Editing 1439: Rack Unit

{{comic
| number    = 1439
| date      = October 27, 2014
| title     = Rack Unit
| image     = rack_unit.png
| titletext = There's also nothing in the TOSes that says you can't let a dog play baseball in the server room!
}}

==Explanation==
[[Black Hat]] announces to [[Megan]] that {{w|19-inch rack}}s for datacenter servers and {{w|Langstroth hive}} frames are both 19 inches wide (482.6&nbsp;mm), with similar spacing between each slot. Black Hat is motivated by this knowledge to break into a Google datacenter and fill server racks with beehives. He then announces that Google led the world in datacenter honey production, an accomplishment fairly easy to achieve as no other datacenters are producing honey{{Citation needed}}. Obviously, such an action led to Black Hat being kicked out from the facility by security guards and the loss of his hives. When Megan sarcastically consoles Black Hat for the loss of his hives, he declares that he'll find other datacenters to install hives in.

The pitch (or distance between repeating items) of 19&nbsp;inch rack server hardware is measured in {{w|Rack_unit|rack units (U)}}, and is standardized at 1.75" (44.45&nbsp;mm). Langstroth frames are typically mounted at a pitch of [http://www.scottishbeekeepers.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/TDS%20number%205%20langstroth%20and%20md%20hive.pdf 1.5" (38.1&nbsp;mm)], and as a result would fit relatively well with a server cabinet. In contrast to the horizontal orientation of the modules in a server rack, honeycomb frames are designed to hang vertically, so the cells can hold nectar without it dripping out. Whether Black Hat was able to re-orient the racks to suit the needs of honey production remains a mystery.

Some datacenters provide colocation services where customers may install a server at a central location with better bandwidth and power reliability than a customer could provide on their own. Noticing that typical colocation {{w|terms of service}} (TOS) agreements don't specifically rule out the installation of beehives, Black Hat suggests he can enter a legal contract allowing him to install beehives at a data center without being kicked out. This, of course, is because nobody had previously thought that such a rule was necessary. Megan expects this to change once Black Hat starts deliberately exploiting this oversight.

The title text is a reference to the film [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118570/quotes?ref_=tt_ql_3 Air Bud]. The original quote is "Ain't no rules says a dog can't play basketball." Much like Black Hat's beehive plan, the plot of Air Bud relies on a plan being so outlandish that nobody has ever thought to specifically forbid it before.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Black Hat are talking, Megan is sitting at a computer.]
:Black Hat: I've discovered something.
:Megan: Oh?
:Black Hat: Standard server rack units and standard beehive honeycomb frames are compatible.
:Black Hat: They're both 19 inches, with similar pitches.
:Megan: Uh oh.
:Black Hat: I'm pleased to announce that today, for a few hours, Google led the world in datacenter honey production.
:Black Hat: Until their security people kicked me out.
:Megan: I'm sorry your beekeeping career ended so quickly.
:Black Hat: I'll find a new datacenter.
:Black Hat: Turns out most colocation TOSes don't mention beehives.
:Megan: I suspect that will soon change.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Google]]
[[Category:Bees]]
[[Category:Baseball]]