Account merge, Server list merge, Forum merge
By
Baby_Phoenix,
Posted on: 2008-08-04 09:17 in Suggestions and Ideas
It depends on how the DBs are implemented.
Are they separate or there is one DB with multiple tables?
If separate DBs..on the same hardware or different hardware?
NAS?
Anyway server transfer is possible (US-EU, passport badge 
), the system knows how to access "separate" DBs
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...just needs improving.
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agreed
While I agree that it does depend on how it's implemented, my programmer/system architect sense tell me it's different DB servers. Why? Because MMO servers are all about transaction speed. NAS? No way, too slow. Hardwired disc systems, maybe on fibre.
Server transfers also indicate that it's seperate servers. Batch mode data transfers, probably carried out during offline maintainance.
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
NettApp FTW!
cannot be beaten on transaction speed (well it can but takes a very big stick!) ,reliability and product support. unfortunately its expensive so start paying for respecs and fund the future!!! Uncle SAN needs you!
So, I looked it up. It's a network storage package, yeah?
Sorry, no networked storage is ever going to beat the data transfer speed of dedicated fibre datalinks. Aside from anything else, you don't have a network stack to deal with.
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
not just a network storage package, its , (in my experience working on SAN and NAS in datacentres over 10 years now - I put this in not as a boast but to try to quantify my opinion and show that its not just blinky light blindness) THE network file storage solution.
latest releases: http://www.enterprisestorageforum.co...le.php/3751996
still NAS but fibre channel between disk arrays and filer head which takes the weight off the DB server and speeds transaction times. It can also be connected via fibre directly without IP addressing requirements (making it more of a SAN solution than a NAS , in fact netapp are more well known for their SAN capability than their NAS functionality). Actually I think Netapp prefer the term FAS for their fabric attached storage systems.
as for speed:
http://www.netapp.com/us/company/news/Ne...nce_Record.html
however, these things are incredibly expensive. in over ten years I have only installed 2 of these systems for customers - a large financial and a govt. body.
I like the idea of having access to US servers and being able to play there. I don't wanna leave the EU servers and my friends there. But i would love to have access to the US and the option to play there without having to pay double... tho more like 50% more since dollar is cheap now 
Prolly all kinds of legal and business stuff which would hunder this tho :|
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THE network file storage solution.
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Aye, but it still has the term 'network' in it. Give me dedicated channels any day. Mind you, I learned disc systems from the guys that used to optimise subsystems at Tandem. They had the best clustering technologies in the world.
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
Merge the US and EU forums? Maybe.
Merge the US and EU servers?...
EHHHH.
In my opinion some sort of shell or new server list that shows all servers incl the european ones is technical no problem and would be a gods end...
Having one account for eu and us would be fantastic...
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In my opinion some sort of shell or new server list that shows all servers incl the european ones is technical no problem and would be a gods end...
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You opinion as what?
A Database specialist?
A network engineer?
A lead programmer on an MMO?
Or as someone who just wants it to happen?
If it really was this easy I think that perhaps the devs might have done something already... I doubt it is as they haven't!
Its just as I see it from other games.. like AOC managed it. The tech wouldn't be any harder, its legal and VAT issues stopping them.
But if this cant be managed... why ever remove the posibility to transfer US > EU? If that keeps active all people who mistakenly started a trial on us (and there are a LOT) would be able to get to eu... while keeping their badges and veterans.
- The Italian Job: The Godfather Returns #1151
Beginner - Encounter a renewed age for the Mook and the Family when Emile Marcone escapes from the Zig!
- Along Came a... Bug!? #528482
Average - A new race of aliens arrives on Earth. And Vanguard has you investigate them!
- The Court of the Blood Countess: The Rise of the Blood Countess #3805
Advanced - Go back in time and witness the birth of a vampire. Follow her to key moments in her life in order to stop her! A story of intrigue, drama and horror! Blood & Violence... not recommend to solo!
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Its just as I see it from other games.. like AOC managed it. The tech wouldn't be any harder, its legal and VAT issues stopping them.
But if this cant be managed... why ever remove the posibility to transfer US > EU? If that keeps active all people who mistakenly started a trial on us (and there are a LOT) would be able to get to eu... while keeping their badges and veterans.
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EVE runs on a shardless system, eg everyone is on in effect a single server. But it proves nothing, because you can do something in one system does not mean it is possible in another.
I have no real idea about the legality of the system, it could just be an excuse. But equally it could a real and limiting constraint that they can't just get round that easily. AoC/EvE/etc may have done what you want but as they are separate legal entities there is no real comparison.
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Its just as I see it from other games.. like AOC managed it. The tech wouldn't be any harder, its legal and VAT issues stopping them.
But if this cant be managed... why ever remove the posibility to transfer US > EU? If that keeps active all people who mistakenly started a trial on us (and there are a LOT) would be able to get to eu... while keeping their badges and veterans.
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EVE runs on a shardless system, eg everyone is on in effect a single server. But it proves nothing, because you can do something in one system does not mean it is possible in another.
I have no real idea about the legality of the system, it could just be an excuse. But equally it could a real and limiting constraint that they can't just get round that easily. AoC/EvE/etc may have done what you want but as they are separate legal entities there is no real comparison.
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Interestinly I've heard nothing about the legalities standing in the way since NCEU and NC North America merged together.
That doesn't mean they don't still exist but GR has commented that "there are no plans to merge" a few times since the merger but has failed to cite this reason, which used to be used every time by Bridger etc as a reason.
Not saying it doesn't still exist but it hasn't been clarified.
To be honest when the merger was announced of the two divisions it did occur to me that it could be paving the way towards a merger of server groups.
/em facepalm
why are ppl still discussing about a merge, there something called a global server.
if they implanted just one global server, any problem with merging servers or anything els would just blow away.
LOL basically... just LOL.
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/em facepalm
why are ppl still discussing about a merge, there something called a global server.
if they implanted just one global server, any problem with merging servers or anything els would just blow away.
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Well, sort of - the "problem" of all the people saying they'd leave if toon name clashes meant they'd need to rename would certainly be blown away as they all cancelled their subs.
Server responsiveness would be blown away too; Freedom alone can barely handle its current population - how well do you think a global server would do if it had to handle Freedom's population and that of all other US and EU servers combined?
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/em facepalm
why are ppl still discussing about a merge, there something called a global server.
if they implanted just one global server, any problem with merging servers or anything els would just blow away.
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Well, sort of - the "problem" of all the people saying they'd leave if toon name clashes meant they'd need to rename would certainly be blown away as they all cancelled their subs.
Server responsiveness would be blown away too; Freedom alone can barely handle its current population - how well do you think a global server would do if it had to handle Freedom's population and that of all other US and EU servers combined?
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with servers made for the 150.00 players, it's not weird they don't spent more money on a server then needed.
but if they take one strong one, one that can take at least 40.000 players, then it's a lesser problem.
they cal always begin with one server, having a second one is an open option but not yet necessary.
i believe they are actually planning the implementation of a single global or serviles environment i would assume if they were doing this they would have some kind of way around the duplication of names (some kind of invisible character perhaps) i would also assume they would have some way around the potential server melt perhaps ones could be spanned across multiple servers to lessen the load or something
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/em facepalm
why are ppl still discussing about a merge, there something called a global server.
if they implanted just one global server, any problem with merging servers or anything els would just blow away.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well, sort of - the "problem" of all the people saying they'd leave if toon name clashes meant they'd need to rename would certainly be blown away as they all cancelled their subs.
Server responsiveness would be blown away too; Freedom alone can barely handle its current population - how well do you think a global server would do if it had to handle Freedom's population and that of all other US and EU servers combined?
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with servers made for the 150.00 players, it's not weird they don't spent more money on a server then needed.
but if they take one strong one, one that can take at least 40.000 players, then it's a lesser problem.
they cal always begin with one server, having a second one is an open option but not yet necessary.
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Its not quite that strait forward getting a better server would cost more possibly a lot more as computer equipment doesn't tend to increase in performance equal to its stated power or cost for that matter as a example
a P4 4ghz PC with 8GB of Ram is not four times as powerful as a P4 1Ghz PC with 2GB of ram. Common sense says it should be after all the hardware is double but its not really because things like software place there own limitations on what the hardware can do. and its even more complicated where servers are concerned
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i believe they are actually planning the implementation of a single global or serviles environment
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It's impossible to rule out, but AFAICS there haven't been any statements (or even hints) that it's something they're looking at.
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i would assume if they were doing this they would have some kind of way around the duplication of names (some kind of invisible character perhaps)
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That would be quite a challenge to type if you wanted to send a tell to a specific toon, though.
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i would also assume they would have some way around the potential server melt perhaps ones could be spanned across multiple servers to lessen the load or something
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There's the spawning of multiple instances of zones: "Atlas Park 1", "Atlas Park 2", etc... they already do. But if you have so many toons on the same system you need to do this all the time you're losing a lot of the benefit of having them on the same system in the first place, which is that it's easy for them to meet up and play together.
it was once mentioned that it would be the hardest thing they could do. the single server shard that is.
Im sure posi or some one mentioned a Serverles idea was being looked at but my search fu fails me.
though this warning from lighthouse concerning server transfers dose kind of touch on it
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IMPORTANT! Customers who are interested in taking advantage of the Character Transfer service should know that it is possible in the future that we may make changes to the game that would remove the need to Transfer servers. One example of such a change would be a server-less game configuration where all players can group with anyone, without the restriction of which server they play on. We are not committing to this server-less configuration, and in fact there are no plans to implement a server-less environment this calendar year, but because we are charging a fee for these services, it is important that our players understand that the possibility exists. We want to be very clear in this regard so that those who do decide to make use of a Server Transfer, when it becomes available, understand that they may not need it in the future.
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Full thing here
Yes, that's been brought up before in this sort of context. The general opinion is that it was a "cover our behinds" sort of statement, so that people couldn't claim server transfer fees back if any sort of future change would have made those transfers unnecessary.
Legal disclaimer, not a development commitment.
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/em facepalm
why are ppl still discussing about a merge, there something called a global server.
if they implanted just one global server, any problem with merging servers or anything els would just blow away.
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I told in this thread a lot now... NO merge of servers... BUT merge of server list. All servers in one big list available to all players.
But that would imply a global account merge.
- The Italian Job: The Godfather Returns #1151
Beginner - Encounter a renewed age for the Mook and the Family when Emile Marcone escapes from the Zig!
- Along Came a... Bug!? #528482
Average - A new race of aliens arrives on Earth. And Vanguard has you investigate them!
- The Court of the Blood Countess: The Rise of the Blood Countess #3805
Advanced - Go back in time and witness the birth of a vampire. Follow her to key moments in her life in order to stop her! A story of intrigue, drama and horror! Blood & Violence... not recommend to solo!
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@Free_Radical
are you saying multi-server team? such as...mixed teams in RWZ or teams with people from grandville, grandville 2, grandville 3 with people coming from different servers?
would be nice!
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Yes.. thats exactly what I am suggesting. It happens when the maps get too full so the technology is there, just needs improving.
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The technology for spawning additional instances on the same server is a lot different from spawning cross-server instances. Massively different in fact.
Instead of accessing one database for character details, the server must access multiple ones. That increases the resources used by the server and slows things down.
It's not impossible, but it would be a potentially major piece of work to undertake.
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.