I wanted to take time to post a constructive post to attempt to help people understand why this server process takes time. Granted I don't know the exact problem, but I would like to give some of the community insight into why these things take time.
History: How I know
I myself was one of 10 Database admins for another company, said company will not be mentioned, but yes it was "one" of the big ones. I have since moved to a new company that is not involved with gaming, but I do the same thing.
The Hardware
For those who are unfamiliar, most MMO's use Oracle Databaes, for those who don't know what Oracle data bases are, they are basically HUGE databases that can process thousands of data requests per second. The SERVERS that everyone talks about are usually clusters of many smaller servers tied together with software to basically make a "small" supercomputer. Each "node" Holds xxy number of servers in this case Realms.
What can go wrong
Well obviously a mulitiude of things, but most of the time it is a problem of the database having to serve up WAY to many files at one time. As included in the blue post
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-general&t=599926&p=1&tmp=1#post599926 This Data is related to everything from LOGIN, to LOOT, to NPC spawns, etc. IF the database becomes too logged, it can cause the servers to "lag" in the areas it is responsible for. In this case loot, NPC's in areas, missions etc. When the database becomes too logged or bogged down, there are failsafes coded into it to "make" it go down. The reason for this is to preserve YOUR data. Data corrupts very easily and it is not taken lightly by the admins to have to loose data.
How they fix it
Most of the time it requires taking the servers down and "rebuilding" the database. This is usually done during normal maintainence, but in cases of trouble, it is required they do it immediately. However THEY MUST FIND THE BUG TO ELMINATE IT BEFORE THEY CAN START THE PROCESS.
So, I would imagine that Bliz has been hard at work today finding the suspect bug, and attempting to eliminate it, rebuilding the DB's and steadily putting servers back online.
What doesn't help
Overtaxing the Database. This is a simple but ignored common sense rule. Most of the time the Login server is not "down" Bliz takes it offline because people attempt to login 90000000 times after they KNOW its down. This puts unecessary strain on an already problematic area.
What can I do
Nothing per say, however in my experience, whining never helped. Honestly we had community reps like Cay and Ty come in and show us posts they locked and ill thought respones, we would laugh, so would they. Why? Because it just TAKES TIME for the servers and databases to get fixed. People on the inside know it, and TRY to help people on the outside understand. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Also understand that Blizzard, while close to a release date, has REAL people working and REAL people get tiered and burt out too. Think of your real life jobs and thier situations. Try to respect them and understand that these things will take time and it is unavoidable. Yes better now than in retail, and thats why the word beta is in place right now.
If you feel the need to post comments, feel free to do so, if they are flames, that is fine. I am not affect by internet hate.
Regards.
블리자드쪽에서 쓴 글은 아니고, IT쪽에서 일하는 사람이 남긴 글입니다.
꽤 읽어볼만 합니다. 북미쪽의 랙 문제는 우리나라보다 덜하긴 하지만...
영어 압박 느끼는 분들은 그냥 아래 두 문장만 보시면 됩니다.
` 서버 문제의 해결을 위해선 버그를 잡아야 하므로 시간이 필요하다 `
` 내 경험에 따른다면, 불평만 하는 것은 아무런 도움이 되지 않는다 `
더 읽고 싶으시면 영어 공부하세요.
디아3
