Server Topology Suggestion

[seannybgoode 10]

Ok so this post may be over the head of many folks here, but I'm a CS major and I really hope this idea gets through to the DayZ team.

So from what I understand, the game servers connect to a central character server that deals out character data. This happens at logon before the character spawns.

The topology as it stands causes major issues at peak times, where nobody can spawn (or respawn) on a server. Obviously, this being a low budget project, server capacity is limited. So with the above in mind, why not try to distribute some of that traffic?

First, the character server should only serve as a backup, not as a central repository. So, before the gameserver goes about checking the character server for character data, it should first check if the client was last connected to that gameserver, and then deal with the character data (which would have been saved locally to the gameserver) locally, instead of wasting character server capacity on a request that doesn't need to be made. This would allow people who play on the same server regularly to avoid the long waits, and would cut down on requests at peak hours.

Second, I'm not sure if this is possible with the way the arma host/client system is set up so this suggestion may be moot. But if it is possible, the client should save the address from the last server that they played DayZ on. So when the new server needs to get at the character data, they send the request to the last server played on, and not the central repository. Gameservers would have an upper limit of the amount of character data saved, and they would delete old unused character data that is backed up to the central character server, as a means of saving space.

With these ideas in mind, the character server acts as a backup system for when character data is not found, and as a backup that saves everyones character data so it's not lost if one of those servers should crash, and not as a central repository. Therefore, it would spread the traffic in "web" topology, instead of using the current "star" topology.

I don't have too much of a picture of the inner workings of the DayZ system, but it's my instinct here that we would see huge improvements in getting users connected to servers. As it stands, peak hour traffic pretty much breaks the game, so it's a pretty serious issue to tackle.

[oktyabr 53]

There is a lot for you to read on these forums about plans for the future progression of this mod. Individual servers and possibly groups of servers, each with their own dedicated data base seems to be in the works for many reasons besides the ones you have stated (which really isn't the real issue).

Thanks for your thoughtful post.

[seannybgoode 10]

I will read on it. Thanks for the pointer.

I like being able to migrate my character across servers. It's an excellent feature, and seems to be the next best thing to having 1 giant world where all the players live (which although awesome is unfortunately not feasible for a small scale project).