Author Topic: Database Maintenance - October 26, 2006 (Read 323 times)

Leanthar · « **on:** September 25, 2006, 07:25:49 am »

Hello folks, this is a one month heads up and please spread the word, it is quite important.
We have a problem with the Bioware database for NwN. By default because they are using a Foxpro type database the FXP file can not be larger than 2GB or it can not be opened and compacted (packed). Sadly the popularity of the world and my inability to get to maintenance of this database every single month the database is now at 2.5GB and we can not compact it any longer. This causes a problem due to seek time and such. The only way to solve this problem is to wipe that database and start clean. Don't fear things will be okay but I need to explain how things work (when they work) and how this will help the problem.
Firstly, nothing will be lost if you guys follow the instructions in this post--pretty simple instructions over all. All you have to do is make sure you have NOTHING in your BANK VAULT (any BANK VAULT) or your housing chests/storage containers. You can have furniture in your house and all of that good stuff but you can not have anything stored in any container (other than oxen or a characters inventory) when I take the servers down on the 26th of October. Once the servers come back up just put your stuff back in to the containers and all will be fine. So, just remove everything from any/all containers except for your oxen or your character inventory the night of the 25th before the maintenance then when the servers come back up just put them back in to the containers in your house or bank vault, you do not have to remove your furniture etc--just empty the containers. Just please be aware that if you are logging in with a large inventory you are causing an server spike that can crash the server. So don’t do this until the night before, or until your last play time before the maintenance.
Why is this necessary you ask? 1) When you do a pack of the Bioware database it has to be opened exclusively (locked) so the worlds can not be online and that is why we have always taken the servers down. 2) When an item is removed from a chest they are just marked as deleted but the Bioware db (foxpro database) does not actually delete the item until the database is packed (see 1 above). 3) It has always been the case, because our world is busy, that the database will shrink in size by a huge amount after a pack. For instance the last time I did this the database was at 1.8GB but after pack it was at 55meg. Something like that, I don't remember the exact number. But clearly you can see that packing is important as it keeps the seek time in the database down, and thus the lag time for the servers when people are looking at storage containers. 4) Since the file is now over 2GB (it is at 2.8GB right now and will be at least 4GB when the maintenance happens) Foxpro can not open the fxp file. Stupid I know…but well that is how things go. The database is functioning perfectly fine as there are just seeks and it is not trying to be opened exclusively…nothing is being lost so don’t worry. 5) Since it can not be opened we have no choice but to delete the database entirely. That is why you need to have everything out of storage containers on that day, so that nothing will be lost. Once we delete the database and bring the world back up just put your stuff in there and all will be perfectly fine and we will try to keep control of the database size with our server maintenance procedures.
So, spread the word, make sure containers that are not in a characters inventory are empty on that day of maintenance. Housing containers and bank vaults are the only thing affected because they are the only thing that use the Bioware DB.
Why do we use the Bioware DB then you ask? Its simple, the Bioware functions save all of the variables and properties of items properly and storing them in the SQL DB does not. So that means that all of the rods, items special properties, charges and such are stored properly in the Bioware DB but not in the SQL DB.
There will be no reimbursement of items if things are lost on this date. I am giving a 30 day notice on this so please spread the word in game and on the forums. Make sure you speak to everybody. I will also be putting a message in the login text for all servers that request people to read the forums for this maintenance post.

DMOE · « **Reply #1 on:** September 25, 2006, 08:05:32 am »

Erm....Why I totally understand this needs doing it's not going to be physically possible to put everything from Ireth's bank vault and house storage chests into Ireth's ox and character inventory....they just aren't big enough to handle it all.
I'm sure I'm not going to be the only person in this situation

D Blaze · « **Reply #2 on:** September 25, 2006, 08:14:34 am »

Buy storage boxes, a few gold from the general merchant, load down your inventory with boxes, and load everything into said-boxes, this IS technically a bit of an abuse of storage space capability, but I think it would be overlooked for one day or so.

1 box in inventory=4 blocks of space (2x2)
1 box interior=35 blocks of space (7x5)

And if you still have too much stuff to carry all that, ask friends to help you hold it, it's just overnight

DMOE · « **Reply #3 on:** September 25, 2006, 08:22:15 am »

Good point!

Dorax Windsmith · « **Reply #4 on:** September 25, 2006, 09:37:55 am »

Leaving gold coin in the bank is okay?

Leanthar · « **Reply #5 on:** September 25, 2006, 09:40:47 am »

Yes, leaving gold in the bank is fine.

Guardian 452 · « **Reply #6 on:** September 25, 2006, 09:44:26 am »

DMOE you saw all the Cra.... erm... stuff Enzo has.

He put it all in his inventory in boxes when his house was remodeled!

He may have been about 900 pounds over weight... but he did it.

I dont think she has more stuff accumulated than him.

.... I'd like to add this seems like a very OOC thing we have to deal with... so If someone that trusted me needed the help I'd lend them an alternate character for storage... if of course the Layo Team felt it was acceptable for this situation.

Leanthar · « **Reply #7 on:** September 25, 2006, 09:57:59 am »

I don't mind friends helping friends out. Just don't want mule characters created for the process. If people really have that much stuff...well perhaps it is time to widdle down the storage?

Weeblie · « **Reply #8 on:** September 25, 2006, 10:38:56 am »

Is it correct that the Database Maintenance only affects West?

Bank chests are different on different servers and the fact that the server "locks" the database probably means that West/Central/East are using different Bioware databases...

Only a guess from me, of course.

Edit: Ooh.... any bank vault? Hm... It's affecting all the server? *looks slightly confused*

Leanthar · « **Reply #9 on:** September 25, 2006, 10:45:38 am »

You are correct Weeblie, but we are doing this for all servers.

Weeblie · « **Reply #10 on:** September 25, 2006, 10:50:41 am »

Alright!

Complete wipe! Got it!

Pankoki · « **Reply #11 on:** September 25, 2006, 12:23:50 pm »

I hope everyone seriously considers this time to do cleanup to their homes and inventory. Right now some people lag the server a good 5 to 10 seconds due to the amount of stuff they carry in their inventory. This isn't fun for anyone and I seriously doubt that anyone would need to carry so much stuff on themselves. Yes I know there are pack rats out there that accumulate things over time, but exactly why so much is carried, I'm not sure.
So please consider this a good time for this, since in the end it will help everyone around, including yourselves.
Thank you.

Guardian 452 · « **Reply #12 on:** September 25, 2006, 12:40:22 pm »

I threw away like 4 chests full of things Enzo was sitting on for "someday".... when his house just got remodeled.

It will be a good time for everybody to take stock of what they have and what they really need. Heck... I
will probably have stuff to throw out aleady

Nehetsrev · « **Reply #13 on:** September 25, 2006, 01:12:53 pm »

Having gone through the house remodeling shuffle recently myself, I can give this alternative list of suggestions to those who want to thin out their inventories a bit: 1) Make a list of the things you knwo your character Needs to keep, 2) Make a seperate list of everything else that isn't a CNR component item and try to sell those, 3) Try to use up your stores of CNR components and resist the urge to go gathering more unless you Really need them to use in using up other CNR component items (for example if you need alexandrite to go with the gold that you have stored to make rings then go get it and use it immediately, start a few days before the wipe), 4) Anything you can't sell or make into something that won't fit into your inventory on your character and ox, take to your character's temple and donate it to your character's god.

Leanthar · « **Reply #14 on:** September 25, 2006, 01:13:34 pm »

Yes, please do use this opportunity to get rid of the clutter.

There really is no need to have 100's of items, or even dozens really. The less items one has on their person (in their character inventory) the less lag we have on the server due to login spikes--significant over all.

The less items a player has in the house for storage the less load spike we see.

Getting rid of things improves the performance of the servers and makes the game more fun for the players.