38 replies to this topic

[mma]

There has been a lot of ?Down Time? in AE over the past (Real Time) month.

We, like many other players do not fully understand why this is so, however, in this day and age of internet / space / speed this is becoming an issue and many within AE are worried about.

Perhaps, the owners/producers of AE would like to set the record straight and please tell members by replying within this forum ?Why? the down time issues.

Some have suggested that it?s an issue of the hosting server; others have said it?s a programming issue and so on?.many comments but no clear answers.

Perhaps it?s the hosting server; this has to be reset hence the ?Down Time?

(AE Players/Members) should assist the developers of AE in securing a suitable fast ? reliable ? secure internet access. I am sure the bandwidth needed for the amount of members playing is also an issue, or is it?

If the latter is the main problem, my I suggest that AE please tell us what it will cost to have the issue resolved?

I am sure out of the 4,000+ Member/players within AE not one would complain in a contribution/donation of a few $$ to assist the AE producers secure suitable fast uninterrupted bandwidth.

This contribution I feel would be a Paypal style donation.

However, I may be ?Barking up the Wrong Tree? if so, then I suggest a senior AE producer set the record straight!

[StephenM]

I believe it is due to the very high volumes of traffic, it is not cheap hosting a simulation like this, and I am sure it is a considerable financial burden for Miller. However, I believe that it is acceptable due to the great work Miller has put into this simulation, I dont believe it is possible to have a perfect simulation anywhere, so you must take the good with the bad.

[ziliu]

I believe it's not the actual webserver's and the bandwidth's fault, it's more like the SQL database server which can't handle 100,000 routes whose ticket prices are being updated all the time.

[mma]

Originally posted by StephenM
I believe it is due to the very high volumes of traffic, it is not cheap hosting a simulation like this, and I am sure it is a considerable financial burden for Miller. However, I believe that it is acceptable due to the great work Miller has put into this simulation, I dont believe it is possible to have a perfect simulation anywhere, so you must take the good with the bad.

Please understand that I agree that (Miller) has placed a lot of effort and dedication in producing AE - But if you say it due to hosting / volume issue, then we (Members) of AE show contribute to keep the AE project alive !!!!

My Son is standing over my shoulder and wants to add:

The reason the website is going down .. im sure miller can comfirm this ... as im a PhP Webmaster also.. is that the MYSQL Database is getting too many querys and is overloading???? only one thing i can sujest to make this better it to split up the database...

IE. Forum on 1 Database
and Game on Another Database ...

as when the game goes down so does the forum that means they are on the Same Database.. and with the overloading of the forum and website at same time with so many querys it just not handling

[Maestro69]

The main issue is the 1200+ airlines in AE....

With everyone updating routes and doing other stuff in AE 24/7, all around the world, that puts pressure on the database to handle that amount of traffic on a regular basis. Thus, the database sometimes faces this "downtime" periods becuase it cant cope with the demand and thus, we get 3-4 hours on AE not been accessible...

This has been talked about before. I think everyone now should be used to this happening, even though most of us dont like it and want the month change to be at a certain time, thus allowing everyone to plan better...

[EuropAir]

Just wondering...

A solution might be to double (or increase) the real-time needed for one day. Resulting in less calculations, this leaves more room for price updates. This would require less input from the user -> traffic goes down (it will of course take longer to receive your money).

Also by applying strict rules to this forum and by removing pathetic topics such as 'Whatever', 'General Aviation forum', 'Industry News', 'rumours and speculations', 'What if', 'Bankrupt airlines' you can reduce the bandwith used by the forum. These topics are unnecaissary for the game. Most of the information you can find in these topics is similar to topics @ airliners.net

[Edited on 22/8/2005 by EuropAir]

[mma]

Originally posted by EuropAir
A solution might be to double the real-time needed for one day. Resulting in less calculations and this leaves more room for price updates.

Or program the script so that not ALL calucations are made at once......like space them over the hour.....

[StephenM]

A suggestion, (Would cost more but...) what about a second server, for the forum alone, so that the forum would not be taking up any space for the simulation itself? Possibly being financed by the members who are willing to contribute?

[mma]

long as miller has more then 1 database if he puts the forum on a second database it wont clash at all with the 1st database which is the game..

it's not the website that failing it's the database

[StephenM]

Ok. Thanks for clearing that up.

[Timsher]

With everyone updating routes and doing other stuff in AE 24/7, all around the world, that puts pressure on the database to handle that amount of traffic on a regular basis. Thus, the database sometimes faces this "downtime" periods becuase it cant cope with the demand and thus, we get 3-4 hours on AE not been accessible...

In my opinion price changes will go down substantially once the LF bug is squashed, I know half of the price "changes" I do on a regular day are just to reset my load factor to what it was before.

However I think that the database failing has something to do with the end of the month calculations, because that is when it seems to always go down...

[Sunshine Airways CEO]

Most of the downtime comes right before the hour change, and that can give you a clue that there are too many calculations being done on the server. just think about how many calculations it would take for one airline and multiply it by 1,236.

here is a quote from miller that talks about the status of the servers:
The database can barely keep up with the current one.



[Edited on 8/22/2005 by S.A. 13]

[mma]

Originally posted by S.A. 13
Most of the downtime comes right before the hour change, and that can give you a clue that there are too many calculations being done on the server. just think about how many calculations it would take for one airline and multiply it by 1,236.

here is a quote from miller that talks about the status of the servers:
The database can barely keep up with the current one.



[Edited on 8/22/2005 by S.A. 13]

The quote from Miller makes NO SENSE !!!!! Miller please explain if possible.....

[ziliu]

I believe it was because the quote was taken slightly out of context. The full quote:

Originally written by miller22 in http://www.airlineem...d=2852#pid21046
There are no slaves to the db, so there is no running backup. The database can barely keep up with the current one.

[mma]

Originally posted by ziliu
I believe it was because the quote was taken slightly out of context. The full quote:

Originally written by miller22 in http://www.airlineem...d=2852#pid21046
There are no slaves to the db, so there is no running backup. The database can barely keep up with the current one.

If this is the case....the AE database just need to be seperated onto a joint server....which cost $$$$$$ and this leads me back to my original Quote at the top of this....

Lets ALL chip in and assist........its only going to cost us all a few
Dollars.....and Cents

Lets face it...if this was Pay and you Fly.....we would ALL be coughing up...more than whats required here......to assist Miller and the production team at AE

[Sunshine Airways CEO]

I think this is a good way to start:

http://shop.airlineempires.net/


oops, forgot the first sentence to that quote

[Edited on 8/22/2005 by S.A. 13]

[EuropAir]

I suggest the closure of all forums with less than 900 posts. These forums are useless and bring no added value to the game. There are enough places on the internet where you can talk about this stuff, and at other websites you might run into specialists, something you don't find here.

Suggested closures:

General Aviation
One can't judge over the polls without proper knowledge of the aviation technical and aviation business industry. Some polls are continent bound and therefore totally uninteresting for a wide public.

Whatever
Not really needed, although a place for the moderators to put the 'trash'.

AE Classifieds
Brings no added value to the game. Aircraft on sale are most of the time already sold before the topic has been posted.

Industry
Copy/Pastes of a news site, I can read my favorite news websites by myself. People don't come here to check real life aviation news (better sites can be found at: www.ch-aviation.ch, www.luchtzak.be, www.airliners.net,...)

Rumors and Speculation
How many people are working for real life airlines out here? Is there anyone that can bring up an interesting rumour or speculation? Don't think so...

Recommended Reading
Nice initiative and I totally support this one, however inappropriate audience and therefore unnecaissary. But... For the real lovers, on a secret spot somewhere on the AE's site you can find a lot of titles and references of work Miller used to create this game. Anyone already noticed that page.... (you can find a link at the main page, very interesting lecture!)

What if...
Speculations made - mostly by people who are probabely not older than 16 yrs - which makes no sense at all.

Bankrupt Airlines
Yeah well, probabely the most useless category in this forum.

Refocussing the forum on the main goal of the forum will reduce bandwith and database utilisation.

-> It will also put a smile on my face

[Edited on 22/8/2005 by EuropAir]

[StephenM]

You want the first 2 closed, and they were only opened, less than a week ago!
Also I disagree with closing the Classifields section.
In the what if area, I dont agree either at taking a swipe at the younger members, there are no rules (That I am aware of) limiting AE to people in the real world aviation field.

[Edited on 22/8/2005 by StephenM]

[Tump]

P.S. A forum does not take up much bandwith. - Splitting up the forum to a different database or closing few of the forums parts will not contribute much to finding a solution for the problem, especially closing a few parts won't help much cause its inevitable that people will still post nonsense, the past has proven that way to often.

[Edited on 8/22/2005 by Tump]