On Mon, 4 Dec 2006 23:51:04 -0500 Zach <netrek at gmail.com> wrote: > On 12/4/06, Joe Evango <jjadeinc at hotmail.com> wrote: > > Only 9 on continuum and I am seeing a new pulsar server, > > netrek2.pulsar-zone.net, and the godfather server being listed as preferred > > servers on metaserver.us.netrek.org. Did something change? The old pulsar > > server is still active but not being listed as a preferred server. > > Sigh once again netrek.pulsar-zone.net is reporting the bots in the > player count on the metaserver. I just checked it is reporting 11 now > and there are 5 humans and 6 bots! > And now netrek2.pulsar-zone.net is also incorrectly reporting bots as > humans. Please can something be done about this. Matthew Mondor said > he'd fix this so it wouldn't happen again, yet here it has. The problem is/was in the metaservers code all along; before a recent fix from James, the metaservers used to connect via TCP to the servers whenever no UDP packet from it was received for a little while, and it counted robots as players. Now UDP-reporting capable servers should no longer get connected to by the main metaserver. As for netrek2.pulsar-zone.net, a new server was setup on another static address+box so that UDP can now work. It was initially called netrek2.pulsar-zone.net and had corresponding DNS entry, and would have remained as-is for as long as it takes for people to report that UDP now functions properly (and the other server remained up). I also was surprised that the metaserver showed it in the list despite the restrictions and although I haven't read the metaserver code since a few years, I can only assume that the restrictions are made on a per-case basis (rather than for instance a global deny all rule followed by exceptions). This would imply that any new server would get listed (and so was my new server). *** It wasn't too long until confirmation that UDP was working was received. I then deleted the netrek2.pulsar-zone.net record, shut down the old server and renamed the new server solicit name back to netrek.pulsar-zone.net (as well as fixed its DNS entry to point to the new address). This caused various problems on the metaservers: 1) second metaserver started connecting again via TCP to the new server and reporting robots as players. 2) since netrek2.pulsar-zone.net was no longer existing, but previously was, the metaservers entry for it remained for a while. I didn't check the code yet, but it appears that because of this dangling entry the metaserver was also querying the new (cached) address for player list. (and of course also counting robots as players). 3) Of course DNS propagation had to occur (despite the rather short expiration time I set for my domain names). After the move I thought I should have kept the netrek2.pulsar-zone.net name all along after the switch, and have CNAMEd the old name to the new one. This however would not have prevented the new server from being listed at all times without fixes to the metaserver. 4) On the first metaserver, netrek2.pulsar-zone.net still persists since the metaserver no longer attempts to connect to it (having flagged it as one that updates through UDP), so it didn't change its state (i.e. 2 players 30+ hours ago). I'm uncertain if the entry will need to be removed manually or if it'll eventually expire out. I am sorry for the temporary inconvenience the server switch caused, but the changes are over. Hopefully players get slightly lower latency now that UDP works on the new server. Some could argue that I should have re-read the new metaserver code to find out its cons before doing this; However I would rather have shut the server down if it was that much trouble. I in fact had decided to shut it down when the new rules were applied to the first metaserver, however due to multiple user requests I decided to bring it back up. It's a service, and if it gets too much trouble I won't have the time to cope with it. *** If I did have the time (and approbation), what I would personally do is rewrite the metaserver code and protocol and adapt vanilla and clients to use it. Of course, this also assumes that everyone want to take the trouble to upgrade :) - Flags/fields would be added as necessary so that bots be marked as such. The server comment field would also be honored. Additional server states and flags could also be implemented. The protocol would be versionned for future updates and backwards compatibility. - UDP updates would be replaced by server to metaserver update requests using TCP only (potentially with DSA or HMAC-SHA-80 for authentication and perhaps optionally AES-128 for content blocks + embedded checksums), and metaservers would no longer connect to any server. This would be allowed to export in most countries today in open-source software with the proper disclaimer. - A server for which no updates are received within a configurable time frame would immediately be de-listed until the next update, so would servers exceeding the specified update rate, for a specified time penalty. - Origin IP address of update requests could also be more relied upon than it currently is with UDP updates (for which all kinds of exploits are possible). Currently one could easily spoof the origin address of update packets and ruin the reputation of any server (I'm surprised this never yet occurred, and am ashamed if I teach the obvious to potential evil readers by mentioning it). - It would be possible for new server admins to be granted the right to list a server and be assigned a key to do so. This would be configurable so that a metaserver could instead decide to be totally open as they traditionally were (actually, with RSA or DSA the server admin would most probably provide its public key part to the metaserver admin along with the request). As this morning I decided to take the time to reply, I thought I might as well add a bunch of ideas for others to potentially be inspired from :) *** To also voice my opinion about what happened lately to the community relating to the warped server and the recent main metaserver restrictions: I personally think that the high population on warped was mainly because Bill is the most active client and server developer (if not the only one nowadays). The restrictions put on the main metaserver can however be considered legitimate if it really helps bronco to survive, and if what people want is still bronco, IMO. It's James' metaserver afterall, and anyone could start his own and release clients using it as main metaserver. It's actually a solution I recommended to Bill if he wants sturgeon to continue to evolve. His reply was that he wouldn't want to segregate the netrek community like this, which is a very reasonable point of view as well. As for my server, if the metaserver comment field really worked, then I think that my server could probably remain listed at all times and be marked "practice borg server", as it's all it really is. The twinky Sundays (with super GA and SB ships) appear to be appreciated by a number of people, but are still only bronco settings that did not require code changes, and it's only one day per week, still with the permanent robots enabled. The server's motd redirects players to continuum for actual human tournaments (although I'm unconvinced that players actually read motds, especially that there was a note put there which would have answered to most of zach's questions :) Before the reborn of sturgeon, players were rare on netrek.pulsar-zone.net although there were some at off-peak hours (when there weren't enough people to play on continuum). Even on sundays I highly doubt that it was generally "stealing" bronco users. And this situation lasted a while with regular tournaments on continuum. The visit frequency however increased substantially after continuum was dead for a while, a possible justification for a temporary restriction, but which probably should be lifted once regular human tournaments resume on continuum (James willing). The fact that very few users know about using -h or changing their metaserver settings made the server useless for a while (although there now are a few visitors per day). If a client upgrade allows to easily have access to multiple metaservers, wouldn't it make the restrictions system totally useless however? Also, since my server's traffic was mainly off-peak, I'm unsure about the efficiency of the current restriction rule placed on it, since it now only gets listed when continuum is full (when there is the least chances of someone wanting to play against robots :). Thanks and farewell, -- Matt