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Status on Points Reloaded / Database issues.

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by marvel, May 21, 2011.

  1. marvel

    marvel Head Administrator Staff Member

    Ok so, tonight we had some huge maintenance on the Points Reloaded database. These changes should maintain db stability without losing fast access to the !cp panel in-game.

    This is getting technical, so if u don't care reading skip it.

    [Start technical stuff]
    We used to have 4 database servers, each with their own copy of the rpg database, these copies were kept in sync all the time and all data was automatically updated on all db servers so if you would go play elsewhere you still had your data.

    Now, we now use the plugin on 5 database servers, from which one is primary. This means all player data is only written to the primary, master database server from which where it will be pushed to the slave servers throughout the world. The game will read the player data from the slaves, so !cp will be fast enough on any server.

    The advantage of this, is that if one site goes down it doesn't affect the others anymore, replication continues. The other big advantage is that the data is only written to one server, so that means we don't have inconsistent databases anymore with all different data on it which is the biggest cause for losing your stats.
    [End technical stuff]

    Right now there are still people with lost stats, we will only restore those people that:

    - Lost all their levels.
    - Are payed users (bought something in the store).

    Next -and this is for all players- honorcode will launch a Points Reloaded compensation event, an event in where you can level up very fast, lots of toasters, items and even some new stuff so go check it out once it's online :)

    I hope all of the problems we've had lately are something of the past right now :)
     
    marvel, May 21, 2011
    #1
  2. Nova

    Nova Senior Member

    Being fairly knowledgeable in database administration, the technical part really helps.

    Just a few questions though:
    How well synchronized are the master and the slaves? Is it real-time so everything is fluid or is it based on a timer?
    Is there also a back-up plan for the case of the master being corrupt or overloading? Policies to convert a slave to a master if such a case happens?

    Anyway it's a good strategy. Kudos :)
     
    Nova, May 21, 2011
    #2
  3. marvel

    marvel Head Administrator Staff Member

    Sync is realtime, yes. It takes a few ms to sync a record. A backup of the master is being made every morning and while it is possible to convert a slave to a master I don't think we'll ever do this, because when the master is down almost nothing works anymore, but it's a fault tolerant server with RAID5 disks and 4 hour hardware support.

    We just want to get rid of all the complicated stuff, so if the master goes down I rather keep the game down til it's back up again then start messing with the db again ;)
     
    marvel, May 21, 2011
    #3
  4. Nova

    Nova Senior Member

    Fair enough and very nice.

    Since the load on the master will only be inbound, there shouldn't be too many problems. Using the slaves only for outbound data (users load their stats from the slaves) is a wise decision.

    And now customer and gamer satisfaction shall rise once more... :P
     
    Nova, May 21, 2011
    #4
  5. Chocobo

    Chocobo <span style="color:#66CD00">Moderator</span>

    Now I don't speak much tech, so you have to bear with me,

    So if the master breaked or is down, we lost a days worth of stats?
    And it is possible for one of the slaved to become the master if needed?
    And finally, if now it all syncs to one, why is it better than before? If one was down before, you could just get your synced stats from any of the other ones. Now if the master goes down, you cant?
     
    Chocobo, May 21, 2011
    #5
  6. Nova

    Nova Senior Member

    If the backup is called for, we would lose 1 day of stats, yeah... if the backup is needed.

    Depending on the systems technology, you can replicate from a slave to a master for data integrity and availability.

    Also, it's not all that sync to one, it's the master that synchronizes with the slaves. When the master receives data, it automatically replicates the data on the slaves. This way, the same information is available everywhere, and is all managed by 1 database, the master. This is better because as marvel said, there aren't any more incoherences between the databases, because before, they were just 4 clones, with different data for some players.
     
    Nova, May 21, 2011
    #6
  7. Chocobo

    Chocobo <span style="color:#66CD00">Moderator</span>

    Ah, thanks for the explaination. I have seen that before. In fact, it happened to me. So now it won't happen :)
     
    Chocobo, May 21, 2011
    #7
  8. littlebrother

    littlebrother MG Donor

    I hope to see this soon as my double bounty package gonna expire... i have to climb up twice the hard way to get back to level 82 and beyond after my level drops suddenly..
     
    littlebrother, May 22, 2011
    #8
  9. evilpaul

    evilpaul <span style="color:#66CD00">Moderator</span>

    Haha, my double XP is going to expire in a couple of days too - I was thinking exactly the same thing.

    I'll probably get another pack anyway ;)
     
    evilpaul, May 22, 2011
    #9
  10. marvel

    marvel Head Administrator Staff Member

    If you're talking about a full break down, like a corrupted databases then yes, because when the master db gets corrupted the slaves get corrupted too. If the master has a OS or hardware failure the data is still available on the slaves, so nothing will be lost then.

    So it's highly unlikely we'll ever need the backups again, but you never know so we keep making them every day ;)
     
    marvel, May 22, 2011
    #10
  11. baboso

    baboso Junior Member

    Hello my accont was reseted =/
    My nick is Baboso i was lvl 60 and now i am lvl 2 !!
    And i was 7 buffs slot and now i have 3 !
    and i lost all my points =(

    Sorry my poor english but isn
     
    baboso, May 22, 2011
    #11
  12. Nova

    Nova Senior Member

     
    Nova, May 22, 2011
    #12
  13. Hey Koolaid

    Hey Koolaid Head Administrator

    I don't mean to pry but any Idea what time its going to take place?
     
    Hey Koolaid, May 22, 2011
    #13