So over 24 hours of down time and only 3 messages from the community manager, all of which amount to: server down, sorry, will update asap. And the last of those was over 6 hours ago...
WHAT HAPPENED?
What sort of catastrophe is so bad you can't even restore from backups and get the system back online within 24 hours? Did the building burn down? Was it a terrorist attack? Did you get hacked? Someone forgot to feed the hamsters? What?
A lot of people seem to misunderstand the massive undertaking of running a server. This isn't like running a ventrilo client. There isn't just one PC with a 500GB HD and a Tape Drive hooked up that's running Zeus. There's probably an entire rack running zeus. with at least a dozen computers, and probably a few terabytes worth of data. From that perspective it's just a matter of copying in the data from [point x]. But the real problem (and probably why it's taking so long) is trying to fix whatever is stopping these poor folks from logging into the game. A lot of people are throwing out numbers, 5%, 10%, if even 1% of a consumer base is being unfairly denied access, especially if they are paying customers, it's a situation that needs to be addressed. This may be so bad that it requires recoding a lot of the software and recompiling and then installing *just* the data sets instead of copying over the whole backup. And of course then you've got to test it and make sure it's letting people in again, make sure everything's running again, chatserver's up, etc. There's a lot involved in getting a server back and running when it's been brought down for repairs. getting it done in 24 hours is a record time in some cases. I remember when world of warcraft used to go down for a week due to a bug.
I need my Settlers kick...missing it alot...it gets me through my slow times after work....I play while watching tv...I even read a book while the game is on...I like it so much that I buy gems to feed my addiction...but I am content to wait until they fix the problems...hopefully it will not take too much longer...
"The Zeus server is going to be taken down for maintenance due to the log-in problems some users are experiencing. When the server does come back online, it will have been rolled back. We understand that having progression reversed is not ideal, and will be looking into helping our players recoup from this. It may take some time for us to do a proper investigation, but rest assured that we do plan on doing our best to rectify these issues.
Unfortunately there is no time table for when the server will come back online, but we will be updating everyone as we receive more information. We truly apologize for the inconvenience. We understand that everyone wants to know exactly when and what will be done, but please refrain from sending in support tickets asking for specifics. Instead, for up to date information on this issue"
feed the hamsters yo the wheel isnt powering the server no more!!Originally Posted by gaogan
You don't do an emergency shutdown and keep the server offline for over 24 hours because a few people are having connectivity problems. You find and test the fix on the test server and then deploy it during a planned shutdown. Hence, my question... what is really going on here?
Chuck Norris joined. At lvl 1 he completed a Nords adventure and he was awarded lvl 50. At this point the server realised that the game was now complete and shut down.
Great men are not born, they are made. Through blood, sweat, tears, trials and tribulations. Tests through both their victories and their defeats. They are shaped through their experiences. Portrayed by their moralities and judgements, be they for better or worse. They do what others wont to achieve what others cant. It is their dedication, commitment and ultimate success of their goals that separates a man from a great man.
L M A O !
TheSource has it so right . man im drunk and can still read right now.... bravo
Dreadmine makes a great point. Restoring from a backup, will likely fix the problem in the short term, but the problem will likely return, and if this happens again in a weeks time, no one will be happy. Therefore the only option is to discover what actually caused the problem, fix it and test it. And of course the worst problems are problems that don't manifest themselves immediately. I imagine right now, stress levels are high, the developers are working crazy hours, having to report status to mgmt probably on the hour, and customer relations is continually bugging development managers saying give us an ETA. I have been in this situation in Enterprise development, and sometimes the answer is actually "we don't know yet".
So, give development a break, this stuff happens, and sometimes its *really* hard to determine the problem, even if the fix turns out to be easy (which it likely isn't).
My only complaint is the customer relations. Even if the developers say we have no idea, then customer relations should respond to the community every 4 hours maximum, saying still working on it. From a communications perspective, hearing something every 4 hours is better than hearing nothing for 12 hours, even if the update is "we still have no idea". Software and hardware breaks, its life, but there is no excuse for not communicating status on a regular (pre-defined, 4 hourly maybe) basis. Customer relations needs to take a good look at their procedures. This is not the first time either, this is at least the 3rd time we have had issues with little to no status provided. Come on guys, talk to us, tell us whats going on, you never know, we might even sympathize rather than feel excluded and in the dark.
time for a new computer !
What? You don't just press a button and click a window? That's not right. It's bull. Total bull.
*sarcasm*
It's nice that some players get it!
A quick fix would be worse in the long term since this might happen all over again a few weeks later.
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