https://motherboard.vice.com/read/a-loud-sound-just-shut-down-a-banks-data-center-for-10-hours
ING Bank's main data center in Bucharest, Romania, was severely damaged over the weekend during a fire extinguishing test. In what is a very rare but known phenomenon, it was the loud sound of inert gas being released that destroyed dozens of hard drives. The site is currently offline and the bank relies solely on its backup data center, located within a couple of miles' proximity.
"The drill went as designed, but we had collateral damage", ING's spokeswoman in Romania told me, confirming the inert gas issue. Local clients were unable to use debit cards and to perform online banking operations on Saturday between 1PM and 11PM because of the test. "Our team is investigating the incident," she said.
The purpose of the drill was to see how the data center's fire suppression system worked. Data centers typically rely on inert gas to protect the equipment in the event of a fire, as the substance does not chemically damage electronics, and the gas only slightly decreases the temperature within the data center.
(Score: 2) by MrGuy on Monday September 12 2016, @05:44PM
A massive pressure wave from the rapid release of highly pressurized gas knocked out a data center.
Calling it "a loud sound" is technically accurate, as all sound waves are pressure waves in air, but it's terribly misleading in this context. This is like calling the pressure wave after an explosive detonation "a loud sound." Calling it a "sound" seems like something you could do if you turn your boom box up to 11 in the datacenter.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Monday September 12 2016, @07:37PM
A massive pressure wave from the rapid release of highly pressurized gas knocked out a data center.
How do you know it wasn't the sound, rather than the pressure wave of the released gas?
It's not like people's ears pop (or, err, whatever the opposite of ear-popping is) when they release halon in tests, is it?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk