Proactive server admin

Something I have learned over these previous few months while moving all of my applications and servers from my local servers to hosted servers is something called proactive server admin'ing.

Having hosted and managed my own servers for many years now I have gotten used to the way I like to do things, what i like running and not running, and controlling whats going in and out.

When I started this move to pay for hosting trend I found some of the hosting companies requirements bothersome, or demanding, or too strict.

Yet in dealing with these new hosts I have realised that their restrictions are in place so as to guarentee a good service all of the time.

Their requirements are set to allow what is being hosted is being hosted well and at good speeds.
They are strict because all too many hosting companies have blocked IP addresses in some countries; especially true of Asia and the Middle East.

Demanding because unless its a hardware fault then probably its something that you have done wrong which is not really their problem.

At first all of these quirks annoyed me. Hell I have been managing my servers damned well, and I am by no means a novice.

But over these months my heart has settled some to realise that they are in fact like this to help me as opposed to hinder me.

Sure I am the one paying the money, I want the best.
But when we are talking about internet technologies I also want the most reliable and efficient in my systems.

So one has to sit back and consider.....

Do I want it all on a platter then find a week later I am only serving to half of the world because the guy next to me wanted his porn sites all on a platter too?

Or should I be happy with the rugged, raw servers with no frills that are going to be seen globally?

So the choice was easy; I want global.

Not that I disagree with porn, but my porn site neighbour is not paying my bills. I am.
And if i am going to reach my target audience then why should I compensate my service for the porn guy?

So this is a lesson in hosting server admin; be proactive, work those few hours longer on the no frills servers, for when the work is done, its done.

Go for gold and be a champion for 5 minutes. Then the next runner will park himself next to you and tear it all down.

".....and down will come baby cradle and all"

So what is a proactive admin?

Well I think from my experience its an admin that finds the right solutions and compromises all for a good IP and an uptime guarentee.

For if one wants to consider themselves to be a server admin then obviously most server chores should be understood by that person.

And if you screw it up....dont scream at the company...its not their fault, they are but service providers.

Like a telephone company; they provide you with a way of communication, they do not however guarentee every phone call is going to be a happy one.

Server admin is just like that....
"Here is your server, your bandwidth, and your internet speed, have fun."
If your operating system spits at you like an angry girlfriend, then its probably your fault.

Finally, have patience with the support workers.
I used to contact them at some ungodly hours not thinking twice that it was an ungodly hour. In my thoughts "I am awake, you should be too!"

Then I forgot that I was also in another time zone...."oh what? Its like 5am there and you're changing shifts now? oh right ok. ummm....I'll write you again tomorrow." Many such conversations did I have lol.

To sum it up I think a proactive admin knows what he / she wants, the rest....well they take care of of that themselves.
A proactive admin pays for what they want.
And then is humble when the need arises to contact the support workers.

For we are all just people anyhows.

Game Server Solution finds its way home

I've been in communication with the group at http://www.x3mservers.net/ and been very happy with the result of our talks.

I was working with GoGrid as mentioned in previous posts.
I cant achieve the results I need to launch NiHao World effectively on their systems unfortunately.

GoGrid specializes in Web TCP package handling. For game serving TCP is redundant as most online games will use UDP for speed.

Ping tests with GoGrid's best systems in place showed that the average pings from the game client to the server were 230ms.

Anyone thats played an online multiplayer game before will know that anything over and above a 90ms ping is far too high and creates in-game lag.

So hunting for another solution I went, until I found X3M Game Hosting.

Different than other game hosting companies I talked to, X3M were happy to offer me their slot system in which I pay per X number of users in the system, eg. 32 users could cost around 20 Euro's a month.

Other game hosting companies that I had checked in on had denied me this service insisting that I go for their dedicated plans starting at an average price of 140 US$ per month.

20 Euro or 140 US$.....hmmm.....
If I only have 30 users for the first three months which would be the best plan?
I wonder with great effort.

You see launching a game comes with it many draw-backs.
The greatest of these is the initial financial outlay.

Launching a new game, a first game carries with it many tasks that need to be performed such as, hosting the game, a successful web face to it all, a customer / user support system in place, a marketing plan and strategy, and an advertising campaign to get the thing started.

All of these cost the small game companies dearly. Some small game companies give up the thing and sell out to bigger companies. Others are simply looked over because their marketing and advertising campaigns were not strong enough.

So where does all the money go upon launching a new / first game?
That is the big question that a game company crew such as mine have to ask.
More money on good hosting means less on advertising.
More on advertising runs the risk of inadequate hosting, and a game that users will join and forget in 10 minutes.

Its an ongoing consideration for small game companies to get the rewards they deserve for the work that they have done, and developing an expenditure system that meets all of their game's needs without breaking the bank is the greatest cosideration of all.

Why is it so much trouble to get something that has been worked upon for such a long time started?
Simply because at the time of launch....
The last beautifying features have been added, and some of these features have to be bought. eg: flash movies for advertising, extra in-game adornments that were needed and added quickly to meet the deadline, sound files of good gaming quality, and many such small items.
Most of the time more money goes into the game's trimmings than the game production.

So there it is....the ready to launch game, so whats wrong now?
Now....the game is ready, but it is still to earn its keep.

Most small game companies that give up the thing do so at this point.
Its there....but the money is gone, and the game is still to produce an income.
Yet....more money needs to be spent.

So therein lies the problems of game developing and why its hard to be the smaller team wandering around in a world that is dominated by the game making giants.

So me and my team decided on X3M, and X3M it is.
In the next coming week/s we'll be sending NiHao World up to X3M's servers and give it a trial month or two.

Until then.....

Keep you posted.

Web Eyes

Working with the HostDepartment servers is not such a harrowing experience.

Not only am I acheiving alot in a short time, but am also learning alot while I am at it.

In this past week I have near completed a successful website build, added to that a new forum, a picture gallery, an online shop, and an email server. Of which all are working fine.

Then I added a blog server to it all, which is not working fine but that is my fault I think.

And the NiHao3d website looks quite polished as a finished entity.

One complaint about HostDepartment that I do have is that they do not reply to user's tickets in a timely manner.

I sent them a ticket like a week ago and am still waiting for a reply.
This is a nuisance I have to admit. As I am getting as much as I can done in a relatively small time frame.

Problem solving should be a quick, lets get our hands dirty, I'm finished affair.

Desperately longing to get this web stuff out of the way.
Sure its fun to see your work looking good and available for all to see, but my main point in it all is the 3d game, of which no work has been done during this time.

Regardless of my ticket's complaint with HostDepartment I still give them the thumbs up.

It took me a little while to get used to their system as its stictly a linux system, and my web server is a windows image built upon that. But the running gear of the Admin is purely linux and is just a little different than windows.

Yet it runs well. And because its linux I have no fears regarding security.

So a big thumbs up for HostingDepartment for a cost effective, clean system.

Just hope they answer my tickets soon :)

Web Eyes...
Tired, sore and living in a world of fuzzy white screens.

Want to get back to game developing soon and return to the world of 3d and full colour :)

Dumped GoDaddy

I had to change from GoDaddy as a webhost to HostDepartment because the GoDaddy server IP's were blocked from within China, which is no good to me.

I am not angry at all about this but I kind of expected a "pay for host" to have such issues resolved.

I can understand a free server being blocked, but a payed server?

Host Department gets by this blocking problem by having very strict TOS; Terms of Services and for that I am actually happy.

I would rather that then be sharing hosting with "god knows what" as a neighbouring IP site.

eg: The molesting of and fornicating with Whales Forums :)

So time was wasted, around a week in fact, but I have found my "satisfactory solution" and work goes on.

Today I have just finished setting up the email server at Host Department.
Then onto the user's Blog servers.

Oh.....busy, busy, busy, but nearly all done.

When I have got all of this webstuff out of the way it will be back to game developing....

My favourite part in it all :)

Game and Web Private Hosting

I mentioned in September that I was trying out the GoGrid servers for a potential game server.

Well all seems ok with GoGrid.
Admittedly they are still in Beta and a couple of bugs appeared in the administering of the servers but overall its a sweet system.

One down side for me that is; I thought this hosting remedy would be the "be all, and end all" solution, however as it turns out it wasn't.

With the design of the internet as it is today and still not perfect by any means, porting a client from Asia to the servers in the States was not such a clever idea.

Sure for users on the American continent its a great solution, but elsewhere in the world its slow at its best.

So back to the original plan of multiple hosts worldwide.

"dum de dum. Hey guys....meeting again."

This week I have been tidying up a new account at GoDaddy webhosting.

From tomorrow and onwards I will be moving all of the NiHao3d websites up to GoDaddy and then activate the user's blogs, emails, and what-have-you's.

GoDaddy's web services are fantastic I must say.
The only one bug-bear that I have with them is that they do not have a 24 / 7 website support chat system.

When I was dealing with GoGrid this proved rather useful as being in China meant I was always counting Z's while they were in office hours and vice versa.

But GoDaddy on the other hand works via telephone and support tickets.
Sure I could phone them in the midnight hours, but I dont really have the courage to barrage their offices with more bells ringing at ungodly hours.

So Support tickets it was, and although slow in the send / reply they always provided excellent results.

So webhosting; check,
gamehosting; check,
what next.....

Well after everything has been set up properly and considered running smoothly, then its back to the dev machines and working on the game again.

"Oh no the grindstone again"
Actually I love the dev part of it all most.
Just wish I had more time for it.

Then set up game servers for Asia....again.

and so on, and so on, and so on.

Someone once said, and its been repeated a billion times;
"Its all in a day's work" ???

I am certain that the first person to say this and all of those thereafter that repeated the words knew little about corporate life.
Nor should they.

"An afternoon is an average man's week"

Now thats how I live my life....
And I still have time for a coffee break :)