate! We usually find a home for the hosts, after all, the hardware performance — while below our standards — is still good. In the past, we’ve installed new hard drives and delivered them to nearby colleges, projects and other community-driven endeavours. Past recipients include NJIT, TCNJ, Atlantic Cape Community College, and even Modesto Junior College in California, the alma mater of one of our team members.
We also offer the retired hosts to our employees. Then, if there’s simply too many hosts leftover, we actually sell the remaining components — chassis, motherboard, etc.
Soh: Wow, so we try to find a purpose and home for the retired hardware? That’s pretty nice, and the remains that do get shredded are recycled. I’ve gotten the answers to my questions. Thanks to Alex.
I’ve been involved with hosting environments for years now, but I’ve never really thought to ask about this topic. All of the decision-making is pretty mind-blowing. The amount of responsibility when dealing with so much data and deciding what to do with hardware remains can be pretty hefty.
I also looked into press releases for some of those donations to the colleges. We’ve made server donations to NJIT, TCNJ and Atlantic Cape Community College. Over a million dollars in servers went to NJIT specifically, and we sent hundreds of servers to TCNJ. ACCC rebuilt its datacenter with 40 of our donated servers. Good gosh!
I’m glad Linode chooses to take the green route to recycle HDDs and repurpose the remaining hardware to help local schools and community organizations. It’s also reassuring to know that we go to such lengths to make sure these disks cannot be read or used after disposal.
So, my curiosity has been satisfied. What about yours? Have you any questions or comments? What’s been your experience with retired servers? Feel free to respond in the comments section below or contact me on Twitter, @feelingsohsoh.
