On 29/01/2007, at 12:50 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
On 28-Jan-07, at 7:59 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
On 27-Jan-07, at 10:15 PM, Anantha N. Srirama wrote:
... ZFS will not stop alpha particle induced memory corruption
after data has been received by server and verified to be correct.
Sadly I've been hit with that as well.
My brother points out that you can use a rad hardened CPU. ECC
should
take care of the RAM. :-)
I wonder when the former will become data centre best practice?
Alpha particles which "hit" CPUs must have their origin inside said
CPU.
(Alpha particles do not penentrate skin, paper, let alone system
cases
or CPU packagaging)
Thanks. But what about cosmic rays?
I was just in pedantic mode; "cosmic rays" is the term covering
all different particles, including alpha, beta and gamma rays.
Alpha rays don't reach us from the "cosmos"; they are caught
long before they can do any harm. Ditto beta rays. Both have
an electrical charge that makes passing magnetic fields or passing
through materials difficult. Both do exist "in the free" but are
commonly caused by slow radioactive decay of our natural environment.
Gamma rays are photons with high energy; they are not capture by
magnetic fields (such as those existing in atoms: electons, protons).
They need to take a direct hit before they're stopped; they can only
be stopped by dense materials, such as lead. Unfortunately, natural
occuring lead is polluted by pollonium and uranium and is an alpha/
beta
source in its own right. That's why 100 year old lead from roofs is
worth more money than new lead: it's radioisotopes have been depleted.
<ludicrous_topic_drift>
Ok, I'll bite. It's been a long day, so that may be why I can't see
why the radioisotopes in lead that was dug up 100 years ago would be
any more depleted than the lead that sat in the ground for the
intervening 100 years. Half-life is half-life, no?
Now if it were something about the modern extraction process that
added contaminants, then I can see it.
</ludicrous_topic_drift>
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