Some servers die quietly in their racks, with little fanfare. But not these servers. Some failed to meet expectations. Others were found to be convenient fodder for marketing stunts. All of them had their demise preserved on video and posted on the Internet. We present the Data Center Knowledge Gallery of Exploding Servers, with some falling and crushing servers thrown in for good measure. (Note: please don't try any of this at home, or anywhere else. If you have issues with your servers, live vicariously through these videos).

REPURPOSED BY THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT:

GoGrid, the cloud computing unit of San Francisco's ServePath, recently launched a series of promotional videos at NoHardware.com in which Dr. GoGrid (actually CEO John Keagy) presides over the spectacular demolition of a pile of server hardware.

As part of its "Disaster-Proof" marketing campaign, HP blew up a data center's worth of equipment to demonstrate the failover capabilities of its technology. And, of course, to create a bitching explosion. "We're going to blow this data center to bits," the announcer promises. And they do. (The failover capabilities are okay, too).



"YOU HAVE DISAPPOINTED ME FOR THE LAST TIME!"

The staff at ShopperMagic decided to give one of their web servers an early retirement "in a manner that allowed us to 'feel good' because it had kept support staff up for many nights trying to sort it out." The server gets a reprogramming it will never forget.

In this video, a YouTube user with a clear enthusiasm for firearms offers a video of "me sending my netserver LH-pro out in style with a 2 pound mongo exploding target and a mosin nagant." Not sure what all that means, but it clearly gets the job done.

We're not sure what sins this server has committed, but the video maker says that "100 grams of C4" were used in dispensing justice. The action commences at the 35-second mark.

Not enough? Check out videos of Flying and Crashing Servers