EQEmulator management

[unknownerrors]

in EQEmulator management (http://127.0.0.1:9080/) on the Launcher zones Details area, if you click one of the zone names, i see that you can set the zone ip addy..

this means that i could have most of my zones static running say 50 to 70 zones per computer on my network..

how is that done.

[John Adams]

Add a static zone, assign it a port 0 so the port is dynamic. Create a new launcher if you want to run a different set of zone files on a different server. Then, on that other server, run EQLaunch [name of launcher].

I run 10 dynamic zones and all city zones as static. Not fully tested, but it appears to be working ok.

[unknownerrors]

i get lost with you here.

i can start as many static zones as i like, then affer running eqlaunch on lets say three networked systems(severs) and setting three launchers in the system i'll be able to pick which launcher on which system controls each zone??

[John Adams]

Sure. Setup 3 launchers. For example, called zones, cities, newbies. zones might hold 10 dynamic zone instances, cities would have all the home city zones static, and same with newbie area zones. Then, on the first server, eqlaunch zones. The next server, eqlaunch cities. Finally, 3rd, eqlaunch newbies.

Theoretically, you now have 3 servers running 3 launchers, with all your dynamic and static zones pointing to 1 world server (which I have running on the 10-dynamic zone server).

Sorry, I know I just ramble on sometimes. Does this make sense?

[Angelox]

Sure. Setup 3 launchers. For example, called zones, cities, newbies. zones might hold 10 dynamic zone instances, cities would have all the home city zones static, and same with newbie area zones. Then, on the first server, eqlaunch zones. The next server, eqlaunch cities. Finally, 3rd, eqlaunch newbies.

Theoretically, you now have 3 servers running 3 launchers, with all your dynamic and static zones pointing to 1 world server (which I have running on the 10-dynamic zone server).

Sorry, I know I just ramble on sometimes. Does this make sense?
Would it matter if the world server was on the fastest machine, or better the most used zones?

[mattmeck]

Just to let you know, a single computer, 1.3 GH with a gig of RAM can handle 80-100 people, its the internet connection that matters, if your running it from home no matter what you do it will be your connection that limits you.

Business class Cable can handle 20-30 people max, you realy need a dedicated box at a data center.

I know that a 2GH with a gig of ram hosted at a data center can hit 150 people, with 60-70 zones up.

What you are setting up is not needed, EQEmu does not have the player base we did 3 years ago, and everyone always goes to the same zones so you dont need all of them up all the time.

[Magefeu]

I don't thing it matters... the important thing here is to know the ip of your login server in order to rout correctly all the entering packets on port 5999. Idealy your login computer and the world computer could be the same.

I thing that world.exe is not that heavy and does not need much memory. On the oposite the zone server will handle all the zones informations and the players informations... it might be more usefull to get memory and CPU power there...

[Angelox]

Just to let you know, a single computer, 1.3 GH with a gig of RAM can handle 80-100 people, its the internet connection that matters, if your running it from home no matter what you do it will be your connection that limits you.

Business class Cable can handle 20-30 people max, you realy need a dedicated box at a data center.

I know that a 2GH with a gig of ram hosted at a data center can hit 150 people, with 60-70 zones up.

What you are setting up is not needed, EQEmu does not have the player base we did 3 years ago, and everyone always goes to the same zones so you dont need all of them up all the time.

I have a DSL connection which is as follows; 1.5mb downstream/512kb upstream with static IP, and it seems to be running as promoted by the ISP.
I was thinking of maybe setting up a public server so players who are not interested their own home server, could try out my DB too. Do you think this would fall short?

[John Adams]

What you are setting up is not needed, EQEmu does not have the player base we did 3 years ago, and everyone always goes to the same zones so you dont need all of them up all the time.
Agredd, Mattmeck. I have 2 whole users, so it's not for performance. For me it's all about playing with flexibility and seeing how things work. Most current servers would definitely run on a 3.0Ghz, 2GB RAM server with little or no issue. (well, except Windows sucking...)

[GeorgeS]

I have a DSL connection which is as follows; 1.5mb downstream/512kb upstream with static IP, and it seems to be running as promoted by the ISP.
I was thinking of maybe setting up a public server so players who are not interested their own home server, could try out my DB too. Do you think this would fall short?


I would guess less than 20 people on at once. You should definitely try it as it's a great experience. I have a 6mbit down 0.8up on my DSL.

GeorgeS

[mattmeck]

DSL is what I have at home, if you never plan on using your internet again you will do about 15 people with lag when there is multiple people in one area fighing or casting.

The second you use the connection to read mail, look at p0rn, or whatever it drops to like 8.

[Angelox]

Well, If you use DSL as-is, and tried some drastic data exchange - you could get extra lag or problems. I can't believe this link is still alive;
http://cable-dsl.home.att.net/
This is where I got my first "tutorial" on DSL - lots of valid info there.

Also at this link;
http://www.speedguide.net/
there's a "TCPOptimizer" tool that I have been using for years on windows machines - works very well.
When I played EQ live, I read on their Faqs that "ping" was very important (latency), if you had a slow ping, then you would have lag in game.

I have been to places where internet, no matter what you have - is not worth a rat's ass.


I was thinking; why not have the zones spread out over different servers at different locations? I mean, like x amount of zones here, another amount at GeorgeS, John Adams, and anyone else who wants to be in on it.

[eq4me]

I was thinking; why not have the zones spread out over different servers at different locations? I mean, like x amount of zones here, another amount at GeorgeS, John Adams, and anyone else who wants to be in on it.

The problem is the Database connection. Each server who starts up zones wants to read whole tables from the MySQL DB. This can take extremely long on a slow connection. And the traffic between the zones and the MySQL DB dont stop after startup. So the uplink probably would be also clogged with traffic to the remote database.
I discovered this when I was trying to start EQEmu in an VMWare instance connecting to the MySQL DB on the host system. Without the propper network drivers out of the VMWare tools its like 100 Kb/s.

Btw: So a dual 750 MHz PIII Server with 2GB Ram would be good enough to hold a well sized crowd? I have an tempting offer. 1U Rackspace with 250GB/month free for 21

[Angelox]

The problem is the Database connection. Each server who starts up zones wants to read whole tables from the MySQL DB. This can take extremely long on a slow connection. And the traffic between the zones and the MySQL DB dont stop after startup. So the uplink probably would be also clogged with traffic to the remote database.
Since different zones would be hosted on different servers, servers could use their own database. The problem would be on how to keep the players data up to date on all the servers, which doesn't sound too hard.

[unknownerrors]

i'm doing this whole thing for a home business, for three year i dont have to break a profit but a get a huge tax break on a room in my house and any cost of running the "business" right down the the monthly electic bills. even if the cost really isn't there.. truth be told i never plan to make any money aside from the IRS..

but the server will have to run 24-7.. and it might as well run correct, cause i'm gonna play on it too =)

so one good box can handle 60 - 70 zones.. plus 10 dynmatic? i'd still spread it out over two boxes, boot all zone static, but cut the world down to size and only enable up to OOW.. put them in a closet and real-VNC into them so i dont need monitors mices keyboards and what not.. the connection is an issues.. i hear sprint offers a good high speed business class connection, or should i use a shell account? upload anything to a host and let them handle the connection..

[eq4me]

Since different zones would be hosted on different servers, servers could use their own database. The problem would be on how to keep the players data up to date on all the servers, which doesn't sound too hard.

You could do a master/slave setup for MySQL.

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/4.1/en/replication.html

All you had to worry about is redirecting all write requests to the master database. Either you have to program it into EQEmu itself or find/code a mysql proxy listener that knows which databases to send read and write requests to.
It must be determined how much bandwith such a setup requires on the uplink. Imagine some big come together event on a zoneserver that is on a remote location from the MySQL master database. But I have no idea how much updates per second per player must be written in the database on average and peak.

[John Adams]

Matts stats are the ones that spook me a little. The servers we all own seem robust enough to handle plenty of running zones effectively - but he's right about the bottleneck at our cable modems or DSL. If our uplinks are not so great, once 2 groups of your players start tearing into something together, everything could run as smoothly as Morell-Thule in the early days. Anyone know what those servers hosting 30+ players runs on? must be more than DSL.

As for multi-honing our zones, sounds like an intriguing concept. I'd just be concerned with whomever owns one of the zone boxes staying on top of any issues that might arise, or losing that resource.