At Concentric Sky, we spend a lot of time thinking about how to make technology better. Sometimes that means making something faster. Sometimes it means making it more fun or easier to use. Often it means making something more reliable.
The foundation for a reliable Internet technology is a reliable network and, perhaps even more importantly, a reliable server. We host all of our services on top-tier hardware from top-tier vendors. Modern computers are extremely complex, however, and even a AAA vendor can’t guarantee that none of their machines go out the door without minor problems. In light of that, before a server goes into production at Concentric Sky, it gets an early workout from a variety of testing tools to make absolutely sure that everything is performing exactly as it should. A recent addition to our suite of tools is Breakin from Advanced Clustering Technologies, Inc.
Breakin puts an extremely heavy, focused load on a server’s processor, RAM, and hard disks. The 72 hour stress test exposes small imperfections and failures in the hardware - problems that would go unnoticed during the normal run of things.
I’ve had several instances where brand new and seemingly healthy machines fell down under the stress that Breakin put them under. By doing this testing pre-deployment, we dramatically lower the chances that we will have unexpected hardware failures in production. That’s good for everyone.
Like most of the software we use, Breakin is Open Source - but it doesn’t seem to be under a specific license. Visit Advanced Clustering for more information. If you host your own systems, download a copy yourself and give it a try. Even if you don’t discover problems lurking in your hardware, the peace of mind you gain will be worth the time!
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