Facebook Data Move Project Facebook deals with various kinds of risks on a regular basis, and the risk of service interruption is high on the list. About five years ago, Facebook was involved in a multimillion-dollar effort to move a terabyte of data from a near-capacity data center to a then new higher-capacity data warehouse. The project was scheduled to be completed in 100 days with no provision for any schedule delays. In Facebook terms, a terabyte is equivalent to 250 billion “Likes” on Facebook. The project had two phases, i.e., building and outfitting the new data warehouse, and then moving data to the warehouse. The new data warehouse was designed so the servers could handle four times as much data as the current servers, and the processors and software were upgraded as well. As a result, the new data warehouse could hold eight times more data than the current data center, and it could also move and manage data more efficiently. To reduce the risks the project team took a number of steps. They set up clear expectations with both the vendors involved in the project and internal stakeholders up front so everyone could fit their objectives into those of Facebook’s. The project team conducted round-the-clock testing of the hardware, the software, and the ability of both to work together to deliver the speed, volume, and accuracy Facebook was depending on. To transfer the data to the new warehouse, they had a choice between loading the data onto the equipment before physically moving it to the warehouse (but risking lost or damaged equipment in the move), versus moving and checking the equipment first, then flowing the data directly to the new site (but risking a network outage or a site crash disrupting the entire Facebook website). They took the risk of the latter, but planned multiple risk avoidance steps. First, they had to calculate how long it would take to flow the terabyte of data, assuming no network failures or power outages. They found this to be 3 weeks. But there was still a risk that the data flow would use too much network capacity and affect the website. To avoid this, the team built a customer application to throttle the data by limiting and monitoring the bandwidth throughout the entire 3-week data flow. The team also performed constant error-checking and data-level corrections to keep the flow synchronized, and alert the team if problems arose. Their up-front detailed planning, constant monitoring, and risk avoidance measures paid off in a successful data move to the new data warehouse, on time with no delays or downtime. Required: Discuss the type of risk responses you think Facebook used on this project Discuss other approaches Facebook could have used to handle the risks on this project
Facebook Data Move Project
Facebook deals with various kinds of risks on a regular basis, and the risk of service interruption is high on the list. About five years ago, Facebook was involved in a multimillion-dollar effort to move a terabyte of data from a near-capacity data center to a then new higher-capacity data warehouse. The project was scheduled to be completed in 100 days with no provision for any schedule delays. In Facebook terms, a terabyte is equivalent to 250 billion “Likes” on Facebook.
The project had two phases, i.e., building and outfitting the new data warehouse, and then moving data to the warehouse. The new data warehouse was designed so the servers could handle four times as much data as the current servers, and the processors and software were upgraded as well. As a result, the new data warehouse could hold eight times more data than the current data center, and it could also move and manage data more efficiently. To reduce the risks the project team took a number of steps. They set up clear expectations with both the vendors involved in the project and internal stakeholders up front so everyone could fit their objectives into those of Facebook’s. The project team conducted round-the-clock testing of the hardware, the software, and the ability of both to work together to deliver the speed, volume, and accuracy Facebook was depending on.
To transfer the data to the new warehouse, they had a choice between loading the data onto the equipment before physically moving it to the warehouse (but risking lost or damaged equipment in the move), versus moving and checking the equipment first, then flowing the data directly to the new site (but risking a network outage or a site crash disrupting the entire Facebook website). They took the risk of the latter, but planned multiple risk avoidance steps.
First, they had to calculate how long it would take to flow the terabyte of data, assuming no network failures or power outages. They found this to be 3 weeks. But there was still a risk that the data flow would use too much network capacity and affect the website. To avoid this, the team built a customer application to throttle the data by limiting and monitoring the bandwidth throughout the entire 3-week data flow. The team also performed constant error-checking and data-level corrections to keep the flow synchronized, and alert the team if problems arose. Their up-front detailed planning, constant monitoring, and risk avoidance measures paid off in a successful data move to the new data warehouse, on time with no delays or downtime.
Required:
- Discuss the type of risk responses you think Facebook used on this project
- Discuss other approaches Facebook could have used to handle the risks on this project
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