Perhaps a Resident Knows...'Updated Sim' question

**posted in linden answers originally but hoped a resident might know something**

Hi I own alot of land in Bowfin and there has been talk from the neighbors that the sim hasn't been updated as much as the others, and that is why we have such a problem with lag and a few other issues. I don't really know what updating a sim means, but is there a way to know if a sim is going to be updated anywhere in the near future, or possibly a place I could find out some information? Thank you.

Linden Lab uses a few different kinds of server hardware, changing as technology improves. There was an announcement in the LL blog recently about the upcoming Class 5 servers, the first upgrade in a while that will actually improve sim performance significantly. The upgrades from Class 2 to 3, and then from 3 to 4, were mostly about reducing data center costs, although the Class 3 and 4 sims did seem to perform a bit better than the Class 2 did. (Putting more sims in the same size server means that LL needs to rent less room in the data center, and space = money.)

Sims do get moved to new servers from time to time; LL makes no guarantees about them staying on the same hardware. For example, when the Class 2 servers were retired, all sims that had previously been running on them moved to Class 4 servers. My home in Lappet was one of the areas that switched.

The new class 5 sims will probably mostly be used for new areas. But I wouldn't be surprised if LL migrates especially high-traffic areas to them; certainly they should move sims like the Welcome Areas and Help Island. Moving non-Linden areas to the new servers might be touchier; there are potential issues of favoritism, so LL will need to do this in a fair way if it happens at all.

Basic outline of the hardware specs that I know:

Class 1: I have no idea, they were gone from SL long before I got here.
Class 2 (now retired): single Pentium 4, each box ran one sim
Class 3: two Opterons, 1GB RAM, each box runs two sims (one per CPU)
Class 4: two dual-core Opterons, 2GB RAM, each box runs four sims (one per core)
Class 5: two dual-core Xeons (Core Duo 2 based), 4GB RAM, each box runs four sims

Besides the faster processor, the new Class 5 is doubling the amount of RAM per sim. If that turns out to be a big win, I would expect to see them upgrade the Class 4 hardware to match. The Class 3 boxes will probably get retired rather than upgraded.

The number of sims per box is for normal sims. The special void sims are four per CPU core; that's why the support only limited use.

As for the software, every sim always runs the current version, though some might be behind others if there is a rolling update in progress.

Poor performance in an older area is more likely to be caused by accumulation of junk, especially badly scripted objects, in the sim, than by older server hardware. Slow frame rates in the client while people visit your sim can also be caused by excessively complex builds and overuse of huge textures.

Thanks for the detailed answer.

I suppose part of it could be my builds or textures, this is something I'm going to check out. I would hate to be the cause of all that lag.

*grins*
Well, I don't know much about computers. But once the systemadministrator at company where I work showed me proudly the fileserver-room. He told me there 7... yes SEVEN servers... all lined up in this big closet behind smoked glass.
With all the screens, lights and cables I felt as if I was on the brigde of Starship Enterprise.... I was truly impressed. You know, I just expected the systemadminstrater to get his com-link and say "Beam me up Scotty!".

Now I have to wonder how I would feel in the server-room of Linden... The number of servers must be huge. Maybe no more "Beam me up Scotty!", but with Data Linden running around explanations will be very logical ^^.

Morwen.