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How are SL Class 5 Servers going in 2008?
DMC Zsigmond
CEO, SCiENCE FiCTION
Join date: 30 Dec 2006
Posts: 28
08-25-2008 21:53
Hi Guys,

Back in October 2006, LL was looking forwards to some future proofing with the introduction of new Class 5 Intel SIM Servers with the following hardware specs:

Intel Xeon 5148 (2.33GHz Dual Core Processor)
A 64-Bit Linux Server OS
4GB RAM
And SATA HDD storage...

My Question is:

...Now in August '08, how do you think these servers are going? And how long do you think we'll see 'Class 5' in operation for yet?

Thanks,


(((-DMC-)))
Meade Paravane
Hedgehog
Join date: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 4,845
08-26-2008 07:40
Ian's "here comes class 5" blog: http://blog.secondlife.com/2006/10/16/looking-forward-to-class-5/

Jack posted earlier this year about server classes, too.. http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/02/13/there-is-no-class-6/
From: Jack Linden
There is no class 6
Just a short post in answer to the rumours that seem to have been circulating inworld over the last few days that there are class 6 regions on the grid. We’re not sure where this has come from, but there is no such thing as a class 6 and we have absolutely no plans to introduce a new class of hardware any time soon. So consider that rumour squished. We have only class 4s and 5s on the grid.

Due to some cleverness that we call Het-Grid, we are able to run different simulator versions, so we have some Havok 4 regions inworld undergoing trials for example, but these are still on class 5 hardware. There is no class 6.

Long term, LL will of course have to update their hardware recipe. Even if they think the current recipe has enough horsepower for the long term, there will be a point where they can't get replacement parts or the efficiency/stability/MTBF of new stuff gets to the point where it just makes sense to do class 6.

Or maybe they're waiting for the new tech to get jelled and come down off the pricing curve. I've been thinking for a while that Intel's CSI (now called QuickPath.. sorta similar to NUMA) tech would be a perfect fit for sim host hardware..

That said, to actually "upgrade the grid" would mean replacing _thousands_ of servers. It's not something we're gonna see soon or something that's gonna happen over night.

edit: and, to answer your question, I bet we'll see class 6 in Q1 or Q2 of next year.
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