{"id":594,"date":"2009-05-16T18:40:27","date_gmt":"2009-05-16T22:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbachnet.wwwmi3-ss40.a2hosted.com\/?p=594"},"modified":"2022-12-30T12:11:56","modified_gmt":"2022-12-30T17:11:56","slug":"server-sprawl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/server-sprawl\/","title":{"rendered":"Server Sprawl"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.datacenterknowledge.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Data Center Knowledge<\/em><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.datacenterknowledge.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-111106 size-medium\" title=\"Server Sprawl\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/servers-1.jpg?resize=150%2C113&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Server Sprawl\" width=\"150\" height=\"113\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/servers-1.jpg?resize=150%2C113&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/servers-1.jpg?resize=75%2C56&amp;ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/servers-1.jpg?w=300&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.datacenterknowledge.com\/archives\/2009\/05\/14\/whos-got-the-most-web-servers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reports<\/a> on an interesting survey from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netcraft.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Netcraft<\/a>. Netcraft has developed a <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20130412220435\/http:\/\/news.netcraft.com\/hosting-provider-server-count\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">technique<\/a> for identifying the number of computers (rather than IP addresses) acting as web servers on the internet. They can then attribute these servers to hosting locations through reverse DNS lookups. This provides an independent view with a consistent methodology worldwide on the numbers of web servers, the rate of growth over time, and the operating systems and web server technology used at each hosting company worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>Through an analysis of public reports and the Netcraft server count, Data Center Knowledge developed a list of organizations with a large number of servers.<\/p>\n<h3>Number of servers<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/order.1and1.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">1&amp;1 Internet<\/a>: 55,000 servers<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rackspace.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rackspace<\/a>: 50,038 servers<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Planet_Internet_Services\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Planet<\/a>: 48,500 servers<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.akamai.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Akamai Technologies<\/a>: 48,000 servers<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ovh.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OVH<\/a>: 40,000 to 55,000 servers<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.att.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SBC Communications<\/a>: 29,193 servers<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www22.verizon.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Verizon<\/a>: 25,788 servers<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20170428222318\/http:\/\/www.timewarnercable.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Time Warner Cable<\/a>: 24,817 servers<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.softlayer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> SoftLayer<\/a>: 21,000 servers<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.att.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AT&amp;T<\/a>: 20,268 servers<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.peer1.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Peer1\/ServerBeach<\/a>: 10,277 servers<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/iweb.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> iWeb<\/a>: 10,000 servers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Data Center Knowledge article goes on to speculate on the degree of server sprawl at some of the more secretive firms:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\">There&#8217;s a widely circulated estimate of 450,000 servers, but that number is at least three years old. If it was ever correct, it certainly isn&#8217;t anymore, given Google&#8217;s data center building spree. Google&#8217;s recently revealed container data center holds more than <a href=\"http:\/\/www.datacenterknowledge.com\/archives\/2009\/04\/01\/google-unveils-its-container-data-center\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">45,000 servers<\/a>, and that&#8217;s a single facility built during 2005.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Microsoft<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\">There are actually some numbers on Microsoft&#8217;s server count, but it&#8217;s also dated. Screenshots from the company&#8217;s data center management software suggest that Microsoft was running about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.datacenterknowledge.com\/archives\/2008\/08\/14\/218000-servers-in-microsoft-data-centers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">218,000 servers<\/a> in mid-2008. The company&#8217;s new <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20091107033328\/http:\/\/www.informationweek.com:80\/news\/hardware\/data_centers\/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208403723\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chicago container farm<\/a> will hold up to 300,000 servers, so the count will change rapidly when that facility is deployed.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amazon<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\">Amazon says very little about its data center operations, but we know that it<a href=\"http:\/\/www.techflash.com\/Amazon_boosts_use_of_Rackable_for_data_centers_41509962.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> bought $86 million in servers from Rackable<\/a> in 2008, and stores 40 billion objects in its S3 storage service.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ebay.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">eBay<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\">With more than 160 million active users between its online auction house and PayPal payment service and 443 million users on Skype, eBay has a massive data center infrastructure. The company houses more than 8.5 petabytes of data in huge data warehouses. We&#8217;re not certain what kind of server count this requires, but it&#8217;s certainly in the 50,000 club.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.yahoo.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yahoo<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\">The third major search portal likely has more than 50,000 servers in operation to support its large free hosting operation as well as its paid hosting service and Yahoo Stores.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.godaddy.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GoDaddy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\">It&#8217;s the world&#8217;s largest domain registrar with more than 35 million domains under management, but effective cross-selling of its hosting plans has also made GoDaddy one of the largest shared hosting operations in the world. Its infrastructure is probably similar in scope to that of 1&amp;1 Internet.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hp.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">HP\/EDS<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\">While server &#8220;ownership&#8221; is less distinct with system integrators, EDS has an enormous data center operation. Company documents say EDS is managing 380,000 servers in 180,000 data centers.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibm.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">IBM<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\">With more than 8 million square feet of data center space, IBM also houses an enormous number of servers in its data centers, both for itself and its customers.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\">Facebook says only that it has more than <a href=\"http:\/\/www.datacenterknowledge.com\/archives\/2008\/04\/23\/facebook-now-running-10000-web-servers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">10,000 servers<\/a>, but it&#8217;s been saying that since April 2008 and it&#8217;s now serving 200 million users and hosting at least 40 billion photos. Facebook is clearly way beyond 10,000 servers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><a title=\"Ralph Bach\" href=\"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/new-resume\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ralph Bach<\/a>\u00a0has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his\u00a0<a title=\"Bach Seat\" href=\"https:\/\/rbach.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bach Seat<\/a> about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on <a class=\"broken_link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/rb48334\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">LinkedIn<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ralph.bach.14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Faceboo<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rbach48334\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter<\/a>. Email the Bach Seat\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:\/\/bach.seat@gmail.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Netcraft can ID the number of web servers on the internet to find the numbers of web servers rate growth rate OS &#038; web server technology worldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[3216,22,15,2194],"class_list":["post-594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-networking","tag-3216","tag-hardware","tag-networking","tag-server"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132767,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions\/132767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}