-- [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ] Then it might be time to move the backend of steam onto a non-proprietary system.
At the end of the day Valve may have to invest in a bit more hardware to counterbalance the fact that any external data storage solution (such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, or a commercial database) won't be 100% tuned for their environment, but compare that to the time (and money) saved by not having to develop and maintain a custom storage and replication solution where the critical knowledge of how it works rests with a few developers in house, and it quickly starts to be a no-brainer, the external solution wins. Many of the popular databases an LDAP directory solutions will handle large users counts replicated around the world without too much trouble, as long as you invest the time in getting it set up correctly. The reason I can make this claim, I've been involved in setting up systems for Telecos and ISP with global customer bases which stream into the millions of users, so I'm coming from a been there, seen it, done it, perspective. > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected]> Subject: Re: [hlds] > Post-outage thoughts> Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 10:21:39 +0300> > This is true > only as long as you work with tested and widely adopted> solution like Active > Directory. For closed proprietary system of Steam> size designed without > redundancy in mind this can be a kind of tricky> exercise...> > Regards,> > > Roman> > On 18/12/06, Newbie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:> > --> > [ Picked > text/plain from multipart/alternative ]> > Roma, there's one thing you're > wrong about - setting up a redundant location> > with real time replication > and automatic failover is not all that> > complicated and expensive nowadays > as one can think.> >> > Newbie> >> >> > -----Original Message-----> >> > > From: "Roman Hatsiev" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> >> > To: > [email protected]> >> > Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2006 16:38:18 +0300> >> > > Subject: [hlds] Post-outage thoughts> >> >> >> >> > First of all I'm sorry > for being too pessimistic in the following> >> > paragraph, to expect worst > must be a general habit of any IT> >> > professional.> >> >> >> > I'm pretty > much surprised that the authentication of whole Steam> >> > network depends > on single location regardless of how good this> >> > location is in whatever > terms - costs, availability, reliability, etc.> >> > Even for my small > non-commercial project joining together few thousand> >> > members I'm > looking for options to introduce some redundancy. Steam on> >> > other hand > serves millions of customers worldwide and redundancy is a> >> > must for the > community of such size. Unfortunately things happen -> >> > 9/11, New > Orleans, you name it - so no single location in a world is> >> > good enough > for Steam.> >> >> >> > At the same time I realise that setting up a redundant > authentication> >> > system is a huge effort in terms of time and money so I > suggest> >> > introducing premium Steam accounts for some low monthly fee to> > >> > generate some income for this and other related projects.> >> >> >> > > First obvious advantage to give to premium account is extra bandwidth> >> > > of content servers and ability to choose a content server to download> >> > > things from - people generally value the freedom of choice they can> >> > get > for a reasonable fee :) Second advantage can be a special icon> >> > which > could be shown is friends chat, score tables and other places> >> > where > player name is mentioned - kids gonna like it, believe me :)> >> > After some > brainstorming more advantages which do not require enormous> >> > effort can > be invented - longer expiration time for some demos,> >> > releasing > demos/games to premium customers say week before releasing> >> > it to > everyone else, more guest passes, premium content like> >> > wallpapers, > desktop themes, etc.> >> >> >> > By the way, I can generate even more ideas > backed with detailed> >> > justifications, feel free to ask :)> >> >> >> > > Regards,> >> >> >> > Roman> >> >> >> > > _______________________________________________> >> > To unsubscribe, edit > your list preferences, or view the list archives,> > please visit:> >> > > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds> > > [http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds]> > --> >> >> > > _______________________________________________> > To unsubscribe, edit your > list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit:> > > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds> >> > > _______________________________________________> To unsubscribe, edit your > list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit:> > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds _________________________________________________________________ Be one of the first to try Windows Live Mail. http://ideas.live.com/programpage.aspx?versionId=5d21c51a-b161-4314-9b0e-4911fb2b2e6d -- _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds
