Facebook needs powerful infrastructure to support the numerous activities that users engage in, as well as the enormous content in the form of photos, videos, and text.
The social networking site’s infrastructure is capable of supporting the additional photos, videos, and text that both existing and new users upload every day, as well as the activities that Facebook users engage in during the day and at night.
To support all the numerous activities as well as massive content, the company has constructed four data centers and is currently putting up two more infrastructural facilities. Additionally, Facebook leases extra server space from providers of data centers both inside and outside the USA.
The company’s extensive network of storage centers and servers seamlessly works together to satisfy the needs of all users of the social networking site.
Did you know that before your Facebook homepage becomes available, the system must access hundreds of servers, process a huge amount of data, and then deliver the desired results within a second?
During the initial stages when the company still had no personal server farms, it used to manage its physical infrastructure by renting data center space wholesale from third parties. However, it stopped renting data center space many years ago.
It developed extremely powerful internal-data-center engineering capacities that are used to support one of the most extensive data center portfolios in the world.
Location of Facebook’s hardware
The company constructed its first data center in Prineville, enabling Facebook to have a greater cooling capacity as well as superior customization of power.
The giant social networking site has put up other state-of-the-art data centers in Forest City (N. Carolina), Altoona (Iowa), and Lulea (Sweden).
Other infrastructural facilities are being constructed in Fort Worth (Texas), Los Lunas (N. Mexico), as well as Clonee (Ireland).
How large is the physical facility in Oregon?
As more and more people join Facebook, the infrastructural requirements grow in equal proportion.
Initially, structural engineers had planned that the Oregon Data Center would be 147,000 sq ft in size. When construction got underway, a strategic decision was made to add an extra 160,000 sq ft. As a result, the facility became 307,000 sq ft in size.
In the year 2015, the company secured the requisite permits to construct another humongous facility in Prineville. When complete, the data center will be 487,000 sq ft in size.
The type of servers used by Facebook
Servers used by the giant social networking site are powered by Intel and AMD chips. The chassis and motherboards were (and still are) specially designed and constructed by Quanta, a Taiwanese company.
In the recent past, Facebook experimented with servers powered by ARM. According to a renowned engineer who previously worked for the social networking site, unnecessary components such as FB ads spy tool, paints, paints, bezels, and others are usually eliminated.
Power supplies and cabling are fixed at convenient locations to enable employees to work in a perfect environment.
The servers consist of specially made power supplies that allow the use of 277V alternating current, rather than the normal 208V.
Electric power enters the system at 400/277V and directly goes to the servers. Since it passes through customized power distribution units and UPS systems, the power bypasses the step-down process that many data centers consist of. Delta Electronics and Power One (companies based in Taiwan and California, respectively) were responsible for building the power supplies.
Facebook chose to install UPS units on its servers instead of batteries. Each UPS system contains twenty batteries, with 5 strings of forty-eight Volt direct current batteries.
The power supplies comprise of two connections. One is for direct-current-based Uninterrupted Power Supply, while the other is for alternating-current utility power. Additionally, systems have been put in place to manage current irregularities as well as surge suppression.
The power supplies comprise two connections: one is for direct-current-based Uninterrupted Power Supply, while the other is for alternating-current utility power. Additionally, systems have been put in place to manage current irregularities, as well as surge suppression.
The number of servers used by Facebook
The giant social networking site does not clearly state the number of web servers that support its infrastructure.
Related: Why Small Businesses Should You Facebook For Advertising
In the years 2008, 2009, and 2010, Facebook was running approximately 10,000, 30,000, and 60,000 servers, respectively.
Today, social networking site runs hundreds of thousands of servers. According to the latest report that Facebook submitted to the Securities Exchange Commission, it owns network equipment worth 3.36 billion US dollars.
Is Facebook’s infrastructure in Sweden different from the others?
The infrastructure in Sweden is substantially different from the others. The number of generators was reduced by 70% because the power grid that serves the region is extremely reliable.
Using fewer generators significantly reduces the effects that the infrastructure has on the surrounding environment. The amount of fuel that is stored on-site is less. Additionally, the emissions resulting from the testing of generators are very little.