14 replies to this topic

[Sainamu]

What is a server stress test? I know it is putting load on a server from reading Wikipedia. Does this just mean that PGI is getting all of the beta testers on at one time?

[Belorion]

Most likely they are using virtual users...

Making a lot of simulated requests to the server.

[Foresale]

Pretty much yeah, by having the maximum of traffic going through the servers they can check their stability, look for any processing bottlenecks due to slower than anticipated hardware or inefficient code, and just generally streamline and optimise everything so that the server's won't keel over and die on release and that there'll be no lag caused by poor traffic handling algorithms.


I suspect it also gives Paul an excuse to randomly enter matches in a gigantic flashing pink Mad Cat with ponies painted on it just to troll people as he blows them away.

[Holywind]

They stand there yelling at it and see how much it can take before crying.

[WardenWolf]

They are probably asking all beta testers available to be online at the same time, for a couple of hours, to see how high of a load it puts on their servers.

A game may have tens or hundreds of thousands of users - but only average a few thousand online at any given time. Launch days tend to be very popular, though, so you need to make sure that your server infrastructure can handle higher than normal loads (though almost never your entire customer base at once).

[Teirdome]

Belorion, on 19 July 2012 - 02:33 PM, said:

Most likely they are using virtual users... Making a lot of simulated requests to the server.

This is pretty much it.

They've probably been monitoring user traffic throughout the beta so far to create a load profile, then they'll replay that profile multiple times simultaneously and see what buckles. Or at least that's what I've done in the past.

Edited by Teirdome, 19 July 2012 - 02:42 PM.

[WardenWolf]

Teirdome, on 19 July 2012 - 02:42 PM, said:

This is pretty much it.

They've probably been monitoring user traffic throughout the beta so far to create a load profile, then they'll replay that profile multiple times simultaneously and see what buckles. Or at least that's what I've done in the past.

That could also be, but it might not simulate all of the same things - stress on their ISP connections, for example. In order to know exactly we would need to talk to a Dev or beta user... and the former are likely busy (about to start a stress test) and the later can't tell

[xZaOx]

They are basically doing what Diablo 3 didn't do properly.

[Sidra]

Kinda like seeing how much load the server can take of people accessing the servers/playing the game on the servers, and trying to log on all at once. Basically think of it as, the server is a mech, and stress testing is like, seeing how much eight that mech can handle

xChaoSx, on 19 July 2012 - 02:45 PM, said:

They are basically doing what Diablo 3 didn't do properly.

You sir are my hero, got the game at midnight, and couldn't log on raelly till 5am o.e

[Pika]

Cram as many people on the server until it breaks. Then repair it, cram them all on again and make sure it don't break the second time. If it STILL breaks, repeat the process until it stops breaking.

[NVranya]

xChaoSx, on 19 July 2012 - 02:45 PM, said:

They are basically doing what Diablo 3 didn't do properly.

Not quite, they did do a proper stress test (open beta weekend, which gave a good insight in the problems to come), but failed to learn from it.

[xxx WreckinBallRaj xxx]

Sainamu, on 19 July 2012 - 02:32 PM, said:

What is a server stress test? I know it is putting load on a server from reading Wikipedia. Does this just mean that PGI is getting all of the beta testers on at one time?

A stress test is when you intentionally strain your hardware in order to see its limitations. If you've ever maxed out the settings on a game to see how badly your video card is going to run it, that's a stress test. With game servers they flood them with data, either through simulation or by simply allowing a crowd of people in, in order to see how many people a server can properly handle. This is important so they know what to set player caps at and how many servers to prepare. If they don't do this, it will translate into having too few servers, which means congested servers that are very laggy to use or require a queue to login. The D3 launch is a perfect example of a company being laaaaaaaaaaaaaazy and not properly stress testing before launch.

[Der Zivilist]

An important factor of a stress test is not figuring out how much your server can handle. Simple math and statistics can tell you that. However, what you really want to know is what breaks if you intentionally overload the system - and also, how it breaks.

The server needs to handle overloading gracefully. For example, getting a critical error because you just ran out of memory would be a very ungraceful way to handle things (as are any other load-induced crashes), and it needs to be ensured that this doesn't happen, even if you tax the system far beyond what it is designed to take. You want to be sure that if everything goes up in flames, it does so in the least destructive way possible.

Edited by Der Zivilist, 19 July 2012 - 11:46 PM.

[Lin Shai]

NVranya, on 19 July 2012 - 10:36 PM, said:

Not quite, they did do a proper stress test (open beta weekend, which gave a good insight in the problems to come), but failed to learn from it.

Just as an FYI, this is complete nonsense.

You simply don't run out and purchase 5x more hardware than you're ever going to need just to avoid a couple hours of pain at launch. This was especially true for blizzard, having shattered every record in the book when it comes to selling a game. The load at launch was magnitudes larger than they will ever have to handle at any other time.

If MWO is well promoted and there are a large number of people waiting for it ... you will likely see something similar when it goes "live", at least for some amount of time. Servers aren't free, rackspace isn't free, and power isn't free. You do not want to have 2x the amount of hardware you're going to need for regular operation just hanging around doing nothing after the initial "rush".

Edited by Lin Shai, 19 July 2012 - 11:59 PM.

[NVranya]

Lin Shai, on 19 July 2012 - 11:59 PM, said:

Just as an FYI, this is complete nonsense.

You simply don't run out and purchase 5x more hardware than you're ever going to need just to avoid a couple hours of pain at launch. This was especially true for blizzard, having shattered every record in the book when it comes to selling a game. The load at launch was magnitudes larger than they will ever have to handle at any other time.

If MWO is well promoted and there are a large number of people waiting for it ... you will likely see something similar when it goes "live", at least for some amount of time. Servers aren't free, rackspace isn't free, and power isn't free. You do not want to have 2x the amount of hardware you're going to need for regular operation just hanging around doing nothing after the initial "rush".

I never said that, but they could've implemented a queueing system from the start (instead of with 1.2 or 1.3) for joining to avoid mass login spams...
Not all solutions are hardware only, a lot can be handled by a little smarter design.