TABLE OF CONTENTS –
How Does Cryptocurrency “Mining” Work?
Cryptocurrency prices, especially Bitcoin, keep catching the eyes of possible “miners”. Many “miners” don’t just see crypto as a mere craze, they see it as a long-term asset to invest in. The cryptocurrency price rise and fall over a period of time theoretically doesn’t affect the long-term investment value of the cryptocurrency industry. So, cryptocurrency mining has become a long-term activity for many in the financial industry. Other “miners” don’t even keep the crypto they mine, they can just simply sell the rewards immediately and just get paid in FIAT for providing a service.
Bitcoin & other cryptocurrency transactions decentralize the work of verifying transactions, and rely on users to assist each other in verification. Generally speaking regardless of consensus mechanism, to take part in verifying a transaction, your computer “node” must solve a series of complex cryptographic problems.
After solving the problems and completing the verification, the transaction can be processed. The wallet address, transaction amount, and transaction times of both parties are added to the new “block” of the decentralized ledger.
This whole process is called “mining”, and the “miners” who successfully complete the verification can obtain a certain amount of cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin as a reward.
Proof of Work (PoW)
Bitcoin
Bitcoin transactions decentralize the work of verifying transactions, and rely on users to assist each other in verification.
Since the number of bitcoins is limited, in order to ensure the long-term stable operation of the system, the difficulty of solving problems will become more difficult as more people invest in mining.
And miners will also need more powerful computers to successfully solve problems.
In order to improve computing power, miners can pool their computing power to mine together, and then split the income according to the contribution process. The gathering place is called a “mining pool”.
PoW – Considerations for Data Center
- Very high power consumption
- Very high heat output
- Miners have a lot of individual CPUs to manage & need to keep all nodes upgraded to latest software
Proof of Stake (PoS)
Ethereum, Avalanche, Cosmos, Terra LUNA, Polkadot, Solana, etc.
Proof of Stake protocols like Ethereum 2 use a different method to secure the blockchain than Proof of Work. Instead of securing the protocol using “miners” / “validators” competing on larger and larger computing resources via “Hash power”, PoS blockchains use a deposit of money, or “stake”, to economically ensure participants are honest.
Because of this change in the consensus mechanisms’ game theory design, PoS blockchains are much more energy efficient at validating transactions than PoW blockchains like Bitcoin. An example of this is the Avalanche blockchain, which handles billions in transaction value per year, but still only uses as much electricity as 46 US households1.
While PoS substantially lowers technological overhead for participating in consensus, it does carry increased risk for the operators. At any point if the “miners” / “validators” computer “node” becomes inactive because of a power or network failure, or if the operator forgets to upgrade their mining software, they will automatically incur substantial financial penalties by being “slashed” from their deposited “stake”.
PoS – Considerations for Data Center
- Requires 99.99%+ uptime – miner gets “Slashed” (loses money) with any accidental downtime
- Miner needs to keep all nodes upgraded to latest software
Impact on the Data Center Facilities
As Bitcoin & cryptocurrency mining continues to proliferate, more data centers will be required to consider daily online business in the cryptocurrency space.
On one hand, more new data centers will need to be constructed. On the other hand, the increasing trend of online cryptocurrency activity will also have impact on existing data centers.
Apart from hosting high density computing servers, data centers need to plan for the design of their infrastructure and rack equipment in order to provide the sufficient power and cooling to these high density rack mount servers.
As bitcoin mining equipment becomes more complex, the amount of heat generated by the hardware increases.
Mining servers are operating at very high ambient temperatures. Data centers need to be equipped with airflow cooling solution in order to cool down the intensive computing equipment with high power densities.
Cooling can be achieved by managing the thermal conditions in the rack space using rack level airflow movement.
An efficient rack level airflow management via rack fans can reduce the cost of data center infrastructure without high cost liquid cooling unit or room level CRAC solution.
Rack Aisle Containment
To reduce energy costs and noise in the data center, you must isolate the hot and cold airflow through each rack and the entire room. Austin Hughes’s latest innovation in Cold Aisle Containment has focused on total air isolation which not only reduce energy cost but also optimize power availability. It increases cooling efficiencies by up to 40%.
While everyone pays attention to Bitcoin price, what many people overlook is that the electricity consumed by miners to “mine” cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Since bitcoin mining is a computationally intensive activity, the demand for computing power increases over time. The energy consumption is significant due to the enormous amount of computing power that is required for bitcoin mining.
Because of the high power consumption of bitcoin mining, data center providers need to design how to distribute power in their facilities and find power redundancy plan to ensure 7/24 non-stop server operation.
Racks with mining servers have some unique requirements for the PDU (Power Distribution Unit).
Austin Hughes remote power solutions help you manage all of your IT equipment remotely. No more annoying power-outs or having to visit the data center!
Example Power Solutions for Crypto Mining:
- Three phase PDU or High Power PDU ( e.g. 50A PDU, 60A PDU, 63A PDU ) for high computing power
- Intelligent PDU or metered PDU with billing grade accuracy for energy consumption metering
- Dual power feed PDU for connection to primary & secondary power sources
- ATS (automatic transfer switch) for power redundancy.
Power Distribution & Monitoring Units
PDU
InfraPower Power Distribution Units encompass Basic PDUs, Metered PDUs, and Intelligent PDUs. Offered in many sizes and configurations, our Rack PDUs provide the voltage, current, outlet number and type of connections required to fit any need.
Dual-Feed PDU
Save valuable rack space with Austin Hughes Dual Feed rack Power Distribution Units (PDUs). Dual Feed PDUs are designed to house two PDUs in a single chassis. Colored PDU layout distinguishes between primary and redundant (A&B) power feeds.
Power Monitoring Units
Rack Inline Meter
InfraPower Power Distribution Units encompass Basic PDUs, Metered PDUs, and Intelligent PDUs. Offered in many sizes and configurations, our Rack PDUs provide the voltage, current, outlet number and type of connections required to fit any need.
Note, Intelligent PDUs support the same power monitoring functionality as Rack Inline Meters – no separate units required for inline power monitoring.
Remote Power Control
MiniBoot
Remote power reboot and monitoring functions are essential for hardware systems. MiniBoot Web Power Reboot & Monitoring device offers a cost-efficient power solution for any environment with electronic devices or systems. Users can try to recover the crashed device by remote reboot, reducing the need to send engineers to site (less personnel and travel costs by negating the need for staff to be at the equipment location) therefore improving uptime and productivity. MiniBoot local meter provides a local 3-digit RMS current measurement with accuracy ± ( 3% of the reading + 5 last digits ) RMS. It helps avoid current overload in a mission critical equipment environment.
Note, Intelligent PDUs support the same remote reboot & monitoring functionality as MiniBoot – no separate units required for these features.
In order to fulfill the high computing requirements for bitcoin & cryptocurrency mining, data center managers often need to maximize the number of servers in their rack space.
Heavy duty loading & tall server racks are required to house the high density computing servers.
Intelligent Racks
Designed to meet the needs of data center managers the InfraRack Intelligent Server Rack Series combines the features and functionality of Austin Hughes popular server rack with enhanced rack access control.
InfraRack is pre-configured with smartcard handles, LED light bar and temperature sensor making it the intelligent choice.
IT Rack Solutions – Server Enclosures, Wall Mount, 2-Post, IP55, ODF, etc.
Austin Hughes designs UltraRack IT server racks, IP55 Water & Dust Resistant Racks, 2-Post Racks, Fiber ODF Racks, InfraAisle cold aisle containment, and much more. Austin Hughes rack solutions combine next-generation structural integrity, cooling, power distribution, cable management, security, ease-of-use capabilities, and a wide choice of configuration options for increased flexibility.
Rack Sensor Solution
For mission critical data centres, the ability to remotely manage the cabinet environment is vital. Environmental issues with cabinets, including high temperature & humidity, smoke, water leakage, physical threats, unauthorized door access, power and cooling inefficiencies can have a significant impact on operational performance and efficiency.
Rack Access Control
InfraSolution products enhance rack level security by upgrading existing racks with NumPad / SmartCard locks. Networked versions further increase your security and access efficiency through remote rack IP door access with HID Proximity or MiFARE swipe card control, temperature & humidity monitoring, and integrated control with monitored and switched rack PDUs.
Note, InfraRack Intelligent Racks include the InfraSolution rack access solution – no separate units required.
All-in-one Control Solutions
Austin Hughes offers a large variety of KVM switches designed to allow users to control & switch between all the computers in an environment from a single convenient 1U rack mount solution.
CyberView KVMs have been designed to be driver-free to work with all known software and computer platforms, and have been tested and approved with CE, UKCA, FCC, REACH, RoHS3, WEEE Certifications for IT, manufacturing, SOHO, commercial, military, government, and broadcast applications.
CyberView KVMs support high definition resolutions up to 1080p & 1920 x 1200 (via local, remote, and IP**).
Access all your servers remotely with high performance IP 1080p**
CyberView IP KVMs only require a web browser to connect to computer sources remotely from anywhere in the world. Our IP based method employs enterprise grade security using AES encryption. BIOS-level Access removes the need to ever be physically present with servers.
1080p IP Brochure
Integrated KVM Extenders – Remote Access
CyberView KVMs can also be optionally controlled by users from up to 150m (500ft) away. Integrated CATx extenders allow you to easily connect the included remote user stations over single CATx cables.
Austin Hughes manufactures a variety of KVM Extenders with Keyboard / Mouse / Video / USB / Audio extension to fit any application. These units be used to extend distances between connected computers, KVM switches, and user consoles, up to 150 meters (500 feet) or 70 meters (230 feet) away via a single Cat6 cable, or unlimited distance accessible from anywhere in the world via IP web. CyberView Extenders support HDMI or VGA sources up to 4K resolution, and can be adapted to support any video type.
Remote Management Software
Austin Hughes offers an extensive range of market driven management software solutions to offer the most flexible device management for any application. Our range of software solutions help you consolidate and manage your rack power, cooling, environmental and access control systems.
Most of our Intelligent models include free software to remotely manage all the devices in your Server Room & Control Center.
Request an online demo now to try out our browser-based software. Interact with each rack device and learn more about individual features of our software before making the decision to buy.
Get Help With Your Solution!
Let us help you configure the ideal solution for your bitcoin or cryptocurrency mining operation.
We support a worldwide customer base through global locations in the Americas, EMEA, APAC and ASEAN which is complimented by an extensive authorized channel partner network in all regions. Our experienced teams are committed to providing a truly harmonised support structure. Our expertly trained sales and technical teams fully cater for customer specific requirements on all our solutions with exemplary pre and post sale services.