Why not rollback when problems arise?

[Graxster]

Just sitting here waiting for the servers to come back up, and remembering last time they were down for maintenance, and how many people were in the forums here posting messages while waiting. So I thought of this suggestion.

When you patch AO and run into problems, such as this -SK quest/mission bug, why not simply take the servers down just long enough to revert to the previous version, put the servers back up so people can play, and then worry about looking into and fixing the problem(s)? As it is, whenever there's a problem and the servers are taken down, we're forced to wait while a fix is found, tested, and installed. With no way of knowing how long this process may take.

The simplest way of dealing with this, as far as customer satisfaction/server uptime, is that whenever you get ready to patch/update the game, have a backup copy on hand and a decent "rollback code". take the servers offline, click the "rollback" button to run the rollback program and put them back online. Heck, it could be as simple as copy/overwrite. Then go back to the test server and look at the problems in the code, while we still get to play the game. Go back to what worked last, don't go offline. It's unnecessary.

[Iriche]

rollback means reinstall of ao

[Corers]

NO....MANY of us have been pushing FC to release the patch for a while, i rather deal with a couple hours of downtime then 2 more weeks of delays for the patch. Patience FTW!

[Khalem]

1) The client cannot be rolled back, meaning the entire customerbase already patched up to the new version will have to reinstall AND patch their client from whatever version they have availible.

2) A rollback involves downtime on the magnitude of the original patch, which means they would have to spend more manpower hours (read more costly) to roll back over a single issue which is most likely fairly easy to nail down once discovered, and then it actually needs to be QA'ed.

3) A rollback also means they will have to redo the upgrade soon(tm), so we would be looking at a total of maybe 10-15 hours of downtime for a rollback scenario versus perhaps 2-3 for a fix.

[Warhead]

I think they know what a rollback is and how its done and its also safe to assume they have a backup handy before/after every patch.

But that process isnt necessarily the fastest way to get the show back on the road - of course, the longer it takes to nail down this bug, the more attractive a rollback appears. Also in the long run, you have to take servers down yet again after a rollback to get the patch back live.

Personally, I'd rather wait and be able to play 16.3 "soon" than waiting for a rollback and then another downtime to put 16.3 back in place.

[Luiza]

2-3 hours fix? ohhhh like this more than the rollback idea

[Silirrion]

Rollbacks are very much the last resort. We have only ever had to do one in the history of AO and arent in a hurry to do another anytime unless we can really help it.

Besides a rollback takes almost just as long as a patch to perform, and (as Khalem noted above) we have to then repatch again.

For the sake of a few hours overtime, the guys will have a new patch and have this one fixed as soon as we can.

[Vipeh]

It would be nice if FC could give us an estimated time on this downtime however instead of a message pop up saying servers shall be going offline in the next few minitures and that was it... may give us an insight into if there is any point sticking around to play a game we are paying for if its only going to be an hour or so or to just go do something else...

[Silirrion]

It would be nice if FC could give us an estimated time on this downtime however instead of a message pop up saying servers shall be going offline in the next few minitures and that was it... may give us an insight into if there is any point sticking around to play a game we are paying for if its only going to be an hour or so or to just go do something else...

If we had an estimate we would give one The guys are looking into it as I speak and we will let you all know more specific details as soon as we know them.

It's not always possible for coders, server admins or the designers to just look at an issue and go 'oh yeah, that will take X hours', they have to actually investigate the issue first, which is happening now. Should hopefully know soon what the score is in terms of time frames.

Edit: and here we go: http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...d.php?t=459387

[Trgeorge]

Why don't FC just take out the mission/quest reward code change? I presume that's causing problems. And if players were able to live of 5% level cap for X years, they can wait another week or two for that particular change to go live.

[Silirrion]

Why don't FC just take out the mission/quest reward code change? I presume that's causing problems. And if players were able to live of 5% level cap for X years, they can wait another week or two for that particular change to go live.

Because its never that easy Neither is that quick to do, its the same amount of work to remove as it is to actually fix the problem, build a new patch, test it and apply the fix

[Trgeorge]

Oh, and that was just posted http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...d.php?t=459364

Just a quick update.. The patch is currently being built and estimated time to get the patch in place and tested is approximately 2 1/2 hours. We are working diligently to get this in place and get the servers back up. We apologize for the inconvenience and will keep you updated when we have new information.

[Abalz]

Perhaps if last minute changes weren't done -- then the build from Test to Live would be fine.. but there are always changes that go unchecked it seems

[Applec2]

What about actually testing these patches on the test server before putting us with a full day of downtime every other month. That would save us all. BTW my shoulderpads look better.

[Vipeh]

Ok, so around 10.30pm In England meh whole day of no ao ah well hopefully it will be fixed and we can play again. Thankyou for the fast reply ^_^

*runs off for food and alcohol!*

[Kyuutihoni]

wow opi shoulders finally fixed? that makes it all worth it

[dak4u]

Hrm. I shouldn't post this, since it won't add anything constructive, but I really can't help it, so feel free to ignore me if you wish.

(Note: This isn't directed to any particular poster, it's just a general vent/rant.)

It never ceases to amaze me the degree to which many (not all, mind you) fail to realize the complexity of large-system software development, such as e.g AO. There is _no_ way you can "just" rip/rollback something out and expect everything else to remain unaffected by the change. It just doesn't work that way. It. Does. Not.

Do yourself a favor ("you" being defined as "doesn't really know how the stuff works, but would very much like to have an opinion about it anyway") and spend the downtime reading up on the stuff, in order to maybe have a chance at having a more informed opinion next time. It's fun, too.

Oh. And don't whine. Please. It doesn't help, and it's annoying.

/rant

Sorry about the above. As I said, feel free to ignore it.

[revenant342]

This wouldn't suck so much if I didn't have all of today off

*Edit* Raining outside too, so all I can do is sit here and wait for AO while twitching a bit.

[Luiza]

wow opi shoulders finally fixed? that makes it all worth it

yep..they are above ur head now

[misterretro]

Sadly, they do "test" the patches on the test server. However, almost all of the people that are seriously involved in doing the actual testing have had their chars boosted to 220 [and stats boosted beyond normal 220 limits] by GMs. A bug like this one isn't one that a bunch of 220s are going to notice.