Server linkage

[sariel]

It would be very cool to be able to set up your own PS server, and have it link up to a main server, thus creating nodes all over the world. This would reduce the workload of the main PS server, spreading it over the various node-servers.
Maybe they could act as neighbouring cities, or neighbouring countries or something, with each of the servers having their own part of the world, linked to eachother using the main server. Travelling from one country to another country on PS would be....travelling from one country to another, serverwise. You\'d be switching between servers, as you cross borders. You\'d of course still be connected to the same server, but the data needed would be sent through that server to the one where the country is located where you just went to.

Explanation:

Connect to server C.
Server A is the main server
Node countries/cities are: B, C, D, E.

You start in country C, walk around a bit, and then decide to go to country B. You\'d cross the border, and server C would route data needed from you to B through A, and from B through A to you, as A is the big boss, coordinating all traffic between the servers B, C, D and E.

Sar
(I know...probably an idea for version PS 3.2.1)

[lostprophet]

Sounds good, would probably reduce server-side lag, but how would the transition between countries work? Would the each area and its models and maps be stored on the individual servers, or just the players and data? There would have to be some kind of buffer zone, so you didn\'t suddenly see a bunch of people appear out of nowhere as you woalked over the border. But I like it.

[dorbian]

i like the idea but then you should make it a bit different like all the servers have the entire world on their hard drive only the dbase is on the main server ( due to hacking opportunities ) cuz if one sevrer fails you will lose a piece of the game.

now how to make it so that everybody is in the same game that u don\'t get the problem of you\'r one different server otherwise guild wars can be really messy

[lostprophet]

Well each server would have to have the whole world so bits didn\'t just pop up. But if there was a buffer zone about as wide as you could see then people wouldn\'t pop up either. The buffer zone could be seen by people in the countries on either side.

[elscouta]

As far as i know, there is nine planes in PlaneShift. Each of one could be a separate server.

i like the idea but then you should make it a bit different like all the servers have the entire world on their hard drive only the dbase is on the main server ( due to hacking opportunities ) cuz if one sevrer fails you will lose a piece of the game.

I think that all the servers should be maintained by trusted peoples. Even if you can\'t change the dbase directly, a bad server could send wrong data to confuse/crash the main server.

Another thing: hacking is the art of improving a program by testing it. Not crashing servers ;-)

[Wedge]

I think having people with servers locally is much too dangerous and unneccesary.  Now ideas about linking multiple remote servers to create a larger collective server have been posted, and given the fact servers will be on volunteer basis, this makes more sense.  But no one playing the game (other than a dev) should have access to a server or any part of it.

[lostprophet]

Yeah that would be stoopid, but if different serveres each had different areas or planes on them that would work.

[Xandria]

I remember thinking about this problem a little while back.  Here is how I see it, put very brieftly (if I\'m wrong, and I know I am, please correct me devs):

The role of the server is primarily to store information about player characters, npc\'s, and everything in the world that is dynamic, in addition to sending this information to the clients.  So perhaps one way to solve the problem, if a large cluster model were to be used, would be for all the nodes to control the distribution of information to the clients for different areas of Planeshift.  So a simple model, as previously mentioned, would have 9 servers, each in change of passing information about the level to the clients.  However, all information regarding characters (picking up items, making trades, gaining levels) would all be communicated with the main ps server, so that issues with data tampering are kept to a minimum.

Therefore, such a system would help improve performance (main server only works with character data, all other servers in charge of other data) while keeping the system stable (the main ps server can\'t be tampered with, and no worries of corruption from other servers).

Tell me what you think (just don\'t be too harsh, I\'m writing this late at night   )

[sariel]

Originally posted by Xandria
I remember thinking about this problem a little while back.  Here is how I see it, put very brieftly (if I\'m wrong, and I know I am, please correct me devs):

The role of the server is primarily to store information about player characters, npc\'s, and everything in the world that is dynamic, in addition to sending this information to the clients.  So perhaps one way to solve the problem, if a large cluster model were to be used, would be for all the nodes to control the distribution of information to the clients for different areas of Planeshift.  So a simple model, as previously mentioned, would have 9 servers, each in change of passing information about the level to the clients.  However, all information regarding characters (picking up items, making trades, gaining levels) would all be communicated with the main ps server, so that issues with data tampering are kept to a minimum.

Therefore, such a system would help improve performance (main server only works with character data, all other servers in charge of other data) while keeping the system stable (the main ps server can\'t be tampered with, and no worries of corruption from other servers).

Tell me what you think (just don\'t be too harsh, I\'m writing this late at night   )

I agree on you with this. You do not want the client data to be stored on a dozen (if not more) servers, but only on the main PS server. This would indeed stop much of the cheating by hacking files (as the main server should be trusted to be secure enough).