#Backblaze storage pod install
They would have a sheet metal fabricator construct and paint the chassis, and the contract manufacturer would order and install all the parts. At that point, we decided to outsource the assembly process to a contract manufacturer. We would have the chassis constructed and painted, then we’d order all the parts and assemble the units at our data center. When we first introduced Storage Pods, we were the only ones who built them. Supply chain logistics aren’t getting less interesting Still, it was a challenge as many sources were limiting capacity and shipping nearly everything they had to their larger customers like Dell and Supermicro, who were first in line. Our procurement team was on top of this from the beginning, and we got the parts we needed. It was normal for purchase orders to be cancelled, items to stock out, shipping dates to slip, and even prices to be renegotiated on the fly. With Covid-19, the supply chain was very hard to navigate to procure the various components of a Storage Pod. For standard parts like screws, you can typically find multiple sources, but for a unique part like the chassis, you have to arrange an alternate manufacturer. When you arrange 20 Storage Pods into a Backblaze Vault, you’d like to have 20 systems that are the same to optimize performance. different CPUs, different motherboards, and even different hard drives). But this can lead to building Storage Pods that have different performance characteristics (e.g. For example, since Storage Pod 6.0 was introduced, we’ve had 3 different power supply models be discontinued.įor most of the parts, we actively try to qualify multiple vendors/models whenever we can. Even before Covid-19, we found ourselves dealing with parts that would stock out or be discontinued. Depending on the part, we could order it online or from a distributor or directly from the manufacturer. So, each month we’d need 60 CPUs, 720 SATA cables, 120 power supplies, and so on. Still, each month we currently build 60 or so new Storage Pods.
#Backblaze storage pod software
That’s a trivial number of parts and vendors for a hardware company, but stating the obvious, Backblaze is a software company.
#Backblaze storage pod plus
Each Storage Pod has 25 different parts from 15 different manufacturers/vendors, plus the red chassis, and, of course, the HDDs. You just have to look at the bill of materials for Storage Pod 6.0 to know that we use commercially available parts wherever possible. Follow along as we step through our thought process and let you know what we’re thinking – after all, it’s your data we are storing, and you have every right to know how we plan to do it. A lot has changed.Īs we plan for the next 10 years of providing customers with easy to use cloud storage at a fair price, we need to consider all of these points and more. Since that time, the supply chain for the commodity parts we use continues to reinvent itself, the practice of just-in-time inventory is being questioned, the marketplace for high-density storage servers continues to mature, and the continuing cost effectiveness of scaling the manufacturing and assembly of Storage Pods has proved elusive.
In that post, we contemplated the next generation Backblaze Storage Pod and outlined some of the criteria we’d be considering as we moved forward with Storage Pod 7.0 or perhaps a third-party vendor. In September of 2019, we celebrated the 10-year anniversary of open-sourcing the design of our beloved Storage Pods. By Andy Klein, principal storage cloud evangelist, Backblaze, Inc.
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